it seems like everywhere you turn these days there's somebody pushing a matcha beverage but do you even know what matcha really is matcha is essentially a stronger form of green tea one of the first things you notice is its Zippy green color and that it comes in powdered form it's not steeped like a normal tea to prepare matcha you whisk the powder with hot water so when drinking matcha you're actually consuming the whole Leaf like any form of tea matcha originates with a healthy stock of chamia s or the tea plant every April new shoots Sprout from the tips of these plants and that's where the process for growing matcha starts to differ from regular green tea as seen in aoi tea company's video this is the point in time where the plants are shaded with tarps that only allow about 20% of the normal amount of sunlight in and through that process they become more potent the goal is to increase the levels of an amino acid called Eline Eline is directly responsible for not only the full body flavor of matcha but also the calming effect so many drink claim the tea possesses this process is done on average for about 3 weeks time only the youngest tea leaves are plucked from the plants within 20 to 24 hours of being plucked it's Japanese customed to steam the leaves for 20 seconds this stops the fermentation process from occurring and also preserves the leaves Rich color drying is the next step and that occurs when the leaves are placed inside chambers that will be filled with flowing air that constantly circulates before the drying process is completed the stems and veins are separated from the leaves the part that's left is called Tena using a Stone Mill the Tena leaves are ground into a fine powder and the matcha is ready for brewing auto in Manhattan is the place to experience matcha in its truest form traditionally when you find matcha at a cafe you find it in the thin preparation however here in front of me I have two different styles of thick matcha thin matcha generally in a cup of matcha you're going to get a little bit less caffeine than a coffee so essentially I have had three coffees in the last 3 hours so I'm really wired right now proceed with caution a place like matcha bar is serving all sorts of innovative matcha based beverages with different flavors not just whisked powder and water for me I fell in love with matcha for its functional benefit the caffeine and matcha is being released over 3 to 4 hour period so rather than all the 90 hidden you at once and then a crash it's more of like a cruise control flavor-wise for somebody that's never tried matcha before just like espresso just like whiskey just like a fine wine it's really defined by this really nice bite of a green tea a lot of it has to do with the texture so very smooth kind of Umami flavor Japanese foods are always known for this Umami creaminess so this here is a drink that involves MCH powder cocoa espresso and almond milk you can see the gradation of color from the brown here at the bottom up until the uh the top of the drink and certainly not traditional by any means at all but hey if it tastes good that's okay I hope you enjoyed this episode if you want to see more click here tea has to be somewhat enjoyable it's very important that if you're first SU Sushi your first tea there's some means that makes it pleasurable so you want to come back the second time