Encha Guide: Matcha Grades and Recommendation

Get to Know Our Matcha Grades

All three of our matcha grades are ground from tea leaves grown on our organic farm in Uji, Japan. We never add sugar to our matcha powder, so you can expect pure, rich matcha flavor, no matter how you choose to enjoy your tea.

Ceremonial-Grade Encha is ground from premium, first-harvest leaves, which are the most tender, plucked each spring from our farm in Uji, Japan. It’s best suited for the ceremonial style of drinking matcha, with water only. The taste is smooth, full-bodied, delicately grassy, and never bitter.

Latte-Grade Encha is ground from standard, high-quality, first-harvest leaves. When prepared just with hot water, latte-grade matcha can have a strong, slightly bitter taste. That extra strength makes it perfectly suited for pairing with milk or a milk substitute. Our premium, first harvest leaves offer a greener hue and a smoother latte, compared with matcha made with second- or third-harvest leaves.

Culinary-Grade Encha is ground from premium, second-harvest leaves, plucked from our organic matcha farm. Culinary-Grade matcha offers a balanced palate, both vegetal and earthy, with a sweet, nutty finish. It’s perfect for cooking, baking, or adding to smoothies.

Grade naming is subjective to each matcha brand.
Here are 4 more factors to consider when choosing your matcha.

Organic: Make sure your matcha is always USDA Certified Organic.
Origin: Matcha connoisseurs consider Uji to have the ultimate terroir for matcha growth and cultivation, yielding the most premium matcha in the world.
Harvest: When enjoying matcha as a beverage, always stick to first harvest varietals.
Taste & Hue: The best matcha powder is bright green, smooth, and slightly grassy.

DON'T TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT

See what bloggers and other experts have to say about Encha Matcha.

Encha Matcha Guide

Purist

If you like everything in its pure form (loose leaf tea, black coffee, kale, etc.), drinking ceremonial-grade Encha as hot matcha tea will be a daily treat as if in the spring green tea garden.
The simple ritual of preparing and whisking Encha in the hand-crafted ceramic bowl enhances the calming and mindful experience.

Latte Lovers and Stronger-Tea Lovers

Latte-grade Encha is the only available 1st-harvest Japanese organic matcha offered for making latte with sugar-less milk (almond, coconut, soy, etc.). No need to add sweetener unless your sweet tooth is kicking.
Many other matcha brands would have named Latte-Grade Encha as ceremonial grade. But we offer our most delicate grade as ceremonial-grade Encha.
If you like stronger-taste teas, you will also enjoy drinking latte-grade Encha as hot matcha tea just with water.
Latte-grade Encha is also great for a cold shake, with ice and water in a bottle, in protein shake, shaken with coconut water or OJ.
Latte-grade Encha is a great versatile value choice for 1st-harvest pure organic matcha from Japan, much cheaper than other 1st-harvest organic matcha.

Notes:

Dairy milk contains a type of protein called casein. Some studies found casein might lower the absorption of the antioxidant catechins in matcha, by about 20%. So we don't recommend dairy milk as the preferred choice. Plant-based vegan milk such as oat or almond milk is the best.
You can use any grade of matcha for baking and dessert. See beautiful matcha recipes by Sarah of Snixy Kitchen who uses Latte-grade Encha.

For personalized recommendation, please email us: encha@encha.com