Grinding the Green Leaf into a fine powder

It?s called ?matcha?. It tastes completely different from infused-leaf tea, and the mouth feel is utterly different, too.

/Lew

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lewis Thanks.

Apparently from what I'm learning at the moment this is *not* Matcha. Matcha is grown partially in shade. This is Sencha which is 'micro-ground' to an extremely fine powder.

That?s the *good* stuff. Strict definitions are nice, but I doubt that the majority of the tea that?s packed in containers labeled ?matcha? today lives up to that definition. Think of the powder that goes into matcha ice cream, for example.

/Lew

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lew thanks.

Here people are offering Sencha leaves that are ground into a fine powder:

Has anyone tried such a 'powdered' leaf tea, and does it taste substantially different from just brewing the leaves in the normal way? Thanks.

So returning to the original question has anyone tried this micro ground Sencha please? (we know that it's not Matcha)

Try it yerself. From what I understand, you can use marijuana grinders to grind tea to a fine pwder. I've done neither, so cannot offer experienced advice.

nb

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Thanks Bob. Not sure i want to go to the trouble of buying a marijuana grinder to try this.

Just thought someone here might have experience of this Ground Sencha, comparing it with Matcha.

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I think the difference here is that whereas Matcha is whisked with a tiny amount of water making it a very 'concentrated' small drink.

From what I can now gather the 'Ground' Sencha is made into a full cup of drink, the powder being added almost like we make 'instant' coffee, i.e. a teaspoon of powder is put into a cup of 'just-under-boiling' water.

Wondering if people here had tried it, since this is 'not' cheap Japanese tea and wouldn't want to be disappointed, if I outlaid the money for it ?

There is ground tea and then there is milled tea. There is a difference. Actually, there are various grades (particle sizes) of tea powder. I bought a cheap one called "fen cha" ?? which means "powdered tea" - but it's coarse as hell. I could make a finer grade of tea powder using a small stone mortar. Then there is machine ground tea powder - which might look fine, but is actually too coarse and unsuitable as matcha. You could make such a tea powder using a blender or coffee mill at home.

But to really get tea powder down to the fine grade for matcha, you need a heavy stone mill. I say heavy because even a portable, light mill won't produce a satisfactory result.

We drink Lipton I think. That is the best. Right?

This is a product which people use as an inferior substitute for matcha.

There are actually a couple of Taiwanese companies making various ground teas for the Japanese market as well. These teas are far inferior to the ground sencha.

At one point I tried a wide variety of these products for making green tea ice cream, and in the end I decided that real matcha was worth paying for.

--scott

It is _much_ less flowery than matcha.

--scott

I have purchased ground sencha on several occasions. Frankly I find it difficult to believe that many people could tell which tea is more expensive in a blind test. This is precisely what I have done, and while I could detect a flavor difference I found both the high-grade matcha and the bulk organic ground sencha to be good.

I keep the ground sencha now, and use it on road trips when brewing tea is not practical. It has replaced any need to purchase coffee, energy drinks, and such nonsense. I have to admit to using Lipton cold-brew tea bags as well, which are fairly insipid but decently refreshing especially on hot days.