Matcha originated in the Sui Dynasty of China, rose in the Tang Dynasty, and flourished in the Song Dynasty. It has a history of more than a thousand years. "The green clouds attract the wind and the white flowers float on the bowl of noodles." This is the praise of matcha by Lu Tong, a poet of the Tang Dynasty. The poem vividly describes the foam and color of matcha. However, since the Ming Dynasty, it has become popular in China to use tea leaves to make soup and discard the residue. The matcha tea ceremony was lost, and the traditional tea mill was also lost. Chinese matcha tea formed a historical era.

At the end of the ninth century (the middle period of Japan's Heian period), Chinese Matcha tea entered Japan with the envoys sent by the Tang Dynasty. From the emperor to the common people, they all highly praised Chinese Matcha tea, and Chinese Matcha tea was carried forward in Japan. The Japanese integrate tea tasting with religious philosophy, social morality, and moral cultivation, and elevate tea drinking to the level of "Tao". The unique Japanese tea ceremony has now become Japan's national quintessence, regarded as a gift to state guests, and is known as The best in Japan.

At the beginning of the 21st century, Dr. An, a scholar in Japan, with the full support of the Chinese government and the strong assistance of the Japan-China Friendly Exchange Association, introduced a complete set of Japanese matcha production equipment and technology and founded Uji Matcha. It opened a chapter for matcha production in China and obtained a Chinese patent.

Uji Matcha has no fragrance, coloring, or preservatives. Today, when the toxic and side effects of flavors, pigments, antibiotics, and growth hormones are increasingly being questioned, Uji Matcha is known for its unique biological functions and "greenness" The essence is getting more and more deeply into people's dietary life.

The pride of Uji Matcha:

China’s No. 1 Matcha production QS license: 3115 1402 0001

Micropowder Matcha stone grinding patent certificate: ZL 2006 2 0135720 .X

Matcha standard: Q/TFPS 2007

Export inspection filing: 3100626318

U.S. FDA filing number: sha34940

Uji Matcha motto: Safe, healthy and delicious

Uji Matcha’s corporate motto: Responsibility for pioneering and dedication

Uji Matcha advocates: Healthy, elegant and long-lived

Edit this section of the history of Uji Matcha

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The origin of Japanese tea can be traced back to the 16th century, but the introduction of tea was completed by envoys sent to the Tang Dynasty. There were no native tea trees in ancient Japan, and there was no habit of drinking tea. Ever since the envoys to the Tang Dynasty in the Nara Period brought tea back to Japan, tea as a beverage has taken root in Japan.

In the early Heian period, the eminent Japanese monk Saicho (AD 767-AD 822, the founder of the Tendai sect of Japan) who was sent to the Tang Dynasty brought Chinese tea trees back to Japan and began to plant them in the Sakamoto area of ??Kinki. It is said that this was the beginning of tea cultivation in Japan. During the Kamakura period, Zen monk Eisai learned tea processing methods in China and brought high-quality tea seeds back to Japan for dissemination. In 1211 AD, he wrote Japan's first tea-drinking monograph, "Eating Tea for Health".

China’s tea culture comes from the daily customs of the common people, while Japan’s tea drinking culture follows a top-down path, just like the capitalist reform during the Meiji period. When tea was first introduced to Japan, it was completely a luxury product that could only be enjoyed by the royal family, nobles and a few high-ranking monks. The tea ceremony was regarded as an elegant and advanced culture and was limited to the royal family. Both the content and form tried their best to imitate the Tang Dynasty. . Since the Kamakura period, people have been ideologically influenced by "Eating Tea to Maintain Health", and it has become more and more common to regard tea as a panacea. The rapid development of tea planting also created favorable conditions for tea to enter ordinary people's homes. During this period, tea drinking activities centered on temples began to gradually spread to the people.

Different from the Chinese method of fermenting tea leaves, Japanese tea naturally dries the steamed tea leaves and grinds them into powder, which is called "Matcha" (final tea). In the Muromachi period, tea farmers in Kinai held tea tasting parties to rate tea. This tea gathering developed into an entertainment event for many people to taste tea, and the original tea ceremony etiquette was developed. For hundreds of years, Kyoto’s Uji Matcha has become synonymous with the highest quality Matcha in Japan.

Edit this paragraph: The birth of Uji Matcha

1. Cultivation of Matcha - Covering

Covering and shading (simple method) The raw material of Matcha is Tencha, which is only made from spring tea. In addition to strict fertilizer and water management, there are two key words in its production: mulching and steaming. Spring tea must be erected 20 days before picking, covered with reed curtains and straw curtains, with a shading rate of more than 98%. There are also simple coverings, which are covered with black plastic gauze, and the shading rate can only reach 70-85%. Experiments have proven that using items of different materials and colors to shade tea has different effects.

