Description

Nishide | Ceremonial Grade Matcha

Nishide | Ceremonial Grade Matcha uses tea leaves from a certified organic tea farm in Nara Prefecture, tea master Nishide-san creates a delicate but rich organic matcha.

• Ingredients: Green tea
• Harvest: Spring
• Region: Nara, Japan
• Certifications: JAS certified

What is Ceremonial Grade Matcha?

Outside Japan, most matcha consumers divide matcha into two types of matcha grades; ceremonial grade matcha and culinary grade matcha. The idea is that ceremonial grade matcha is a higher quality, and is good enough to drink near, whereas culinary grade matcha is more suitable for ingredient use in recipes due to its more pronounced bitter taste.  

In Japan, matcha is not categorized into “ceremonial” or “culinary” grade. In fact, there is no standardized matcha grading system with regulatory effect. Each matcha blend is evaluated based on its unique characteristics such as its color, taste, texture etc. The best type of matcha for lattes is to use either Ceremonial Matcha. These are much lower in bitterness compared to conventional “culinary grade matcha”, which makes them very versatile. Because they are less bitter, you can add much reduced levels of sweetener.  You can use our other ceremonial grade matcha powder blends to make lattes, but the costs will quickly add up. Most of the nuanced flavors will also be lost amidst the milk and sweetener.  

Nishide Tea Factory

The Nishide Tea Factory, established in the 1860s, is managed by husband-and-wife team, Takashi and Atsuko Nishide and their family. Takashi Nishide buys aracha tea (unrefined leaves) directly from tea farmers in Ujitawara, Kyoto and surrounding areas, then refines the leaves further to craft high quality tea that are consistent in their high quality flavor, shape and aroma. Takashi Nishide is a 6th rank tea master.