Method
How we test matcha
Short version: every tin is bought at retail, tasted blind in one sitting, and the losers get published alongside the winners. Here is the method in full, before the first tasting rather than after it.
We buy everything
No press samples, no seeded product, no arrangements with sellers. Every tin reviewed here is paid for at the same retail price you would pay, shipped to the same Canadian address, with the shipping and tax recorded as part of what the matcha cost.
How the tasting works
No tasting has been run yet. This is the protocol the first one will follow, published in advance so it cannot be quietly adjusted afterwards to suit a result. When the tasting happens, this section is replaced with what actually occurred, including the parts that went wrong.
Every tin is tasted as usucha, because that is the preparation that exposes a matcha rather than hiding it. Two grams of powder, sifted, whisked into sixty millilitres of water at 80 °C — cooler than boiling, which scalds the tea and makes almost anything taste bitter. One tin at a time, in a rinsed bowl, tasted immediately.
The tins are decanted into unmarked containers by someone else and tasted in an order I do not choose, so I cannot know which one costs sixty dollars while I am drinking it. That matters more than it sounds: price is the single strongest bias in any tasting, and knowing the number makes the expensive one taste better to anyone.
Everything goes in one sitting, at a kitchen counter, in daylight. Not a laboratory — a kitchen counter. Notes are written before the labels come back off, and the price-per-gram arithmetic is done afterwards so it cannot lean on the tasting either.
What we judge
- Colour — dry powder against a white surface, in daylight.
- Aroma — dry, then after whisking.
- Bitterness and astringency — the fastest tell for late-harvest leaf sold as ceremonial.
- Umami and sweetness — what the shade-growing is supposed to buy you.
- Texture — whether it clumps, and whether the foam holds.
- Cost per gram in CAD — landed, not sticker.
What we do not claim
We are not a laboratory. We do not test for heavy metals, pesticide residue, or catechin content, and we do not report numbers we did not measure. Where those things matter we link to the producer's own testing and say plainly that we are relying on it.
We also make no health claims. Matcha is a drink, not a treatment.
How we make money
Some links on this site earn a commission when you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. That is the whole business model, and it is the reason the next paragraph matters.
Commission rates play no part in rankings. A brand with no affiliate program at all can sit at the top of a list — and on our main buying guide, one does. Where a placement is paid for, it is labelled Sponsored and it sits outside the ranking, never inside it. Full disclosure.
Corrections
If something here is wrong, tell us and we will fix it and note the change at the foot of the page. Contact — or email hello@matchapow.ca.