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HOW TO MAKE COLDBREW MATCHA
Fill a tall, skinny jar/water bottle with 12 oz ICY cold water, leaving an inch or two of space at the top. Add 1.5g (a scant teaspoon) matcha.
Tightly close the lid and shake like crazy! About 10 seconds or so will do. Tip the bottle to almost horizontal and slowly rotate it to create even better crema.
Enjoy! Drink straight-up from the bottle, or pour into smaller glasses for a more elegant presentation.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
1) Is there anything in your matcha besides green tea?
No. It's 100% green tea leaves (camellia sinensis) that have been stone-ground to an extremely fine texture similar to that of cocoa.
2) Where is it from?
Japan. Mainly from small family co-ops near Kyoto.
3) Why is your matcha so much more vibrant than other matcha I've seen? What gives it that intense green color?
Obsession from Japanese farmers, is the short answer. The hyper-green color is mainly due to high levels of chlorophyll, produced by the careful and gradual shading of the leaves with black mesh netting. This technique produces lots of chlorophyll, which causes the bright vibrant color, and is a sure mark of a very high-quality matcha.
4) Why is matcha considered such a healthy drink?
Matcha can reduce inflammation and inhibit harmful bacterial growth. It's a probiotic powerhouse, a serious oral health aid (recommended by dentists in Japan), blood sugar stabilizer, productivity cocktail, liver health booster, and hydration enabler.
5) Is organic matcha a better overall choice than conventionally grown matcha? Does organic matcha taste better?
No and no. Our farmers don't use any chemical pesticides, so that's not an issue. Read more about this below under “Organic vs. Conventional Matcha.”
6) How much matcha is needed for a serving?
About a gram, or roughly ½ teaspoon. This means a 30-gram tin of matcha would contain 30 servings.
7) Why is your matcha more expensive than others?
Producing artisanal matcha is an extremely labor-intensive process that hasn’t changed much in nearly 1,000 years. We don't cut corners. Every step of every process, from growing to harvesting to processing, is done by hand, using slow, time-tested techniques. Orders are stone-ground at the time of ordering, and we pay the extra fees to fly it here to ensure that it's hyperfresh when it arrives at our facility in California.
8) Is green tea used in traditional Japanese and Chinese medicine?
Yes. In both Japan and China, quality green tea leaves have been used in traditional medicine as an anti-inflammatory to treat diabetes, asthma (functioning as a bronchodilator), angina pectoris, peripheral vascular disease, and coronary artery disease. It's also used to stabilize blood sugar levels. There are many studies published in Western medical and scientific periodicals on the efficacy of matcha and green tea.
ORGANIC VS CONVENTIONAL MATCHA
In the world of food, organically grown produce is often (though by no means always) superior in color, taste, and nutrition. Not so with matcha, and here's why:
For us, it’s all about taste. While organic matcha farming in Japan has made great strides recently, and some of it is now quite tasty (see our Coldbrew Organic for an excellent example of tasty organic matcha), organic matcha as a rule produces a weaker amino acid/umami profile compared to its conventionally grown brethren. Why would this be?
It has to do with how tencha (the young tea leaves used to make quality matcha) is grown. That is to say, tencha spends the last, and most important, part of its life in shade so that the amino acid content of the plant can develop and remain intact when harvested. If it gets sunlight, those coveted amino acids get converted, via photosynthesis, into catechins, a process that changes the taste from sweet and brothy to bitter and unpleasant.
The dilemma thus becomes: if a plant can’t get energy to grow from sunlight, where does it get its energy from? In matcha’s case, it gets its energy from fertilizer. It NEEDS this added energy, since it’s not getting it from sunlight, simply to stay alive and vibrant. And the bitter truth (so to speak) is that organic tea fields using organic fertilizers can’t, at least by today’s technologies and standards, give it enough energy to grow with maximum amino acid structure. It just doesn’t deliver enough nitrogen for the plant to develop the complex amino acids that give great matcha its unique and umami-driven taste profile.
That said, our farmers are hardly dumping industrial-strength fertilizers into their fields. They use very high-quality natural fertilizers (mostly fish meal and pure nitrogen), but they are not certified organic. The plant NEEDS this added energy, since it’s not getting it from sunlight.
