How to Make Matcha

Sift two scoops of matcha — about 2 g — into a warm, dry bowl. Add a little water just off the boil. Whisk briskly in a W or M motion, not round, until a fine foam rises — about fifteen seconds.

Fill the bowl the rest of the way, or pour it over ice. That's all. No ceremony is required; the ceremony, if it comes, comes later.

What you need

Four things, and one of them is optional. A Starter Set is the three that are not.

A bamboo whisk (chasen). This is the one piece with no substitute. A milk frother moves the water but does not break the powder against the wall of the bowl, which is what actually makes the foam fine rather than bubbly. If you want the comparison in full, it is here.

A bowl (chawan). Wide enough that the whisk can move, deep enough that nothing leaves the bowl. Eleven to thirteen centimeters across and seven to eight deep is the range that works; a cereal bowl is usually too steep-sided. How to choose one.

A scoop (chashaku). A teaspoon will do the job. The scoop exists because it holds a consistent amount without compacting the powder, which a metal spoon does.

A sifter (furui), optional but close to essential. Matcha compacts in the tin and the clumps that form there do not whisk out. They sit in the bottom of the bowl as bitter lumps. Why sifting changes the taste.

Quantities

The four steps, and the reason for each

1. Warm the bowl, then dry it. Pour hot water in, swirl, tip it out, wipe it dry. The warmth keeps the tea from going cold in a shallow bowl, and the drying matters more than the warming: matcha meeting a wet bowl clumps immediately.

2. Sift the powder in. Two scoops, about two grams. Sift it directly into the dry bowl.

3. Add water just off the boil. Just off the boil. Boil the kettle, let it stand a minute or two, and pour — you do not need a thermometer. The hand matters more than the temperature — bitterness and flat foam come from the whisking first: slow, or from the arm instead of the wrist. In a tea room the kettle sits just below boiling all afternoon. No cold water is added before whisking; the water cools on its way, through the ladle and into a bowl that has been warmed and wiped dry, and the tea is not bitter. At home, letting the kettle stand a minute or two does the same work. The temperature question in detail, and what else makes it bitter.

4. Whisk fast, in a W or M, not in a circle. Hold the bowl steady with one hand. The wrist does the work, not the arm, and the whisk stays just off the bottom rather than pressing into it. A circular motion pushes the powder to the side of the bowl and makes large bubbles; the back-and-forth breaks it against the tines. Fifteen seconds is usually enough. Finish by lifting the whisk slowly through the center to settle the surface. How long to whisk.

Then drink it. Thin tea does not keep — the foam falls and the powder settles within a few minutes, so it is made one bowl at a time, when it is wanted.

Before the very first bowl

A new whisk arrives with its tines dried straight and closed. Used dry the first time, they are brittle and some will snap. Stand the whisk in warm water for about 1 minute before the first use so the tines soften and open, and give it a moment in warm water before each use after that. Using a new whisk for the first time.

What usually goes wrong

No foam. Almost always the whisk rather than the hand — tines still closed, too few of them, or a whisk that has lost too many. The five causes, in order of likelihood.

Bitter. Look at the whisking first — worked slowly, or from the arm instead of the wrist, a bowl stays bitter however carefully you measured the water. After that: water too hot, too much powder for the water, or matcha that has been open for months. How to store it.

Gritty at the bottom. Unsifted powder. There is no whisking your way out of it once it is in the bowl.

Afterwards

Rinse the whisk in water alone, never with detergent, and never leave it standing in the bowl. Shake the water off and set it head down on a whisk stand to dry, which keeps the tines in their curl while air moves through them; with no stand, stand it head down with the handle up. Bamboo splits when it dries closed and mold finds it when it dries wet. Cleaning and drying.

Thin tea, thick tea, and everything else

What is described above is usucha, thin tea, which is what is made almost every time. Koicha, thick tea, uses roughly twice the powder in half the water and is kneaded slowly rather than whisked, and it comes out glossy with no foam at all. It asks for a better tea than everyday matcha, because there is nowhere for a rough one to hide. The difference between the two.

For cold and for milk, the powder is whisked with a little hot water first and diluted afterwards, because matcha does not dissolve into cold liquid. Iced matcha and matcha latte.

If the foam will not come, it is almost always the whisk rather than you — the five causes are here, in order of likelihood. The whole beginner's guide is Matcha at Home.