I find that there’s a pretty wide range in matcha quantity, and the stuff that’s actually really good is going to cost an arm and a leg, and it’s probably become a victim of its own popularity, to satisfy the demand they’re just importing more lower quality matcha.
The first time I tried it was probably like 15 years ago, I grabbed a little tin from a fancy grocery store on a whim that I think I remember costing about $20 and probably had less than an ounce of powder in it. And that stuff was really good. I then got a bigger bag of cheaper stuff somewhere and it tasted like straight-up swamp water. Most of what’s out there now that you’ve probably tried is somewhere in between. I don’t mind it, but it’s not good enough for me to want to seek it out, and the good stuff is hard to find and probably even more expensive these days.
And to make matters worse, I don’t think there’s really any official standardized grading or labeling for it, so it’s kind of hard to figure out what you’re getting, you might see things like “Ceremonial grade” thrown around, but that’s pretty much just a meaningless marketing term.
I find that there’s a pretty wide range in matcha quantity, and the stuff that’s actually really good is going to cost an arm and a leg, and it’s probably become a victim of its own popularity, to satisfy the demand they’re just importing more lower quality matcha.
The first time I tried it was probably like 15 years ago, I grabbed a little tin from a fancy grocery store on a whim that I think I remember costing about $20 and probably had less than an ounce of powder in it. And that stuff was really good. I then got a bigger bag of cheaper stuff somewhere and it tasted like straight-up swamp water. Most of what’s out there now that you’ve probably tried is somewhere in between. I don’t mind it, but it’s not good enough for me to want to seek it out, and the good stuff is hard to find and probably even more expensive these days.
And to make matters worse, I don’t think there’s really any official standardized grading or labeling for it, so it’s kind of hard to figure out what you’re getting, you might see things like “Ceremonial grade” thrown around, but that’s pretty much just a meaningless marketing term.