Powdered green tea, or 「matcha」 as it’s called in Japanese, is a green tea famous for it’s delicious flavor as well as health benefits. It is made from the leaves of shade grown tea trees. When the leaves are harvested they are steamed, dried and then further processed to remove the veins, stems and impurities. Only about 10% of the original harvest remains, and this is called the 「tencha」.
The tencha is then ground to a fine powder often in a stone mill. It takes about one hour to produce an ounce of matcha, because grinding any faster would result in a burnt tasting tea. Today the highest grades of matcha usually remain in Japan for use in their tea ceremonies. The majority of matcha available in the general market today is now ground by sophisticated machines, which make it affordable to the average tea drinker. Regardless of the grinding technique used, the production of matcha requires a great deal of hand labour, skill and time.
Green tea was brought back to Japan by Japanese monks and nobles who visited China from in 800 AD. It spread in popularity amongst the upper classes and Buddhist monasteries. Japanese Zen Buddhist monks used their amazing skills as master herbalists over 800 (1161A.D.) years ago to create matcha. It was originally drunk before meditation to help with mental awareness and clarity. In the 16th century Zen Buddhist monks created the Japanese Tea Ceremony and it quickly became very popular.
Matcha’s flavour blends well in dairy-based recipes and its powder form makes it easy to work with. Matcha is being used in ice cream, cheese-cakes, cream cheese spreads, white chocolate, latte beverages, hot chocolate etc. There is no limit to the recipes that matcha can be added to.
Health Benefits
Matcha is just another form of green tea, so it has all the health benefits found in green tea. Regular green tea is a fantastic source of antioxident’s which have been shown to protect the body against free radicals that cause cancer. Green tea is already a better source than other much touted antioxident foods such as blue berries and chocolate. However, a serving of matcha has been shown to have up to 137 times the amount of antioxidents as regular green tea.
微粉狀綠茶，日語中叫「抹茶」，是一種以味美和養生聞名的綠茶。它是由蔭栽茶樹的葉子製成的。採下茶葉後，將其蒸青、乾燥，然後深加工，去掉葉脈、梗和雜質。最後只有原來採摘量的10%被留下，被稱為「碾茶」。
「碾茶」由石磨研成精細的粉末就是抹茶了。制一盎司抹茶大約需要一小時，如果研磨時間稍有不足，泡出來的茶就會有焦糊味。如今，最高品質的抹茶通常在日本茶道中使用。今天市面上能買到的大部分抹茶都是由精密機器研磨出來的，這樣降低了成本，普通喝茶者也能負擔得起了。拋開研磨技法不談，生產抹茶還極耗費手工、技能和時間。
公元800年，訪問中國的日本僧侶和貴族將綠茶帶回了日本，很快就在上流社會和佛家寺廟中流行開來。800多年前（公元1161年），日本禪宗佛教的和尚用他們身為草藥師的非凡技能製作出抹茶。起初抹茶是在坐禪前飲用的，來幫助清醒頭腦。16世紀時，禪宗佛教和尚發明了日本茶道，抹茶便很快風行開來。
抹茶和奶製品混合起來的味道很好，粉末狀也讓它容易作為添加物。冰淇淋、奶酪蛋糕、奶油乾酪片、白巧克力、拿鐵飲料和熱巧克力等等都可以添加抹茶。其他可以添加抹茶的食品還有很多很多。
養生功效
抹茶只是綠茶的另一種形式，所以它具有綠茶所有的保健功能。普通綠茶是抗氧化劑的上好來源，據證實，抗氧化劑可保護人體免受致癌自由基的侵害。與其他一些被力捧的抗氧化食物如藍莓和巧克力相比，綠茶是更好的來源。不過，據證實，一份抹茶所含的抗氧化劑的量比普通綠茶要高出137倍。
（來源：英語學習雜誌）