The reason why Japanese matcha tea is so popular ‒ just as its forged version ‒ is its supposed benefits. Just as the traditional green tea, even matcha contains the compound called epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). But its levels are usually much higher in matcha tea than the classic green tea. For example, studies from 2003 found out that matcha tea has three times more EGCG than most of the traditional green teas.

How is matcha tea made?
Matcha tea turns into a powdered tea, literally ‒ the leaves of green tea are steamed and dried by air, and later are milled into a super fine powder. Usually, the tea is made by infusing the tea leaves in water for a few minutes and then the leaves are thrown away. However, matcha is made by mixing the fine powder in hot water and then is frothed. Then you drink the entire beverage ‒ including the finely milled leaves.
It is supposed that the powdered tea originated in China with a Buddhist monk around 1191 A. D., but the farming techniques for matcha were cultivated and perfected during centuries in Japan. The preparation of the traditional matcha is a complex process that has been part of Japanese culture for more than 800 years. The tea leaves in Japan are grown in shade so that they maintain their green colour, they are quickly dried so that their exposition to air and oxidation is minimised, as it can blunt the earthy taste of matcha.

Chinese „matcha“ is not grown in such precise conditions. The tea leaves are usually not grown in shade a to stop the oxidation, they are „fried in pans“. As a result, this Chinese kind of „matcha“ cannot make such a rich foam and its structure is more sand-like.
Moreover, the soil in Japan, especially in Ise and Uji areas, has different properties than the soil in China and even that has a big influence on the growing tea plant.

Chinese teas are also processed by fire because of their potential toxicity. In 2013, the ecological organization Greenpeace randomly tested 18 samples of Chinese teas and found out that 12 of them contained banned pesticides. On the other hand, growing of Japanese matcha includes even stricter rules about pesticides.
As a result, Japanese matcha can be more expensive than the Chinese version. One gram of Japanese matcha can span from 5 to 25 CZK, meanwhile the Chinese „matcha“ can cost less than 2 CZK per gram.
The growing, harvesting, and the processing is what makes the Japanese tea matcha authentic. It is then worth it to pay a little more so you can enjoy the benefits of great taste, history, and high quality of matcha tea to the max.

Source: http://read.bi/1UaHQJi