So this is why purely organic matcha grown only with organic fertilizers is actually inferior to conventionally grown matcha: purely organic fertilizers simply don’t have enough stored energy to create these ethereal, umami-packed, new-growth leaves in the absence of sunlight.
HOW TO TELL GOOD MATCHA FROM BAD MATCHA
It’s very easy to tell good matcha from bad matcha once the package is open, but it’s impossible to tell just by looking at packaging, either online or in person. Packaging can be deceptive: always buy from a trusted source!
Once the package is open, you have a gigantic clue: color. Quality matcha should be bright, bright, BRIGHT green. Electric green. Bad matcha will be a dull green; some are even army green, others are downright yellowish. These colors are bad signs indeed: they mean that 1) leaves *other* than the youngest leaves have been used to increase volume, 2) the matcha was never stored properly (ie in freezers) and has now badly oxidized 3) the matcha contains stems and branches, or 4) most likely 1, 2, and 3. So color is the biggest immediate factor in assessing the quality of matcha.
Next: get up close to it, and take a deep, slow inhale through the nose. What does the aroma tell you? Does it smell fresh and inviting and vegetal, almost like freshly blended baby green vegetables? If so, you’ve got some good, sweet matcha. If it smells a little stale, a little dusty, a bit like old hay . . . that’s not so good.
Taste. This one is easy. After you’ve whisked your cup of matcha, does it taste good, or does it make you feel like spitting it out? Does it taste bitter or sweet (or neither)? Inferior matcha tastes unpleasantly bitter (there are those who would say that a good matcha should be pleasantly bitter, but we here at Breakaway Matcha are not among them). We prefer it to taste sweet, which is a result of the complexity of the amino acids in the tea. We certainly don’t add sugar or honey or agave or any sweetness to it; it should be naturally sweet. It should also have a great deal of umami (a brothy meatiness), which is an emergent property of the high amino acid content of great matcha.
Finish. It should have a long, pleasant finish that lasts a good 30 seconds, if not longer. Young vegetal notes should just sing on. This is the mark of a truly excellent matcha.
Customer
Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2025
Mixes really good
N
Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2025
My go to matcha has been out of stock, so I decided to try this one. It's not bad, but lacks flavor and depth and is fairly astringent. For the price, I would expect better quality. The one thing I like about it is that it is very finely ground and blends easily with cold liquid.
E. Vasquez
Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2024
Quality matcha! Color and taste among top tier. Very smooth not overly earthy.
Ravi Sharma
Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2024
I am a consummate Matcha drinker. I've always relied on japanese brands like Naoki to procure ceremonial and premium grade Matchas. This brand was a recommendation, and I would recommend it to anyone 100%.It comes in a sturdy canister that can keep the Matcha dry, cool and in a dark environment. The Matcha itself had a brilliant vibrant emerald green color. It did not have as much bitterness or astringent and definitely had a smooth feel. Surprisingly, this was one of the least clumpiest Matchas I've had and requires least amount of sifting. I'd say it is very versatile for using it in lattes for beginners to ceremonial matcha drinks for connoisseur. Very satisfied with the product for the price paid.
Ty
Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2022
Was really excited to find a cold brew specific matcha, but was quickly disappointed. Package is tiny and maybe 10 servings, NOT 30. The tea is completely tasteless and doesn't mix well in cold liquids. Complete ripoff, and no way to return. Reached out to the company for a refund as they noted that if you're not satisfied you can get a refund, but have not had any response. Don't waste your money, there are far better cheaper options for matcha suitable for cold brew.
Laura in Santa Cruz
Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2021
I first tried iced macha in Japan, and became hooked. Nothing I could find is the store was any good. Eric gave out samples at the Santa Cruz Japanese Fair, and It was delicious. I started buying through the mail from Breakaway, but the free shipping and subscription rates lured me to Amazon.
JAS
Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2020
I've had just limited experience with "ceremonial" grade Matcha, but this one is much brighter green relative to the last "ceremonial" grade product I've tried. It tastes much better, less bitter. This one I go without sugar when hot, could not with the other it was too bitter, and less sugar than before when I make a cold Matcha drink (1/2 teaspoon of Matcha, 6 oz water, 1 teaspoon of sugar, ice, shake in a martini shaker for a full 20 seconds- my son likes less water and with some milk instead). Expensive, but you get what you pay for here, IMHO.
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