Research by Japanese scholar Takei Yaoko shows: “Covering and shading changes environmental factors such as light intensity, light quality, temperature, etc., thus affecting the formation of tea aroma quality. Open-air tea does not contain B-santalol, Except for the higher content of low-grade aliphatic compounds, the content of other aroma components of benzoic acid and its esters is significantly lower than that of shade tea." The chlorophyll and amino acids of the covered green tea increased significantly. The carotenoids were 1.5 times that of open-air cultivation, the total amount of amino acids was 1.4 times that of natural light cultivation, and the chlorophyll was 1.6 times that of natural light cultivation. The photo shows a simple covering method, using straw for high-quality matcha.

2． Matcha processing - steam curing

The fresh tea leaves picked are cured and dried on the same day, using the steam curing method. Research by Japanese scholars Osamu Fukatsu and Michiko Kamiko respectively showed that during the steaming process, cis-3-hexenol, cis-3-hexene acetate and linalool and other oxides in tea increased significantly, and produced A large amount of A-ionone, B-ionone and other ionone compounds, the precursor of these aroma components are carotenoids, constitute the special aroma and taste of Matcha. Therefore, the green tea cultivated under cover and steamed to green not only has a special aroma, a green color, but also a more delicious taste.

Table 3 Effect of light on the chemical components of tea leaves (ugg)

Light conditions Chlorophyll Total nitrogen Lysine Arginine Simple catechins

Natural light 0.28 4. 47 73 1756 3.01

Shade 0.444 4. 90 136 4045 1.88

"Tea Biochemistry" Third Edition Wan Xiaochun Editor-in-Chief China Agricultural Press

3. The grinding of Matcha - natural stone grinding

The natural stone grinding of Matcha (Matcha), its original meaning is tea ground by stone grinding. The stone mill used to grind tea is called a tea mill. In ancient China, the grinding of matcha went through three stages: stone mortar, medicinal grinding, and stone grinding. The poet Huang Tingjian of the Northern Song Dynasty first described the tea grinding: "The mortar is used to soak the poor taste, and the grinding is done after the first grinding. It is a clever plan. When it comes to grinding, I believe that wise men can create things."

Tea mills are completely different from the stone mills we usually see for grinding soy milk and flour. They have extremely high requirements for materials and are extremely complicated to make. The modern Chinese tea mill has become extinct. It is said that in Japan, there are currently less than 10 craftsmen who can make tea mills.

The stone mill operates slowly. One tea mill works for one hour, and the amount of matcha produced is only 40 grams, less than a handful. Matcha appears as "irregular torn flakes" under a microscope, with a particle size of 2 to 20 microns (680 to 6800 mesh), which is 2 to 20 times finer than green tea powder. This is a height that almost all modern mechanical crushing cannot climb. Uji matcha appears as "irregular torn flakes" under a microscope, which is why matcha can be suspended in water. Due to high temperature and high speed, ordinary crushers damage the color and aroma of tea, and at the same time, due to mechanical crushing, the particles of green tea powder are Green tea powder is spherical, so green tea powder is very rough, easy to settle, and difficult to generate foam when ordering tea.

Japanese stone grinding expert and Professor Miwa led a large group of graduate students to conduct research on ancient stone grinding for more than ten years using the most advanced contemporary engineering technology and electronic equipment. The final sigh he came up with is: " For matcha grinding, at least for now, no machine can surpass stone grinding.

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The whole world knows that “the world’s Matcha is in Japan, and Japan’s Matcha is in Uji.” Although the Japanese themselves admit that Japan’s Matcha comes from China. However, it is sad that modern China has become the same as Matcha. No longer relevant, Matcha has long become Japan’s national quintessence! Fortunately, in recent years, China’s first Matcha production base, Shanghai Uji Matcha Co., Ltd., has appeared in Pudong, Shanghai. The founders of the company are all scholars studying in Japan. During their long-term stay in Japan, while receiving "foreign culture" from their motherland in a foreign country, they felt the pain of "flowers growing within the walls and blooming outside the walls" of the motherland's vast culture, and felt the guilt for their ancestors after a long period of time. Research and preparation, with the full assistance of the parent company "Japanese Butterfly Valley Co., Ltd." and the "NPO Japan-China Friendly Exchange Association", introduced a full set of Japanese matcha processing technology and equipment, creating China's first "matcha" industry company. And applied for a patent for "micron stone grinding"

With the strong assistance of the Shanghai Quality and Standardization Bureau, the company successfully formulated China's first matcha standard and clarified the definition of matcha:

"Matcha - steamed green tea covered with natural stone ground into fine powder. ”

Although Japanese Uji Matcha Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Uji Matcha Co., Ltd. have formulated China’s first matcha standard, they cannot replace the national standard after all. The Chinese matcha market is a mixed bag of good and bad. Everyone is competing to call themselves their own products. It’s Matcha, but we don’t know what real Matcha is. The situation of “there are no national and industry standards for tea powder, and its products are basically produced according to corporate standards or export contract requirements” has not only encouraged the Chinese market. The confusion has also hindered the smooth development of matcha in China and whether it can be recognized by the international community. Regulating the Chinese matcha market is the key, and the key to regulating the market depends on the national standard of matcha. We hope to see a national or industry standard for Matcha in the near future.

