Matcha has exploded in popularity outside Japan, which is wonderful for accessibility — but not so great for clarity. With more people drinking matcha than ever, a whole wave of misunderstandings has followed. Here are seven of the most common myths we hear, along with what’s actually going on behind the scenes.

Myth 1: “Ceremonial Grade” Is a Real, Regulated Standard

Verdict: False

“Ceremonial grade” sounds official, but there is no governing body in Japan that defines or enforces this label. Every brand sets its own criteria, which means a “ceremonial” matcha from one company may be closer to a latte blend from another.

In Japan, practitioners of the tea ceremony don’t use these marketing terms. Instead, they refer to broad traditional categories such as:

• Practice-grade blends used for lessons
• Usucha (thin tea) served to guests
• Koicha (thick tea) for formal or high-level ceremonies

All three would likely be sold overseas as “ceremonial grade,” despite being very different in purpose, flavour profile, and price.

Modern matcha production also includes single-origin, unblended, and cultivar-specific matchas, which don’t always fit neatly into historical classifications.

A separate guide will cover the true factors that determine matcha quality — shading, fertilisation, cultivar, steaming, tencha processing, and grinding. Coming soon!

Myth 2: The Greener the Matcha, the Better the Quality

Verdict: Mostly True — With Caveats

Bright, vivid green is usually a sign of:

• Healthy shading
• Good fertilisation
• Young leaves
• Freshly ground matcha
• Fine, even particle size

But colour alone can mislead. For example:

• Traditional straw shading (the most labour-intensive and historically revered method) produces matcha that is not always as neon-bright as matcha shaded under modern synthetic netting.

• Cultivars vary naturally in tone.

• The intensity of the final hiire (light roasting/firing) influences colour without signalling quality.

• Older matcha will brown slightly as it oxidises, even if it began as a top-tier tea.

Colour helps, but it cannot replace a proper understanding of how the tea was cultivated and processed.

Myth 3: Organic Matcha Is Automatically Superior

Verdict: It Depends

Organic farming is unquestionably better for land stewardship, but it comes with complexities.

Certification challenges

JAS organic certification is expensive, slow, and requires neighbouring farms to participate due to shared waterways and soil. Many small growers in Japan farm without chemicals yet can’t justify the time or cost of certification — meaning exceptional tea may exist outside the certified-organic label.

Taste differences

Modern Japanese green tea, especially matcha, owes much of its creamy umami intensity to nutrient-dense fertilisation.

Organic cultivation generally produces:

• Lower yield
• A lighter flavour profile
• Less intense amino acid development

This isn’t “worse,” it’s simply different — often more herbal, fresh, and subtle.

Many high-end producers use exclusively natural fertilisers (fish meal, grasses, tea prunings, rapeseed cake), which may not qualify as organic on paper but produce staggeringly good matcha.

Myth 4: Matcha Is Bitter by Nature

Verdict: False

Poor-quality matcha is bitter. Good matcha is not.

Bitterness comes from:

• Mature leaves
• Insufficient shading
• Low amino acid development
• Oxidation during storage
• Rough or overheated grinding

When matcha is made from carefully shaded young leaves, then processed and milled correctly, bitterness drops away and you get:

• Sweetness
• Depth
• Umami
• A velvety finish

Bitterness is a quality issue, not an inherent property of matcha.

Myth 5: Matcha Is Just Green Tea Ground Into Powder

Verdict: False

All matcha is green tea powder — but not all green tea powder is matcha.

Real matcha must be made from tencha, a tea produced through a completely different pathway to sencha:

• The plants are shaded for 3–6 weeks
• Leaves are picked young
• They are steamed, dried flat, and de-stemmed
• They are not rolled

Only then can the leaf be ground in a slow-turning granite mill (ishi-usu). The speed is crucial: faster rotation heats the tea and destroys aroma. A typical commercial mill produces only 40g per hour. Super Slow!

Powdering sencha creates funmatsu-sencha, which is inexpensive and often bitter — but not matcha.

Myth 6: You Need Special Equipment to Make Matcha Properly

Verdict: False

Matcha has been prepared for nearly a millennium. The essentials have barely changed:

• A bowl
• A whisk
• A sieve (optional)

You can use a milk frother or blender, but a chasen creates the best texture with the least effort in our opinion. Plus they are really cool aesthetically. 

As for automated “matcha machines” that grind and whisk for you: they’re clever, but they can’t replicate the refinement of a stone mill. They also require consumers to buy tencha, which is rarely sold at high quality to the public.

Fresh matcha is always better, but grinding your own at home is not practical, nor does it produce the results of a traditional mill.

Myth 7: A Good Matcha Must Be Foamy

Verdict: False

Foam is a style, not a rule.

The fluffy, creamy bowl seen on social media is usucha — thin tea whisked briskly. But matcha is just as traditional without foam.

• Koicha is made four times stronger and kneaded into a glossy, syrup-like consistency with zero bubbles.

• Many tea schools in Japan intentionally aim for minimal or no foam even in usucha.

Foam can signal freshness and good particle size, but its presence — or absence — doesn’t define quality.

Final Thoughts

Matcha is far more diverse than the marketing language around it. Cultivar, shading, fertilisation, processing, grinding style, and storage each shape the final flavour in ways far richer and more nuanced than any label like “ceremonial grade” or “latte grade.”

We still use these terms because they’re commonly recognised in the West and they offer a simple starting point for people learning how to choose matcha — but they are not official standards, and they can be misleading. As a rule of thumb: if a matcha seems too cheap to be true for its “grade,” it usually is.

If you’re exploring matcha, stay curious and taste widely — that’s the best way to find the style that truly suits your daily rituals.

If you have any questions send me a comment and ill do my best to respond to you. Thank you for reading and remember taste is subjective, so if you enjoy it. Drink it.

Cheers AL