How to prepare ceremonial matcha: a step-by-step guide

A well-prepared ceremonial matcha has three signatures: a bright jade color, a fine and stable foam (what is called koimo in Japan), and a sweet, non-astringent finish. If your matcha comes out dull yellow, bitter, or flat, the problem is rarely the powder. It is the technique. This is the guide we hand to cafés that start working with us in Chile.

What you need

Ceremonial matcha: ideally first harvest (ichibancha), shaded for at least 21 days, stone-milled. If the powder feels gritty between your fingers, it is not ceremonial.
Chawan: the traditional bowl. In a café any wide open-mouthed bowl (12 cm diameter or more) works. You need room to move the whisk without hitting the walls.
Chasen: the bamboo whisk, 80 to 120 prongs. Without it there is no stable foam. A small electric milk frother does not replace a chasen for ceremonial grade. It breaks the foam instead of creating it.
Chashaku or measuring spoon: 1 chashaku is roughly 1 g.
Fine sieve: non-negotiable. Matcha clumps when ground and when exposed to humidity. Without sieving you get invisible lumps that show up on the palate.
Thermometer: 70 to 80 °C is the range. Above 85 °C matcha turns bitter; below 65 °C it will not release sweetness.

Ratios

For usucha (thin matcha, daily service style):

2 g of matcha (roughly a level teaspoon)
60 to 80 ml of water at 75 °C

For koicha (thick matcha, traditional ceremonial style):

4 g of matcha
30 to 40 ml of water at 80 °C

In café service 95% of orders are usucha. Start there.

Step by step

1. Sieve the matcha

Pass the 2 g through the sieve straight into the bowl. This step looks optional and is not. Matcha forms micro-clumps on contact with air and humidity, especially in climates like Santiago's winter. Without sieving you whisk 30 extra seconds and the texture never gets silky.

2. Warm the bowl

Pour a finger of hot water in, swirl, discard. This brings the bowl up to about 60 °C. If the bowl is cold, water at 75 °C drops to 60 °C before you finish whisking and the matcha does not extract well.

3. Hydrate first

Before adding all the water, pour only 15 ml over the sieved matcha and make a paste with the chasen, pressing gently. This breaks aggregates and prevents the lumps at the bottom of the bowl that appear when all the water is poured at once.

4. Add the rest of the water

Top up to 60 to 80 ml. Pour in the center of the bowl, not against the walls.

5. Whisk in M or W

The key motion: trace a fast M or W, not a circle. Circles produce a thick foam that collapses in 30 seconds. The M produces a fine, stable foam that holds for more than 5 minutes on the bar.

Relaxed wrist, elevated elbow.
15 to 20 seconds at a good pace.
The chasen should graze the surface, not scrape the bottom.

6. Soft lift at the end

For the last 2 seconds, raise the chasen toward the center of the surface in a slow motion. This breaks the large bubbles and leaves only micro-bubbles. The foam looks matte, even, with no holes.

Common mistakes

Boiling water: the most common mistake. Past 85 °C matcha extracts bitter catechins. If you do not have a temperature-controlled kettle, boil, rest 90 seconds, serve.
Too much matcha: 3 g instead of 2 g makes the flavor "dense" but not "rich". The extra only bitters.
Storing a wet chasen: bamboo splinters. After use rinse, shake out, hang upside down on its holder (kusenaoshi) to preserve the shape.
Expired batch: matcha loses color and sweetness 30 days after opening. Past that, use it for pastry, not for service.

When to switch to a latte format

The procedure for matcha latte (covered in another guide) is different: it uses barista grade matcha, not ceremonial, and the whisking technique is secondary because milk provides the body. Reserve ceremonial grade for bowl service or for customers who explicitly ask for it.

Want to try it?

We send a 30 g sample of our ceremonial matcha at no cost to cafés in Chile, refrigerated delivery 24 to 48 hours in Santiago.