Matcha (抹茶)
Shade-grown leaves stone-ground into a fine powder and whisked with water. You drink the whole leaf, so it's bright green, rich and higher in caffeine.
Walk into any café in Tokyo and the tea menu can look like a quiz. The good news: almost all Japanese green teas come from the same plant, and the differences come from how the leaves are grown and processed. Here's a simple guide to the ones you'll see most.
Shade-grown leaves stone-ground into a fine powder and whisked with water. You drink the whole leaf, so it's bright green, rich and higher in caffeine.
Green tea roasted until brown. Toasty, smooth and low in caffeine, so it's a common evening tea and a popular latte.
The everyday green tea in Japan: steamed leaves steeped in hot water. Fresh, grassy and slightly sweet.
Green tea mixed with roasted brown rice. Nutty and comforting, often served with meals.
A premium shade-grown leaf tea brewed with cooler water. Very smooth and savoury, with a deep umami taste.
Buy Me a Matcha helps you meet new people in Tokyo one at a time over a coffee or matcha. In English, friends only, free on iPhone.
Matcha is shade-grown green tea ground into powder and whisked, so it's bright green with more caffeine. Hojicha is roasted green tea: brown, toasty and low in caffeine.
Hojicha and genmaicha are lower in caffeine than matcha, sencha and gyokuro.
Sencha is the most common type of Japanese green tea, so when people in Japan say green tea, they usually mean sencha.
Specialist tea cafés and matcha cafés across Tokyo serve all of these. Our free Tokyo Matcha Map shows them by area.