Cooking matcha vs Ceremonial Matcha

Curious what the difference is between ‘ceremonial’ and ‘cooking’ or ‘culinary’ matcha?

Continue reading and discover what the differences are!

How matcha is classified in Japan

In Japan, when shopping for matcha you’ll find the term 料理用 ‘ryouriyou’ translated this means “for cooking use”.

However, most matcha sold in Japan is intended for drinking.

Drinking the traditional way – as hot or cold tea.

Because of that,  drinking matcha is simply called matcha.

The only way to differentiate the cooking from drinking are the words ‘ryouriyou’ on the package.

This culinary type of matcha can be used for everything else you’d use matcha for.

You could use it in your drinks too, it just may not be the best experience.

not buying matcha tea directly from Japan?

your package may not have those characters to tell you what type of matcha it is.

that’s ok! 

i’d suggest you go with a brand you trust, chances are they’ve labeled it correctly.

it would do no good for them or their customers to mislabel it.

why should you  care about the matcha you buy and how you use it?

While I won’t stop you from using regular drinking matcha in your cooking, for many (including me) you might not be using your matcha to its fullest potential.

Here’s why.

When you dilute matcha in your smoothies, lattes, baked goods and other foods like soba, you’ll lose a lot of the delicate flavors and aromas that make each matcha unique and special.

These characteristics are what enable matcha to sell for such high prices. (for example, over $100 for just 40g!)

for reference,  that turns out to be just a few Tablespoons of matcha.

So why would you waste it?

So now that you know matcha is for drinking and ‘cooking’ matcha is for everything else, why not try some of my favorite from one of the famous tea growing regions –  Shizuoka, Japan?

In conclusion, matcha or what is sold as ‘ceremonial’ is for drinking. As in drinking straight after adding water.

If you want to try both cooking matcha and ceremonial matcha yourself, you can get a taste with some of my newest additions to the tea shop.

buy both types and see if you can notice the difference 😉