What does matcha taste like? Grass, seaweed, and what is a warning
By Mio.KShare
Good matcha tastes sweet, savory and grassy at the same time, with a faint bitterness at the end. The savory part is the surprise for most people: it is closer to a light broth than to a cup of green tea, and it is why a well-made bowl tastes full rather than thin.
The short answer: matcha should taste fresh-green and rounded, a little like young leaves and a little like seaweed, with sweetness at the front and a gentle bitterness at the back. If it tastes like hay or dust, it is old. If it tastes fishy, it has gone off. If it tastes harshly bitter, the cause is usually too much powder or too little water, not the matcha itself.
I study tea in Tokyo, in the Urasenke school, and I drink thin tea most days. Here is what each of the words people use for matcha actually means, and which ones are a warning.
The four tastes in a good bowl
| What you taste | Where it comes from | What it should be like |
|---|---|---|
| Sweetness | The leaf is shaded for weeks before picking, which keeps its amino acids | Soft, at the front of the mouth, never sugary |
| Savoriness (umami) | The same shading | Broth-like and long. People often call it "seaweed" |
| Green freshness | Young leaf, ground whole | Like cut grass or spring vegetables, bright rather than dull |
| Bitterness | The leaf's own catechins | Gentle, at the end, and it fades quickly |
All four are there in a good bowl. What changes from one matcha to another is the balance. A tea chosen for drinking on its own leans sweet and savory; a cheaper powder made for lattes leans grassy and bitter, because it is meant to stand up to milk.
Does matcha taste like grass?
A little, and that is right. Fresh matcha has a clean green note, like young leaves or freshly cut grass. What it should not taste like is hay. A dull, dusty, dried-grass smell, often with a yellowish or khaki color, means the tea has been open too long or stored badly. The two words sound close, but in the bowl they are opposites: one is fresh, the other is faded. How to store matcha covers how to keep it from going that way.
Does matcha taste like seaweed?
Often, yes, and a good one can. The savory depth that shading builds into the leaf is the same family of taste that people know from seaweed and broth. Many first-time drinkers have no other word for it. A fishy smell is different. That is a sign of oxidized, old tea, and it does not go away with more whisking. I explain how to tell them apart in why matcha can taste fishy.
Does matcha taste like green tea?
It is green tea, but it does not taste like the green tea most people know. With a cup of sencha, you drink water that the leaves have been steeped in. With matcha, you drink the leaf itself, ground to a powder and whisked into the water. That is why matcha is thicker, rounder and more savory, with a body that steeped tea does not have. It is also why a bowl uses so little: about two grams.
Does matcha taste like coffee?
No. The two are often compared because both are bitter and both are drunk for a lift, but the bitterness is different. Coffee is roasted, so its flavors are toasted, dark and acidic. Matcha is not roasted at all. Its bitterness is green and short, and it sits under sweetness and savoriness rather than over them. If you want the side-by-side, matcha against coffee goes through it.
Thin tea and thick tea taste different
Almost all matcha drunk at home is usucha, thin tea: about two grams whisked to a light foam. It is the bowl described above. Koicha, thick tea, uses roughly twice the powder in much less water and is kneaded rather than whisked, so it comes out glossy and almost syrupy. It is intensely savory and much less bitter than you would expect, because it is made from a sweeter, gentler tea. Usucha and koicha explains the difference.
When it tastes wrong
- Harshly bitter: usually too much powder, too little water, or slow whisking. Why matcha turns bitter.
- Like nothing at all: usually too little powder, or a bowl lost in milk. Why matcha can taste like nothing.
- Gritty or chalky: lumps that were never broken up. Why matcha tastes powdery.
- Not sweet: what sweetness to expect, and what to change. Is matcha supposed to taste sweet.
Questions I get asked
What does matcha taste like?
Sweet, savory and fresh-green at once, with a gentle bitterness at the end. A good bowl tastes full and rounded, closer to a light broth than to a cup of steeped green tea.
Is matcha supposed to taste like grass?
A fresh green note is normal. A dull hay or dust taste is not; it means the matcha is old or has been stored badly.
Why does my matcha taste like seaweed?
That savory, seaweed-like depth is part of good matcha and comes from growing the leaf in shade. A fishy smell is different and means the tea has oxidized.
Does matcha taste like coffee?
No. Both can be bitter, but coffee is roasted and matcha is not. Matcha's bitterness is green, short and softened by sweetness.
What does real matcha taste like compared with cheap matcha?
A matcha made for drinking on its own is sweeter and more savory, and its bitterness is gentle. Powders made for lattes are grassier and more bitter, because they are meant to be mixed with milk.
Where this fits
The taste depends as much on the bowl you make as on the tea. A 100-prong Takayama chasen gives the fine foam that carries the sweetness, and a sifter stops the lumps that taste chalky. The full method is in how to make matcha.
Written by Mio.K, who chooses everything in this shop by hand in Japan.