Matcha and Green Tea: Is There A Difference?

Have you ever wondered why matcha is typically known as matcha green tea but doesn’t look like tea at all?

Matcha is in fact a form of green tea, but they share hardly any similarities other than that.

So even though matcha and green tea come from the same plant, they are actually quite different from each other. They’re vary on everything from the cultivation to preparation, I swear, there’s hardly any overlap!

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Is There A Difference Between Matcha and Green Tea?

Is Matcha And Green Tea The Same Thing?

The only similarity between matcha and green tea is that they come from the same plant: Camelia sinensis. In fact, to officially be called tea, it has to come from the Camelia sinensis plant. That means that black, oolong, white, and Pu’er tea also all come from Camelia sinensis. It’s how you process the leaves that depict what kind of tea you’ll get.

Green tea is essentially an umbrella that includes many other variations of green tea, matcha being one of them. Other types of green tea include Sencha, Gyokuro, and Hojicha.

To be categorized as a green tea means it uses the youngest leaves and are the least oxidized (they most resemble the recently plucked leaf).

But the similarities between matcha and green tea pretty much end there…

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The Difference Between Matcha And Green Tea

Despite matcha and green tea coming from the same plant, and even the same leaves, there are quite a few differences between matcha and green tea.

They differ on everything from cultivation, processing, and even the preparation. They offer distinct health benefits and drinking experiences.

P.S. Do your own fun taste test with my tea tasting journal and guide.

The Cultivation: Green Tea Versus Matcha

As I previously described, green tea comes from the youngest tea leaves that are barely processed. There are a few extra steps to get Matcha from green tea leaves.

First, matcha leaves aren’t just the youngest leaves, they also have to be shade grown. And on top of that, it’s only the top quality plants that can be used to make matcha.

When they leaves are finally plucked, they’re then de-stemmed and deveined. This is followed by crushing the leaves using stones to turn them into powder!

How To Prepare Matcha Vs. Green Tea

Aside from matcha being powder, another major difference between the two is how you prepare them. You prepare green tea as you would any other tea: boil water and steep the leaves for the recommended amount of time.

Matcha, on the other hand, has a ceremonial preparation associated with drinking it. The traditional method uses a bamboo whisk (called a chasen) and a bowl (called a chawan).

There are many other alternative ways to make it today (see how to make matcha using household items). But! That being said, you still can’t simply boil water and steep it. Because Matcha is a powder you need to properly mix it. You never remove the powder, you actually end up drinking it all.

It’s almost like the espresso of tea, you’re making a much smaller amount that you can typically drink quickly (it also has more caffeine… but more on that later).

Alternatively, matcha lattes have become a very popular way to enjoy matcha. But you would never really mix green tea with milk. The only similarity when preparing matcha and green tea is that you never want to use boiling water.

This will burn the leaves (in powder form as well) giving a bitter taste to your drink. This is often why people dislike both green tea and matcha. If it isn’t brewed using the right temperature water, it won’t taste good at all.

Matcha Health Benefits Far Exceed Green Tea’s

You’d think they’d the health benefits from matcha would be the same as those from green tea because they’re from the same leaf, but that isn’t the case…

There are two explanations for why matcha is so much more powerful for our health versus green tea. The first difference comes from matcha leaves being shade grown which promotes the production of chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is what gives matcha that bright green color, but also makes it way more powerful.

Matcha has a lot more antioxidants than green tea (like up to 10 times more!). On top of that, matcha also includes catechin EGCg (one of the most powerful antioxidants which helps fight cancer).

The caffeine levels are also much higher in matcha because of this. Green tea contains about half the amount of caffeine as black tea, and about a quarter of coffee. But matcha has half the amount that a cup of coffee does!

P.S. Are you looking for more caffeine alternatives to coffee? See more recommendations in my post.

The second reason matcha has more health benefits is because you end up consuming the entire leaf (when you drink the powder). Green tea you’re merely steeping the leaves and then removing them… although there’s nothing really stopping you from drinking them. Anyway, by drinking the powder, you’re directly ingesting all the benefits.

Slight Downside To Drinking Matcha Vs. Green Tea

Matcha has a handful amazing benefits, and offers a completely different tea drinking experience from green tea. But I do find it a bit more annoying to prepare and even drink than green tea.

I might just be that I’m a really slow drinker, but as much as I whisk the matcha powder, it always ends up falling to the bottom for me to enjoy all at the end. Let me tell you that drinking a mouthful of powder isn’t so enjoyable to say the least. It’s STRONG and bitter, and the mouthfeel is strange.

The alternative that I’ve come up with is to always keep a spoon in my cup to stir before every sip. It’s a bit tedious. The other option is to down it like an actual espresso, but I like enjoying my morning cup for as long as I can! In this regard I’d take drinking green tea over matcha.