The bright green tea powder called matcha has become a worldwide sensation in recent years, gaining popularity for its unique taste and many health benefits! Not that long ago you could only find it in Japanese restaurants and specialty food shops, but now it’s everywhere, in cookies, ice cream, and even steak sauce! Today’s new favourite flavour actually goes back deep into time with a millennium spanning story!
The long history of Matcha began in the ancient Chinese Tang Dynasty around the 7th century. Tea was an expensive and precious commodity during this period, usually reserved for the wealthy and elite. The tea leaves were harvested, then steamed and pressed into bricks to make them convenient for transportation and trade. In order to prepare a cup of tea, a piece of the brick was broken off, then pulverized into a powder and mixed into the steaming hot water, a method that would eventually lead to the matcha we know today.
In the time of the Song Dynasty, 960-1279, the cultivation and consumption of tea continued to grow. The Chinese came up with a new method to prepare it called “whisking tea”, in which the tea leaves that had been ground into a fine powder were whisked with hot water to make a frothy beverage much like today’s matcha.
Matcha arrived in Japan in the 12th century when a Zen Buddhist monk named Eisai carried tea seeds from China to the Land of the Rising Sun. Those seeds were planted in the Kyoto area heralding the cultivation of tea in Japan. The matcha we know today started to be brewed in the Kamakura period, 1185-1333. The Zen Buddhist Japanese monks used the intricate ritual of preparing and drinking matcha to help them meditate, increasing their focus and mindfulness. Thus the “chado” or tea ceremony as we know it today was born.
The Zen monk who cemented the tea ceremony’s place in monastic life was Murata Jukō, 1423-1502. He was an influential proponent of tea’s spiritual benefits, and is considered to be the father of the Japanese tea ceremony. The venerable monk advocated the practise of “wabi-sabi”, which roughly translates as an appreciation of modesty, simplicity, and life’s many imperfections, all of which are reflected in the chado practise. Jukō ‘s philosophy formed the basis of what would become the modern tea ceremony.
During the turbulent 14th and 15th centuries, the consumption of matcha left the monastery to be eagerly embraced by the warrior samurai class. The samurai who were inspired by the Zen monks worked the tea ceremony into their famed “bushido”code of conduct, believing that the chado helped them to develop a heightened sense of awareness, discipline, and mental fortitude, all necessary components of the martial way of life. The “chanoyu,” tea gatherings swiftly grew to be an essential aspect of samurai culture, giving the warriors an opportunity to form new alliances and demonstrate their mastery of the tea ceremony’s intricacies.
From the drink of Chinese nobles, to humble monks, to courageous samurai, and now to kids buying treats at convenience stores, matcha has enjoyed a long and strange journey that continues to delight our taste buds to this very day