Green Tea vs. Matcha: What's the Difference?
Matcha. We have all been to a coffee shop or seen a picture of someone enjoying a cup of vibrant green liquid. Fret not, while it may look a tad radioactive, rest assured it is safe to drink.
You may think, matcha is just green tea ground up, and while that is true for the most part, there are some pretty key differences between the two that make these two green drinks very different from one another.
Processing
One of the main differences between green tea and matcha is how they are processed. Matcha is usually grown in the shade where as your standard green tea is grown in full sun. Due to sun exposure, green tea leaves are more of a dark green color where as the shaded leaves for matcha are able to maintain their chlorophyll, giving matcha its' fluorescent green color!
Green tea leaves, after harvesting, a dried whole. On the other hand, to create fine ground matcha, the stems and veins are removed from the leaves, dried, then ground into a fine powder.
Crafting the Cup
Due to the nature of the how each are processed, green tea and matcha are both prepared differently as drinks!
Served hot, both green tea and matcha need a water temperature between 160 and 180 degrees fahrenheit. If the water is too hot, this can burn your the leaves, resulting in a sad and bitter cup of tea. As a powder, for hot matcha, it is dissolved in and served, where iced matcha is shaken with water or milk till combined. Green tea has to be steeped in hot water for about 3 minutes.
Matcha and standard green tea, though from the same plant, contain very different levels of caffeine due to their processing.
On average, the standard green tea contains about 35 milligrams of caffeine per cup, whereas matcha contains approximately 280 milligrams per cup, which is about the equivalent to 1 cup of coffee!
Our Green Tea Favorites
At Piper and Leaf, we have a deep love for all tea, however a couple of our green teas that have been known to steal the show.
Sassyfras Strawberry is tried and true. This beloved green tea blend has been with us since our first farmer's market! Inspired by sassafras & sarsaparilla, we created our favorite, time-honored, spunky, root-imbued brew: Sassyfras Strawberry. We added an immaculate sencha tea, and filled it with delicious dried beets and strawberries to make a tantalizingly sweet and balanced homage to this symbol of independence, ingenuity, and family. This sencha celebration has grown alongside us though the years and trust us when we say, grows better and sweeter with time.
Springdrop Spritzer is another show stopper. Seriously. This one stands to be one of our most unique blends. A delightful burst of new spring growth. Bold rosemary and peppermint notes tingle the tongue while crisp and calming Sencha tea carries the sensation to the final lingering of a perfect union of cardamom and lemon. This triumphant beginning fades to a playful linger of creamy citrus.
