Prepare thick tea matcha “koicha”, according to a tea master

After showing you how to prepare a frothy and smooth matcha tea, in this article I present other tips and ideas for preparing your matcha tea with the help of my friend Tyas Sosen.

A tea ceremony instructor in Kyoto and organic tea sommelier, he has been an enthusiastic tea drinker for over 10 years. We often meet up during my trips to Japan to visit farmers and producers together.

Tea schools in Japan and different ways of preparing matcha tea

Tyas learned the tea ceremony by becoming a disciple of Enshû School.

The Enshû tea ceremony school was founded 400 years ago by Kobori Enshû. It is representative of "the tea ceremony for samurai".

Today, the form and ideas of the Enshû school continue to thrive, with branches throughout Japan involved in promotion of the culture of the tea ceremony.

Tyas shares her vision of tea with us:

"I consider matcha tea to be primarily about the ritual of the tea ceremony. It is a precious element when hosting such a ritualized event. As a great deal of care and dedication goes into crafting a quality matcha, I believe the best way to do justice to the tea is to perform the tea ceremony attentively and serve a bowl of thoughtfully prepared tea to my guests."

If you want to learn more about Tyas's world, I recommend her book The Story of Japanese Tea: a broad outline of its cultivation, manufacturing, history and cultural values (text in English), as well as her website The Tea Crane.

A few tips for preparing matcha like the "samurai"

Click on the play button to view our nomadic tea ceremony (5 min 48 sec).

In this video, there are no kimonos or Zen gardens, but rather an impromptu ceremony on the side of the road in the Japanese countryside during our visits to matcha producers.

Here are the steps of the Enshû-style tea ceremony (遠州流, enshû-ryû):

1. Pour hot water into the bowl (chawan) to warm it up.
2. Discard the water and wipe the inside of the bowl with a cloth.
3. Pour two generous bamboo scoops (chashaku) of matcha tea and break up any lumps by crushing them.
4. Add hot water
5. Rub the inside of the bowl with the matcha whisk (chasen) to break up any lumps.
6. While holding the whisk firmly with two fingers, vigorously mix the matcha tea by moving only your forearm (not your wrist).
7. When the froth has formed, mix more slowly to break the air bubbles that have formed on the surface.
8. Make a "Z" shape to gather the froth, then place the whisk in the middle of the bowl while keeping it inside the mixture before removing it with a vertical motion to create a small dome of froth.

As you can view in the video above, Tyas mixes matcha tea using her entire forearm, without moving her wrist. This technique is typical of the Enshû school.

Another way to mix matcha tea is using only wrist movements, as practiced by the Urasenke school (裏千家, urasenke).

The manufacture of matcha whisks is also different for the Enshû school: the knot of the thread is placed on the inside for mainly aesthetic reasons.

If you are interested in bamboo whisks for tea ceremonies, I suggest you view this article on the difference between handmade bamboo whisks and conventional bamboo whisks.

How to prepare thick koicha matcha and reach a new dimension in your matcha tea tasting experience.

Click on the play button to view how to prepare koicha tea (4 min 22 sec).

In traditional tea ceremonies, koicha (濃茶) is served. This is a very thick matcha tea, with the consistency of syrup.

It is usually prepared with very high-grade matcha tea, as this is the central element of the ceremony. The aim is to delight the guest, just as one would bring out a good bottle of wine during a meal in France.

This method of preparing matcha tea, with its codes and subtleties, is the most refined and luxurious in the world of matcha.

I recommend experimenting by following the steps in the video below, or with this simplified recipe:

An easy recipe for koicha (for one person)

• Pour about 3 heaping bamboo scoops of matcha powder into a bowl (3-5g).
• Add about a tablespoon of hot water and form a thick paste by slowly mixing with a bamboo whisk to break up any lumps.
• Pour in another tablespoon of hot water and mix a second time. Do not try to froth, but mix by rubbing the bamboo whisk against the bowl to homogenize and obtain a smooth "syrup" texture.

Koicha is a special and luxurious preparation method that is usually shared in a bowl with two or more people.

Since preparing matcha-koicha requires a lot of matcha and little water, it is like a matcha concentrate that enhances the taste, aroma, and texture of the matcha used.

For this reason, it is best to look for organic matcha tea of the highest quality possible. My recommendations to choose from:

• Saemidori and Okumidori organic matcha teas are excellent value for money and ideal for preparing koicha, which has a powerful flavor and a long-lasting sweetness.
• Ultra-premium organic matcha is one of our best organic matcha teas, excellent in koicha with a subtle and delicious taste.
• Our hyper-premium organic matcha is our most decadent and luxurious matcha, one of the best organic matcha teas in the world—the koicha experience with this matcha is a pure delight of subtle flavors and numerous sweet and umami notes.

It is of course possible to prepare a koicha (3-5g of matcha for 30mL of hot water for 1 person) with other matcha from our range, but I must notify you that at this concentration, the bitterness can be powerful or even too intense. These matcha are therefore more recommended in the form of a conventional "usucha" preparation.

The important thing is to enjoy the preparation, to smell, feel, taste, savor, and enjoy every sip, then feel the length of the taste and aroma...

Enjoy the tasting! 🍵