Best ceremonial matcha in the UK: how to choose

Nothing legally. There is no certifying body for the term, in Japan or the UK, so it is a description rather than a standard. Used honestly it signals matcha made from young first-harvest leaves, ground fine enough to whisk into water on its own without tasting bitter.

Used dishonestly it is printed on late-harvest powder intended for baking. The way to tell the difference is not the label, it is the four things below.

First harvest. The first picking of the year gives the sweetest, least bitter leaf. Later harvests are coarser and more astringent, which is why they end up in culinary blends.

Shade-grown. Covering the plants before picking, around twenty-one days, pushes up chlorophyll and amino acids. That is where the deep colour and the savoury depth come from.

Single origin. Matcha blended from many regions is consistent but anonymous. Matcha from one place tastes of that place.

Milled recently. This is the one most brands avoid mentioning. Matcha is at its best within weeks of milling, and it dulls in colour and flavour after that. A tin that has sat in a warehouse for a year is not going to taste like much, whatever grade it claims.

Colour is the fastest signal. Good matcha is vivid, almost electric green. Dull, olive or yellowish powder means old leaf, late harvest, or both.

Then smell it. It should smell sweet and green, a little like fresh hay. A flat or dusty smell means it has been sitting too long.

Price is a rough guide too. Genuinely good first-harvest matcha costs money because the leaf costs money. Very cheap ceremonial matcha is almost always mislabelled.

We work with one tea house in Uji, Kyoto, that has been making matcha for nearly two centuries, and we buy our Okumidori direct from a family farm in Yame, Fukuoka. Hikari and Shōgun are first harvest and shade-grown, milled in small monthly batches at the tea house. Everything is flown to London, where we pack it weekly.

We are not going to tell you we are the only good matcha in Britain, because that would not be true. What we will say is that the four things above are the things we optimise for, and that the freshness one is the reason we pack weekly in London instead of shipping pre-packed stock.

Across our range we hold a 4.89 average from 237 verified customer reviews.

If you have not had much matcha before, start with Hikari. It is the sweetest and most forgiving, and it is the one people who think they dislike matcha usually turn out to like.

If you already drink matcha and want more of it, Shōgun is bolder and holds its own in a milky latte. If you want something for the evening, Hōjicha is roasted and naturally low in caffeine.