Okumidori Ceremonial Matcha

A matcha from the Okumidori cultivar, whose name means deep green. Whisked into a bowl, it is sweet and creamy, with young greens, umami and a touch of nori. Made with 2 g of powder and 70 ml of 80°C water.

Origin & Story

Okumidori means deep green, and the name suits the leaf. The cultivar was bred at Japan's national tea research station at Kanaya, in Shizuoka, from Yabukita, the country's main cultivar, and Shizuoka Zairai No. 16, and was registered in 1974 as Tea Norin No. 32. It buds late and is harvested about eight days after Yabukita, and its taste is calmer and less harsh than its parent's.

Today Okumidori is grown mainly in Kagoshima, Mie and Kyoto, around Uji and Wazuka, and it covers about 3.3 percent of Japan's tea area. It is used for sencha, gyokuro, kabusecha and matcha, and it holds its green color under shade, which suits it to tencha.

Matcha starts as tencha. The leaf is shaded for two to three weeks, steamed, dried flat and stripped of stems and veins, and then stone-ground into a powder so fine that the whole leaf is drunk rather than steeped. The color is brilliant green because shade-grown leaves make more chlorophyll.

To make thin tea, usucha, sift about 2 g of powder into a warm bowl, work it into a smooth paste with a little of 70 ml of water at 80°C, then add the rest and whisk in a quick W motion for 15 to 20 seconds until a fine foam covers the surface. Drink it at once.

A note on labels: ceremonial, as it is printed on many tins, is not an official grade. Producers judge matcha by harvest, shading, cultivar and analysis, so the cultivar and the producer tell you more than the label does.

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