This is where the pieces that do not fit on a product page live: why matcha costs what it does, what each label guarantees, where the ceremony comes from and how to make a good cup. Every article cites its sources in the text, whether official bodies, regulations or market reports, and none of them promises health effects.
They are grouped by what people usually come looking for: understanding the market, buying with judgement, making it better or learning about the culture matcha comes from. If you are starting from scratch, read what ceremonial grade matcha is first. If you already know what you want, the ranking gives each brand’s score with the formula in plain view.
Market and prices
- Chinese matcha returns to Europe in 2026 New
Why Chinese-grown matcha is gaining shelf space in European shops after Japan’s 2025 crisis, and five criteria for judging quality without looking at the flag. - What a cup of matcha really costs New
The cost per cup of every brand we have reviewed at the same 2 g dose, what it adds up to over a month and a year, and why the size of the tin matters more than the brand. - Getting into matcha without spending 40 euros New
What to buy first, which tools can wait a month, and the two temperature and dose mistakes that ruin the first cup. - The 2025-26 matcha shortage: what nobody tells you
The fall in Kyoto’s tencha harvest and the 2025 price surge, with data from JA Kyoto and the ITC, and what it changes for anyone buying in Europe.
Buying with judgement
- How to tell genuine matcha
Five tests you can do at home (colour, aroma, dissolving, foam and taste) to tell in two minutes whether a matcha is first harvest or just ground green tea. - JAS Organic certification: what it means
What the Japanese organic label guarantees, how a matcha certified in Japan gets into Europe, and what to look for on the pack.
Brewing
- Usucha vs koicha: the real differences
Ratios, temperature, whisking technique and the grade of matcha each of the two classic preparations needs, and when each one is served.
History and culture
- The history of matcha: from Jingshan to Uji
From powdered tea in Tang China to its arrival in Japan with the monk Eisai in 1191 and the ceremony Sen no Rikyū set down, with documented dates. - The tea ceremony step by step
Every stage of a ceremony, from the garden (roji) and the low entrance (nijiriguchi) to the bowl received with both hands, told without mysticism.
Other guides on the site
Some questions are answered in standing guides that we correct when the data changes: ceremonial vs culinary grade, matcha cultivars, how to make matcha step by step and the cost per cup calculator. How we choose topics and check every figure is set out in the editorial policy.