Ceremonial Grade is a Myth | The Complex Truth About Matcha Quality

[@diageesen4468]

i was aware of the fact that labeling of ceremonial grade matcha is often a scam, but didn't know about the different grades among tea practitioners! that will be very useful for future matcha purposes. also really valued your insights in the comodification of Chanoyu!

[@JolantaPupke]

Love it! I agree totally, that Ceremonial grade means nothing, as there are tons of no-matcha from no-Japan sold in the market as "ceremonial" (when only mixing with coconut milk makes it drinkable). And yes, please make, a video how to distinguish good matcha from not so good. thanks!

[@bunmeng007]

finally a video that expose the marketing term " ceremonial" used by the online seller.

[@edvatza6710]

Excellent as always, David. Just watched the video for the second time and took a few notes. I found the Blend vs Single Cultivar distinction to be particularly interesting. I have to agree that the term "ceremonial grade" is pretty useless. One only has to check out a few of the matcha videos here on KZbin to see that 99% of the matcha being sold and used is called "ceremonial grade" (and being used to make lattes so often that one can easily come to the conclusion that matcha is latte and latte is matcha). And the variety and quality levels being used vary widely. Keep up the good work.

[@LauraVeganPower]

So true 👌🏼

[@Paul-qe1uf]

Extremely well-scripted and produced. I learned so much from this video. Thank you!

[@LauraVeganPower]

The article is really interesting and enlightening, thank you for this in-depth work which really helps!

[@NateRidderman]

Lots of great information. Nice pace / editing as well

[@readingdewleaves]

Thank you for bringing these nuanced, well researched and entertaining videos! I always learn new things from you. I agree that “Ceremonial grade” is useless because it doesn’t even have well defined criterion for when it can be used, so everything from great to trash could possibly go into it lmao. Also, using that evocative term feels misleading because it’s not even originally from chanoyu or in use in Japan, yet it implies a relation. Culinary, keiko, usucha and koicha are definitely more informative classifications with actual reasoning and culture behind them. Transparency >>> misleading made up terms.

[@Ujihatea]

We use the term ceremonial for "Search" purposes. Like it or not, people still associate the term as higher grade. Although, people seem to be waking up to it. For now, the search for ceremonial grade matcha is still quite high. But we do educate our customers that ceremonial grade matcha does not exist in Japan. ❤

[@tezumitea]

The more education the better!

[@lamnguyen1903]

I appreciate your work so much! Keep it up 💙

[@erinreadinger4992]

I am so happy I stumbled upon this video. I've been using a container of ceremonial grade matcha and thought I was so "traditional" or something. Thank you for making this video!

[@ledabodipy880]

Thank you very much for your video, I really enjoyed it. Could you please suggest some brands of matcha and some websites to get them (shipping outside of Japan)? I feel like it is pretty difficult to find a really good brand of matcha for people like me that are not really experts. Thank you very much in advance.

[@tezumitea]

Well...we're here :) We started Tezumi for this exact reason. Links are in the description

[@ledabodipy880]

@@tezumiteathank you!❤

[@jiahaotan696]

​@@tezumiteaThis is exactly why I think you guys need to be a little more shameless in advertising yourselves as vendors lol

[@alanukmas9727]

Really enjoy your content ❤❤

[@Wanoiyori]

Where do i find the resources to learn about tea ceremonies?

[@tezumitea]

So here's my blog post introducing what tea ceremony is: www.tezumi.com/blogs/tezumi-insights/what-is-chanoyu As I mention at the bottom of that post, if you want to actually learn it, you'll have to find a local teacher or one of the few great online senseis. Chanoyu is such a massive topic that if you have specific info you're after, let me know and I can point you in the right direction

[@vasily787]

Thank you for such a good speech about different types of high grade matcha. So, blended matcha with poetic name and recognition by a tea school is a criteria for matcha, that can be used in a tea room of that particular tea school, right? I remember a matcha fridge in Cha ka Do-gu kan (Zuiun, Kyoto) with two shelves of matcha inside: Urasenke and Omotosenke made by Koyamaen. I wish someday in the future there will be regulations about matcha that you can't sell product under name "matcha" if it is not from Japan and the percentage of the high quality shaded tencha is high enough to be called matcha. As I know there is only one regulation regarding matcha - if you sell UJI matcha or UJI leaf tea, there must be certain amount of tea leaves produced in UJI related regions. Do you know the minimum percentage of tea leaves in a UJI tea to be able to call it Uji tea? By the way, this year I see some shortage of matcha in Japan. I must say great shortage that have been never seen before. Are you planning to make a video about this historical situation?

