Matcha usucha grade
Matcha graded for usucha, the thin preparation whisked to a light froth with roughly two grams to seventy millilitres. It is a grading and preparation distinction rather than a different product: the same tencha at a lower grade than koicha requires.
Character
Bright and savoury with a light froth. Usucha is the everyday preparation and the one nearly all matcha outside a tea ceremony is made as.
- Flavour
- Umami, Vegetal, Creamy
- Aroma
- Marine, Fresh
- Mouthfeel
- Medium, Silky, Smooth
- Complexity
- Moderate
- Notes
- fresh grass, sweet cream, seaweed
- Aftertaste
- Savoury and clean with a slight astringent edge.
Moderate intensity: noticeable weight or grip, but neither dominates the cup.
Provenance and production
- Origin
- Japan
- Region
- Uji, Wazuka
- Cultivar
- Okumidori, Samidori
- Oxidation
- Unoxidised
- Harvest
- Spring
- Processing
- Shading → Steaming (Japanese fixation) → De-stemming and de-veining → Stone milling
Brewing
Whisking (bowl-prepared powdered tea)
2–4 g/100 ml · 70–80 °C · 1 authored infusion
Gongfu brewing (gaiwan)
3–4 g/100 ml · 75–85 °C · 4 authored infusions
No caffeine estimate is authored for this tea. TeaHQ does not infer one from its category, because category predicts caffeine poorly — matcha and gyokuro carry more than many black teas.
If you like this
Grouped by why they were suggested, strongest reason first. Nothing here is a blended score — a suggestion appears under the best reason that exists for it, and never under a weaker one as well.
Editorially linked
Someone wrote down why these two belong together. The note below is theirs.
- Matcha koicha grade
The same powder category at four times the concentration. Only tencha graded for koicha survives it without bitterness.
Similar sensory profile
Shares controlled flavour, aroma and mouthfeel descriptors. A looser match — two teas can share descriptors and still taste nothing alike.
- Chumushi sencha
Shares 6 descriptors with Matcha usucha grade: vegetal, umami, medium, silky, marine and fresh.
- Enshi Yu Lu
Shares 6 descriptors with Matcha usucha grade: umami, vegetal, medium, silky, marine and fresh.
- Kabusecha
Shares 6 descriptors with Matcha usucha grade: umami, vegetal, creamy, medium, silky and marine.
- Tamaryokucha
Shares 6 descriptors with Matcha usucha grade: vegetal, umami, medium, smooth, marine and fresh.
- Tencha
Shares 6 descriptors with Matcha usucha grade: umami, vegetal, creamy, silky, smooth and marine.
- Uji sencha
Shares 6 descriptors with Matcha usucha grade: umami, vegetal, medium, silky, marine and fresh.
- Yu Lu supreme grade
Shares 6 descriptors with Matcha usucha grade: vegetal, umami, medium, silky, marine and fresh.
Written comparisons
Where TeaHQ has set this tea against another in full, rather than deriving the comparison.
- Matcha grades explained — There is no official matcha grading system, and the terms everyone uses were invented by sellers. What actually varies is measurable, and this compares the two ends of it.