 Ceremonial green tea, called matcha in Japan (it is sometimes spelled maccha)-is a brilliantly colored thick green brew whipped up with a bamboo whisk and sipped mainly during formal tea ceremonies. Matcha is made from the most valued leaves of a tea plant known as tencha, which is grown in shade for about a month before picking, a process that allows the chlorophyll content to ratchet upward and thus produce the tea's luminous green hue. It is then dried and pulverized into a superfine tea powder, with a consistency similar to cornstarch. A small spoonful of bitter matcha is added to the most beautiful tea bowl one owns, hot water is added, and the mixture is whipped by hand into a surreal green, thick, foamy brew. It is normally taken with a few small pieces of exceedingly sweet candy, which is said to play off the bitterness, although I have never been a convert to this particular practice.
Like many of my more-or-less blind discoveries in Japan, I started buying it and experimenting with it, simply making tea at first, then starting to infuse its flavors and color into my cooking. The easiest way to use it for culinary purposes is to tap it through a hand-sieve directly on to something sweet, especially chocolate (Matcha Truffles). It makes a delicious base for green tea ice cream, as people all over the world have discovered.
By combining a small spoonful of maccha to several tablespoons of sea salt and whirring it in a coffee grinder, you can make a gorgeous, deeply flavorful salt that is delightful sprinkled over poached eggs, in salads, on tofu, on a baked potato, and dozens of other uses. Matcha also happens to be full of antioxidants and vitamin C; not only is it arrestingly lovely to look at and eat, it's also really good for us.
Alas, all this pleasure doesn't come cheap: a small tin of it (about an ounce) will cost around $12-$25 or more, depending on quality. The good news is that you need very little of it to use in recipes; I use it more frequently than most people, and it still takes me several months to go through an ounce. It's available in any Japanese market, some Chinese markets, and online at japanesegreenteaonline.com and www.matchasource.com |
 This is what it looks like when you combine maccha and sel gris to make matcha salt |
