What is matcha?
When you see matcha ice cream, matcha shake or matcha smoothie on the street, what you may want to know is that this has been a drink for aristocrats in China and Japan for thousands of years. Matcha is made of tender leaves of high grade green tea, shade-covered before harvest, proceeded and milled in old traditional ways into very fine powder. It contains plenty of vitamins and antioxidants, and is a healthy, delicious drink that gives you energy boost like coffee.
There are in general two grades recognized in the market: culinary grade and ceremonial grade. Ceremonial grade is the top-level grade matcha made out of the most tender leaves of first harvest, with very bright green color and almost no bitterness, for a matcha ceremony; culinary grade, however, uses older leaves that is more bitter so people often use it for cooking, beverage or bakery. There is not a fixed standard for "culinary" and "ceremonial" so you find find differences between same grade from different brands.