Blog
The matcha blog
One question per post. The ones people actually type at eleven at night with a bowl of something bitter in front of them.
The guides on this site are reference pages. They get rewritten in place, they carry no publication date, and they are meant to be true for years — what matcha is, what the grades mean, how to tell real Japanese powder from the rest.
Posts are the other thing. Each one takes a single question, answers it in the first paragraph, and then explains why the answer is what it is. They carry the date they were written, and some of them will go out of date — a post about what tencha cost at auction this spring is a snapshot of this spring. That is a feature. Anything whose truth depends on the year is written here rather than quietly folded into a guide that claims to be timeless.
Nothing here reviews a product. When a post needs to point at a specific tin it links to the buying guide, which is the only page on this site allowed to rank anything — and it will not rank anything until the tins have been bought and tasted. The method is at how we test.
Matcha vs coffee
A bowl of matcha carries roughly half the caffeine of a cup of coffee, not more. What the measurements say, and what the theanine research supports.
Why matcha tastes bitter
Four things make a bowl of matcha harsh. Three of them are in your kitchen and take a minute to fix. The fourth is the powder, and no technique rescues it.
Does matcha go bad
Matcha does not spoil, it fades, and it fades fastest once the tin is open. What refrigeration is worth, and how to read the colour, not the date.
Why matcha is so expensive
Kyoto's 2026 auctions closed with hand-picked Uji tencha at ¥52,086 a kilogram. What moved, and what it means for the price of a tin in Canada.
Where to buy in Canada
Four ways to buy matcha in Canada, what each one costs once shipping and tax land, and the one border fact almost every guide gets wrong.