The Uji Matcha standard that has been tampered with by individual green tea powder manufacturers. 4. Matcha nutritional value

Matcha (Matcha). ) is rich in nutrients and trace elements necessary for the human body. Its main ingredients are tea polyphenols, caffeine, free amino acids, chlorophyll, protein, aromatic substances, cellulose, vitamins C, A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, E, K, H, etc., and nearly 30 kinds of trace elements such as potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, sodium, zinc, selenium, fluorine, etc.

In recent years, people’s understanding of tea has been greatly improved. We have deepened our understanding of the functional nature of tea. Today, when the toxic and side effects of antibiotics and growth hormones are increasingly questioned, tea polyphenols have become more and more popular with their unique biological functions and "green" nature. In people’s dietary life.

Research has shown that tea polyphenols can remove excessive harmful free radicals in the body and can regenerate efficient antioxidant substances such as α-VE, VC, GSH, and SOD in the human body. Thereby protecting and repairing the antioxidant system, it has significant effects on enhancing the body's immunity, preventing cancer, and preventing aging. Long-term drinking of green tea can reduce blood sugar, blood lipids, and blood pressure, thereby preventing cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Put 10,000 highly toxic E. coli 0-157 into 1 ml of tea polyphenol solution diluted to 1/20 of the concentration of ordinary tea. After five hours, all the bacteria will die, leaving no one left. Japanese women like to drink tea. Add matcha to the finished milk or yogurt you buy, because adding matcha can double the shelf life. Therefore, primary and secondary schools in Japan provide free green tea to children all year round, and provide green tea with matcha in good conditions to prevent gastrointestinal problems. Diseases. The fiber of matcha is 52.8 times that of spinach and 28.4 times that of celery. Its functions of digestion, weight loss, bodybuilding, and acne removal are favored by today's beauty-loving women.

General. Although tea contains extremely high nutrients, only 35% of the tea leaves are actually soluble in water. A large number of active ingredients that are insoluble in water are thrown away as tea residue.

Experiments have proven that eating tea can absorb more nutrients than drinking tea. The nutrients in a bowl of matcha exceed 30 cups of ordinary green tea. Therefore, almost all Japanese tea ceremony teachers live a long life. Changing from drinking tea to eating tea is not only a reform of eating habits, but also the need to adapt to the fast pace of modern life. In recent years, Japan's Japan-China Friendly Exchange Association has teamed up with Shanghai Uji Matcha Co., Ltd. to vigorously launch the slogan "Change drinking tea into eating tea" and actively promote scientific, economical and simple methods of drinking tea to the public.

The difference between green tea powder and matcha. The domestic matcha market is mixed with pearls

As Haagen-Dazs and Shanghai Bright Dairy took the lead in launching matcha ice cream and matcha milk in China, Chinese people are more interested in matcha. Interest is also growing. Opening Alibaba, you can see that there are more than a dozen companies selling Matcha. There are about 20 pages and more than 600 pieces of information about Matcha. However, after in-depth investigation, it can be found that almost all the Matcha currently on the market is not Matcha in the true sense. It can only be called green tea powder. Its raw materials are basically ordinary fried green tea. It's a metal crusher, and without exception it uses the instant crushing method.

Since China’s Matcha culture has long been extant, not only do Chinese people know little about Matcha, but the country also has no standard for the production of Matcha. There is not only no national standard, but also no industry standard. Although some areas already have local standards for green tea powder, they are only hygienic indicators for ordinary tea powder. The labeling of tea powder products on the current market is confusing. Many companies call green tea powder matcha, intentionally or unintentionally deceiving and misleading consumers.

In the Chinese market, we can also see that most foreign companies are relatively standardized, especially Japanese companies. They will never use the word "Matcha" easily. Even if some multinational companies use "Matcha" in their product names, they must indicate the words "green tea powder" in parentheses or in the raw material column of the label, such as "Qingrun Matcha" of a well-known international brand. Although such borderline labeling is absolutely not allowed in the international market, under the current chaotic market background in China, it is quite commendable to be able to indicate on the label that its raw material is green tea powder.

The tampered Matcha entry is misinformed. Many consumers think that green tea ground into powder is Matcha. Some people think that the difference between Matcha and green tea powder is just the thickness. The difference is that the finely ground one is Matcha, and the coarse one is green tea powder. Some even call matcha "matcha powder". The term "matcha powder" is really hard to understand, just like calling cheongsam "cheongsam skirt" or calling Coca-Cola "Coca-Cola water". China, which is famous for its tea, would call something that is the essence of its ancestors the wrong name, which would make people laugh.