The Different Grades of Matcha Green Tea Powder For Wholesale and Bulk

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Before you purchase a matcha powder in bulk, you ideally want to know exactly what you plan to use it for. For example, will you be serving traditional cups of matcha? Will you be using matcha as a healthful ingredient in your baked goods or green smoothies? Will you use matcha as a healthy shot to add to traditional coffee lattes?

It is essential to know what you are using matcha for as there are different grades of matcha powder. Each grade of matcha is determined based on its cultivation, color, texture, quality, and intended use.

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Ceremonial Grade Matcha

The highest grades of matcha have one intended use: drinking. Ceremonial grade matcha is grown and cultivated in Japan under strict conditions where leaves are heavily shaded and hand-picked. High-grade matcha has a noticeably brilliant bright green color, a rich aroma, and a deeply mellow and sweet taste.

Often, ceremonial grade matcha is used to make thick matcha tea during traditional tea ceremonies. Many daily drinkers also opt for this level of grade quality due to its energy-boosting abilities, striking bright green color, and unique healthy properties that can impact long-term wellness and longevity of life.

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Usucha or ‘Thin-Tea’ Grade Matcha

After ceremonial grade there is 'Usucha' or 'thin-tea,' which offers a strong harmony of ceremonial matcha in color, aroma, and effects while being slightly lower in cost and a minimal note of bitter, more sharp flavoring — which is preferable to some. Our cafe blend of matcha falls under this category.

The added bitter notes of flavor in 'Usucha' signify higher amounts of tannins, so you can rest assured you're still experiencing all the benefits of green tea's optimum wellness supporting elements.

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Culinary Grade Matcha

You have culinary grade and ingredient grade matcha at the other end of the matcha grade spectrum, which is often used to impart the sweet and distinct matcha flavor into many of your go-to recipes. Culinary grade matcha is a great choice to add to smoothies, cookies, cakes, and even flavoring a green tea ice cream.

The lower the cost you pay for culinary grade matcha, the more notable elements of bitterness it has, often because the leaves used to make culinary grade matcha are more mature and harvested later in the season. You may also notice a culinary grade matcha being a bit more dull or yellowish in coloring.

With culinary grade matcha, there are still high amounts of chlorophyll and memory-boosting amino acids like L-theanine. The lower the cost of culinary grade matcha often comes with a greater range of bitterness; this is usually because the green tea leaves are more mature and harvested later in the season. More mature leaves mean chlorophyll and amino acids like L-theanine are still present. Still, greater levels of tannin and catechins are present than found in ceremonial grade matcha. However, culinary uses aside, high-quality culinary grade matcha is also a great low-cost option for an immediate health boost to be used to matcha a cup of matcha or matcha latte as well.

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Our Five Different Grades of Matcha Available in Bulk & Wholesale

Super Ceremonial

Our super ceremonial matcha is an authentic Japanese ceremonial matcha that is shade-grown and harvested in early spring for freshness. Our super ceremonial matcha is stone-ground and utilizes the youngest, greenest, and most tender leaves, which are hand-picked.

Ceremonial

Our ceremonial matcha is still a very pure, authentic Japanese ceremonial matcha that is shade-grown, harvested in early spring, and stone-ground for freshness. Our ceremonial matcha is perfect for everyday use that pairs beautifully with blended drinks, such as a matcha latte or iced matcha. It is an excellent choice for cafes preparing matcha-centric drinks.

Cafe Blend

Our cafe blend matcha combines our ceremonial grade and highest quality culinary matcha. Often our cafe blend of matcha uses leaves from the first and second harvests and has the sweet flavor of ceremonial matcha with a price that is a bit lower.

Culinary

Culinary does not mean low-quality by any means. However, our culinary grade matcha is slightly more potent in flavor than ceremonial and often uses leaves harvested during the second matcha harvest in early summer.

Ingredient

Our ingredient grade matcha is produced with the lowest amount of hand-picked young, green tea leaves, making it a bit less fine in texture, a darker green, and a bit more bitter than our other matcha grades. You do not want to use ingredient-grade matcha for preparing matcha drinks. Instead, ingredient grade is fantastic for large-scale brewing or trying out new matcha recipes.