Hello, my name is Benjamin Sieuw, and I am a tea sommelier and importer. For nearly 10 years now, I have walked the path of tea every day with passion and devotion.
In 2015, I traveled to Japan for the first time and decided to specialize in this terroir, returning every year.
In 2017, I founded Curiousitea, an educational project centered on tea, aiming to make it accessible to as many people as possible.
In 2020, my partner Margaux Morelle and I opened our online tea shop, offering rare and exclusive teas sourced directly from the producers.
Our encounter with Kumiko Matcha this year marks the beginning of a wonderful collaboration between Japanese tea enthusiasts.
In this article, the Curiousitea team is delighted to break down the aromatic profile of no fewer than 9 Matcha crus sourced and selected by Kumiko Matcha, to help you discover the tea that suits you best.
You will find both blends — that is, combinations of different varieties or origins which make it possible to reproduce the same signature taste every year — and single origins, in other words matchas coming from one single plantation and very often made from a single cultivar (tea variety).
Aromatic families
As reference points, we will use two intensity scales from 1 to 5: one for umami — that long-lasting, addictive flavor that characterizes matcha — and one for astringency, that mouth experience that dries the palate and makes us salivate. We will also note the aromatic families present during the tasting.
Here is a non-exhaustive list of these families:
Vegetal: All plants, dried or fresh, all vegetables or aromatic herbs.
Fruity: Anything related to fruits and citrus.
Dairy: Anything reminiscent of milk-based products — yogurt, cheese, butter or cream.
Floral: Relates to all types of flowers, fresh or dried.
Woody: All types of wood essences, dry or damp.
Earthy: Mineral, earthy notes, peat, forest floor, mushrooms, mold, potato, beetroot...
Marine: Anything that evokes the sea, whether vegetal, mineral or animal.
Gourmand: Covers sweet notes, confectionery, nuts, cakes, chocolate, vanilla...
Profiles
We will then specify the typical drinker profile each of these matchas is suited to, in order to better guide you. A novice drinker profile is only just discovering matcha, an experienced profile already drinks it fairly regularly, and an advanced profile drinks it very regularly and/or has known and practiced matcha for years. But it is up to you to develop your curiosi-tea by stepping out of your comfort zone and gradually discovering the entire selection, whatever your starting profile...
Aromas and flavors
Finally, we will share a few notes on our impressions through two key steps: first the nose of the matcha in its powdered form, then what the whisked tea gives us to savor.
Keep in mind that these observations reflect our own subjectivity and that every Matcha drinker is capable of drawing their own conclusions, even as an amateur. Trust your senses!
Preparation
For the preparation method, we recommend the following parameters, to be adjusted according to your preferences and affinities: 1-2g / 8-12cl with water between 80 and 90°C.
For measuring the matcha, the ideal is to have a matcha scoop or chashaku, as it allows you to measure about 0.5g easily, unlike an unreliable teaspoon. So we take between 2 and 4 chashaku of matcha per serving. The emulsion should last about 15 to 20 seconds and should be done exclusively with a bamboo whisk or chasen in a suitable bowl or chawan. For the water, always start from a base of 8cl. If you prefer your matcha lengthened to 12cl, lengthen it after the emulsion by gently adding 4cl of additional hot water so as not to break the foam. The more water there is, the harder it is to create foam. Likewise, if the water is too cool, the emulsion is more difficult for anyone who is not yet advanced. Finally, water cools very quickly between the moment it reaches the ideal temperature and all the handling that follows, so it is best to heat the water a little more.
In Japan, as part of the chanoyu tea ceremony, water is drawn from a kama kept at a boil. It is customary to add a ladle of cold water to temper it slightly, before drawing from the kama again and then pouring the water over the tea. This way, the water arrives in the bowl at 80°C at the moment of the emulsion.
Type: blend
Astringency: 🍵🍵🍵
Umami: 🍵🍵🍵🍵
Aromatic families: dairy, fruity, vegetal
Drinker profile: novice
👃🏼 Very fruity, with an obvious hint of cherry
👄 Vegetal and fruity notes, with a clear evocation of cherries. A lovely astringency, along with a very long-lasting umami on the palate.
Type: blend
Astringency: 🍵🍵
Umami: 🍵🍵🍵
Aromatic families: marine, mineral
Drinker profile: advanced
👃🏼 Gourmand (white chocolate) and fruity (tropical fruits)
👄 A creamy, tangy attack, with a well-present umami, iodized and mineral notes, a pleasant final astringency and a slight bitterness.
Type: Saemidori-dominant blend
Astringency: 🍵🍵
Umami: 🍵🍵🍵🍵
Aromatic families: dairy, floral, fruity
Drinker profile: experienced
👃🏼 Reminiscent of warm milk and white chocolate
👄 Great smoothness, floral notes, a fruity finishing touch and plenty of umami.
Organic Ipponmatsu matcha 2022
Type: blend
Astringency: 🍵🍵🍵
Umami: 🍵🍵
Aromatic families: dairy, fruity
Drinker profile: experienced
👃🏼 Milk caramel, warm, gourmand and roasted notes
👄 A powerful, bitter attack with a lemony tang, along with a marked astringency and a progressive umami.
Type: single origin
Cultivar: Saemidori
Astringency: 🍵🍵🍵
Umami: 🍵🍵🍵🍵
Aromatic families: vegetal, dairy, floral
Drinker profile: novice
👁️ A magnificent, brilliantly green color, revealing the cultivar
👃🏼 A scent reminiscent of spinach and milk
👄 A vegetal taste, like steamed green vegetables, with a medium to high astringency, floral notes (poppy, lavender) and a persistent umami, accompanied by a hint of bitterness.
Type: single origin
Cultivar: Okumidori
Astringency: 🍵🍵🍵
Umami: 🍵🍵🍵🍵
Aromatic families: floral, vegetal
Drinker profile: experienced
👃🏼 Buttery, gourmand and floral
👄 A voluptuous texture with a powerful, astringent attack, followed by a progressive umami and smoothness, highlighting the floral notes typical of the cultivar.
Type: single origin
Cultivar: Yabukita
Astringency: 🍵🍵🍵
Umami: 🍵🍵🍵
Aromatic families: dairy, marine, gourmand
Drinker profile: novice
👁️ A duller color, tending toward yellow-green, typical of the Yabukita cultivar.
👃🏼 A marble cake scent (vanilla and chocolate)
👄 A vegetal flavor with marine and dairy notes.
Type: single origin
Astringency: 🍵🍵🍵🍵
Umami: 🍵
Aromatic families: vegetal, marine
Drinker profile: advanced
👁️ The palest tea in the selection.
👃🏼 A nose of dry vegetal notes (straw, hay), with atypical herbaceous and woody touches.
👄 An impressive palette of vegetal and marine flavors, with a very astringent side, a reminder of black seaweed and vegetables, tannic and complex.
We hope this helps you see things more clearly across Kumiko Matcha's flagship crus. There are still other matchas to discover. Matcha, whatever your reason for drinking it, is a fantastic world reaching out to welcome you. Explore, try, practice and challenge your palate — and have fun! The Curiousitea house will be back soon to organize conferences for the Kumiko Matcha community. If you would like to deepen your knowledge of the world of tea, we also offer professional training in the various "tea professions". In the meantime, enjoy the journey along the path of tea.
