Umami: The Little-Known Fifth Taste Explained

Umami is the fifth taste, beyond sweet, salty, sour, and bitter.
Discovered in 1908 by Kikunae Ikeda, it comes mainly from glutamate.
It brings balance and roundness, and increases both appetite and satiety.
It is found in soy sauce, tomato, mushrooms, cheeses… and in abundance in matcha.
Shading the tencha concentrates L-theanine, responsible for matcha's umami.

When trying to describe the taste of matcha tea, you often read that it has a vegetal flavor and that it is slightly bitter. It is also said to be "umami".

But what exactly is the umami taste?

You are probably already familiar with the four basic tastes: sweet, salty, bitter, and sour.

But there is also this fifth taste, well known in Asia: umami.

Discovered by professor Kikunae Ikeda in 1908, a chemist at the Imperial University of Tokyo, the word umami means "savory taste" in Japanese, combining the word "umai", delicious, and "mi", taste. He is credited with discovering the role of glutamates in the presence of this highly distinctive taste, notably in dashi broth, the famous Japanese bonito broth. This would explain why some people believe they detect a fishy taste in matcha tea.

The combination of three amino acids, notably glutamate, inosinic acid, and guanylic acid, is what allows the receptors on our tongue to perceive umami.

The appeal of umami in terms of taste is the balance and roundness it brings to a dish. This is why umami-rich foods are often added to enhance the flavor of a dish, such as parmesan or tomato sauce on pasta, for example.

In the mouth, it is a sensation that is difficult to identify. More simply, it is a taste that coats the entire tongue, and offers a balanced flavor, without pronounced acidity, sweetness, or bitterness.

According to a study published in 2014 in the journal The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the umami taste increases appetite, but also the feeling of satiety. It is therefore ideal for regulating appetite, and can be an ally for weight loss.

Which foods have an umami taste?

Umami is a balanced taste, present in many foods such as soy sauce, ripe tomato, (dried) mushrooms, meat and fish broths, cheeses, anchovies, seaweed (kombu), or miso.

Umami is particularly abundant in green tea, and above all in matcha tea.

Learn more: What Does Matcha Tea Taste Like? →

Matcha tea, a taste rich in umami

Matcha tea stands out from other green teas by its jade-green powder form, but above all by its strong umami taste, paired with a characteristic light herbaceous bitterness.

Unlike other teas, the green tea leaves are finely ground to produce a fine, delicate powder of great quality. Matcha green tea powder is therefore not steeped, but consumed directly by mixing it with hot water and whisking it with a bamboo whisk called a chasen.

The umami present in matcha tea gives it a delicious sweet note on the finish, in contrast to the umami present in Chinese teas, which is simply a balanced taste.

When drinking matcha tea, you can feel the umami taste with all your taste buds, coating the entire tongue with a savory flavor. It gives it that enticing taste, which triggers salivation and a wonderful sensation of roundness in the mouth.

Drinking matcha is therefore, for me, the most delicious way to discover the umami taste, so prized in Japanese cuisine.

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Matcha, incredible aromas

Because in addition to being delicious, matcha is indeed one of the foods with the most pronounced umami taste!

And for good reason: the tea leaves used to produce matcha, the tencha leaves, are shaded for around twenty days before harvest.

This has the effect of increasing the concentration of L-theanine in the leaves, which is also responsible for matcha's umami-rich taste!

Using a whisk in a wide bowl, you get a thick foam on the surface, which provides a creamy texture and a very pleasant sensation of smoothness.

The umami taste balances the bitterness that matcha tea may contain by bringing a light sweetness on the finish.

All of this gives matcha a totally unique, comforting, and invigorating taste that cannot be found in any other green tea!

With Kumiko Matcha, I aspire to offer, thanks to my artisan-farmer partners, exceptional organic matcha teas, produced with a great deal of love, care, and respect for the environment.

Because every matcha tea is unique and invites you on a gustatory and sensory journey, I offer a varied selection of matcha, each in its own way offering a pronounced umami taste, a flavor free of bitterness, and notes ranging from cocoa to citrus.

In this way, like a fine wine, everyone can find a delicious matcha tea — the best one being the one that suits YOUR taste!

Conclusion

We have seen that the umami taste is the fifth taste, after salty, sweet, bitter, and sour.

It was discovered in 1908 by a Japanese professor, Kikunae Ikeda. It provides a balanced taste to dishes, making them more indulgent.

Matcha offers one of the most intense umami tastes, thanks to its L-theanine content.

I made a video to summarize this article, which I invite you to watch right here:

Enjoy the video!

Sources

Umami flavor enhances appetite but also increases satiety, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2014, DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.113.080929, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002916523047056?via%3Dihub
Evaluation of the umami taste intensity of green tea by a taste sensor, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2008, DOI: 10.1021/jf800933x, https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jf800933x
L-Theanine elicits umami taste via the T1R1 + T1R3 umami taste receptor, Amino Acids, 2014, DOI: 10.1007/s00726-014-1713-3, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00726-014-1713-3