[@tezumitea]

Thanks! So the recognition by a tea school (typically by the iemoto [家元 - grand master] or other high-ranking member) or a Buddhist priest is known as konomi (好み - like/preference) is somewhat akin to a celebrity endorsement. In some cases it's like a brand deal/sponsorship, in others there was actually some back-and-forth collaboration where the iemoto works with the tencha blenders to produce a blend they like. That being said, you don't have to use your school's konomi teas at keiko/lessons or at a gathering, but it is always a reliable option. You don't typically see schools using each other's konomi matcha, but the non-konomi teas made by the same producers as the konomi teas are commonly used. For example, at the Urasenke Chanoyu Center here in NYC, Koyamaen's Aoarashi is used for usucha and their Kinrin for koicha. For a year, in 2003 the standard was at least 50% from Kyoto Prefecture and the remaining must be from the three neighbouring prefectures of Mie, Shiga, and Nara. However, there wasn't enough tencha for this, so the current ''voluntary labelling standard' is that the tencha must be from these four prefectures (with priority given to Kyoto Prefecture), with final processing (blending, milling, etc.) performed by producers within Kyoto Prefecture. The shortage is quite alarming and its long term effects on the industry, both domestically and internationally will be interesting to see. Perhaps this is worth a video... The cause of the shortage, in short, is that the sharp rise in demand depleted this year's tencha stock along with much of the 'backup' tencha stock that has been frozen over the years. On top of this, producers have struggled to stone mill tea quick enough to meet demand and the stone-cutters who make these mills can't cut the stones fast enough to make more.

[@vasily787]

@@tezumitea Also I heard from one tea seller that particularly in 2024 was very high temperature, so the total harvested tencha (and maybe other types of leaves) was 30% less than in 2023. I am looking forward to see your input about japan tea industry capacity, future perspectives and current struggles. This year I did small study about production volume of tea industry in Japan and it was quite interesting. Since 1975 the total volume of aracha production is declining - from 105,000 tons to 70,000 tons in 2023. But, the volume of Japanese tea exported is growing year by year! So... why the Japan as a country don't expand the tea production? This is strange. Low wages in tea industry and unpopular profession for young adults, which seeking mostly IT / finance related jobs? Interesting fact that Shizuoka is loosing its positions as No1 prefecture by volume, and soon Kagoshima will become top producing region with more efficiency regarding volume from 1 hectare. I wonder what is different in Kagoshima, that can elevate efficiency so much more comparing to Shizuoka. Plain terran which is good for combine harvesting? About tencha I can say, that in 2022 it was about 3800 tons from various regions. Don't have data about 23 and 24 yet. You can see this data here: disk.yandex.ru/i/DoU-HE2IW25DGw

[@jackieknits61]

Hmm. While i am interested in truly high quality matcha, at home, i use it for making lattes and baking. So i have carefully avoided ceremonial types of matcha because that would be a waste of good tea. I do drink sencha at home, and i have a good local retailer for that and green and white teas from around the world. So w😮hile i generally use the label ceremonial as a way to avoid overpriced tea, i would like a way to judge the quality of culinary matcha before buying it too. Obviously, this is a doorway into understanding matcha for non culinary uses.

[@ankafiedler704]

Very interesting, thank you!!

[@catherinerency9541]

Hi, could you please share from Keiko and Usucha matcha brands that I can purchase directly in Japan (if Tokyo, even better)?

[@tezumitea]

Can't go wrong with Ippodo for most Japanese teas, matcha and loose-leaf. Here's some of my fav tokyo tea spots: www.tezumi.com/blogs/tezumi-insights/our-top-10-tokyo-tea-destinations

[@gky7170]

my favorite British ceremonial grade black tea is referred to as "Lipton - Brisk"...

[@tezumitea]

But Lipton Brisk isn't even British! :) at least drink Yorkshire or PG Tips

[@gky7170]

@@tezumitea sorry, I was making a bad joke; however, I do love the way the British do tea in general...maybe it's the goodies they serve with it that makes the Earl Grey so satisfying...LOL! high tea at the Livingstone Hotel on the Zambezi...the perfect respite after safari...

[@tezumitea]

Haha, I was just playing along. Tea and sweets is a winning combination in every culture

[@AliceEmeryHp]

Thank you for this video!

[@Amberlynn12261989]

What is your thought on the Jade Leaf matcha sold on Amazon? It is the first I tried and it seems like it tastes good but I am also no professional at picking the correct matcha for at home use