Matcha, the Japanese green tea powder that has taken the world by storm, was mistakenly created during a harsh winter when tea farmers covered their tea plants to protect them from frost damage. The lack of sunlight allowed the plants to develop matcha’s trademark vibrant, green color.
In the present day, matcha has become the new frappuccino: a trendy, “aesthetic” drink that has Gen Z and Millennials alike obsessed. In New York City especially, 20-year-old men in jorts sipping iced matcha lattes and listening to Clairo through string headphones is not an uncommon sight. Regardless of its popularity, matcha is a delicious beverage that has potent benefits, lasting influence in big cities across the US, and endless appeal to young people.
Although matcha is both popular and appealing to the masses in the West, its traditional value in Japanese culture is often overlooked in favor of pale green, matcha lattes. The orthodox (and, in my opinion, only) way to prepare matcha is through whisking a heaping of the tea leaves’ powder into boiling water using a chasen, or a bamboo whisk. Many modern cafes opt to use matcha concentrate when preparing their drinks in favor of the customary way, which certainly makes the process faster but sacrifices quality and taste. Additionally, most of these cafes use very little matcha itself, whether it be prepared with concentrate or by the standard recipe, in relation to the milk and sweeteners that they add, hence the “green milk” that tends to be served across thousands of American coffee shops. The oversaturation of the milky, modern latte has made it clear: we are rapidly washing away traditions in favor of trends.
While being aware of what’s trending is important, it’s also important to think about the tradition these trends are built on Many people only try matcha from certain cafés and shops that have “blown up” across the internet, which all sacrifice the quality of their matcha for the sake of numbers and mass production. When drinking matcha, you want high quality, something that chains and uber-popular matcha destinations often cannot supply large waves of customers with. These are some of matcha’s biggest aspects – cultural significance and quality – and they cannot be overstated when looking at the tea’s bigger picture.
Enhancing lives in Japan for thousands of years with its strong medicinal properties, matcha is a complex form of tea that is packed with antioxidants – and history. First created in 12th century Japan, matcha is a fine powder made from ground tea leaves. It is largely unique from most other forms of tea, in the sense that it is the only tea made from the entire tea leaf. The strongest, shade-grown leaves are harvested and de-stemmed before they are ground into a fine powder. Traditionally, it’s prepared in a chawan, or “tea bowl”, where the powder is whisked together with hot water. The chasen ensures that the fine powder is completely immersed in the water, leaving no clumps. When the matcha is complete, you can either drink the combined substance on its own (called an “usucha”) or pour it atop your milk of choice to make a matcha latte. This intricate process that goes into making a single cup of matcha is one of the many distinctive aspects of the drink that separates it from most other classic teas.
To emphasize the stark differences between a high quality place that specializes in matcha and a chain that simply has matcha as an option on their menu, I went to three different New York City cafés that serve matcha: Pop Up Grocer (strangely enough, a café in a grocery store), Blank Street Coffee, and Setsugekka in the East Village. I got the same drink – a small iced matcha latte – from each place in order to ensure that the experiment remained fair to each business. For context, I believe myself to be a matcha purist in the sense that I hate sweeteners. Not many matcha places that I’ve been to in the city can emphasize the strong matcha flavor that I chase, so I was highly anticipating my mini matcha tour.
The first place I visited was Blank Street Coffee, a popular chain café across the city. While their coffees are pretty good, they are best known for their wildly flavored matcha lattes. That was an immediate turnoff for me, but I decided to press on. Upon my initial tasting, I felt like I was drinking a glass of green milk. There might have been a whisper of matcha flavor, but I fear my tastebuds were not refined enough to pick up on it. The barista I talked to described their menu as “extremely unique. [Blank Street] has so many cool flavors that people really love, and I think that’s what makes us different from the other cafés around here”. Although I can appreciate the large array of distinctive, creative matcha flavors, it’s important that the actual matcha that you make is perfected before you can move onto adding crazy sweeteners. Blank Street serves a below average matcha that people who are seeking out high quality tea should generally avoid.
The next stop, Pop Up Grocer, serves their matcha in the middle of a grocery store. Pop Up is quite distinctive from the average grocery store, with the design of the store as well as the products that line their shelves being meticulously tailored to appeal to young audiences—which, as the target demographic, I appreciated.. When I visited Pop Up, a few friends of mine got their “Dream Matcha Latte” (which was a matcha latte with spirulina powder) in favor of their classic matcha latte. I found the spirulina latte brought out the earthiness of the matcha a lot better than the regular matcha latte did, which was surprising considering I hate most matcha sweeteners. Marielle, a barista at Pop Up, says that their selection of drinks come from a slew of collabs in addition to the drinks that Maggie, the store’s general manager, and the baristas come up with themselves. The baristas said that Popup’s specials are “really yummy and refreshing. I don’t think that [Pop Up] is afraid to experiment” with their menu. Their matcha latte was slightly better than the one at Blank Street, but not by a massive margin. I would recommend the spirulina matcha for those who enjoy a decent matcha latte that is heavily sweetened. Overall, Pop Up Grocer is another standard café serving overly milky matchas.
The last place I visited was a small, hole-in-the-wall called Setsugekka in the East Village. When I walked in, the soothing music that was played accompanied with the laughter from the counter up front made me feel incredibly welcome, something I value at an establishment akin to this one. When my friend and I reached the counter, the barista warmly greeted us and invited us to sit at the five person bar. She placed two menus in front of us and thoroughly explained the two kinds of matcha they were currently serving, their notes and flavor, and how they both could be prepared. The only employee in the shop, who introduced herself as Chihiro, was incredibly knowledgeable about the matcha process at Setsugekka as well as their goals as a small business. She told us that the owner and founder of the store is a tea master, and runs the store following a traditional format typically utilized in Japan. Their ingredient ratios directly parallel how matcha is made in Japan, using two grams of matcha for every 16 mL of milk per drink. Chihiro asserted that the tea shop’s goal is to “let people enjoy the natural taste of matcha” without the use of any sweeteners. The only sweetener they offer is strawberry puree, a new addition to the menu that was not easily accepted by Setsugekka’s owner. The drink itself was fantastic – smooth, creamy, and really strong in its matcha flavor and concentration. Setsugekka was a fantastic experience as well as a delectable matcha latte, and is a must try for matcha lovers in New York.
From a traditional Japanese tea blend to a global phenomenon, matcha has had a significant impact on coffee shops and cafes across the world. First added to the menu of Starbucks in 2006, it has spread to all corners of the earth and invaded the palates of young people everywhere. Even so, matcha is more than just an instagrammable drink – it’s a tea with deep cultural roots and tradition that should be preserved when engaging in making and drinking it. Often, these traditional values can be lost when trying to market them to a large audience of young people. From my café visits, I learned how preserving these values can really affect the quality and taste of the matcha latte itself. Setsugekka’s biggest strength was that it was able to balance tradition as well as consumer appeal, something the first two cafés struggled with. The next time you order a matcha latte, whether it be at Starbucks or at a Japanese matcha farm, take some time to reflect on matcha’s history and what makes it special. After all, with a little trial-and-error, this tea might become your matcha made in heaven.
