Ceremonial Grade Matcha is Dead - Long Live Ceremonial Matcha, Opinion
Ceremonial grade matcha is dead.
Matcha comes from a rich cultural history, moving from China to Japan where it evolved and became what we know today. Finding ways to honer and understand these origins is important and makes matcha special, but calling matcha ‘ceremonial grade’ is not the way to do this.
The term has been used and abused, and now it has rendered itself almost meaningless. Translation? Good enough to drink. It is about as helpful as “natural” on a bag of potato chips. “Ceremonial grade” matcha is an unregulated marketing term and is a very poor predictor of matcha quality.
There are dozens of articles online teaching people how to identify if their matcha is ceremonial grade and discussing its ceremonial origins (along with their affiliate links). It’s all the same story: it starts with Eisei bringing tea and the ritual to Japan from Song Dynasty China, then discusses Sen No Riku, and then the use of matcha in Japanese Tea Ceremony. While learning about the accomplishments of dead people is important, this retrospective marketing lens used by tea companies pushing “ceremonial grade” matcha is more of a distraction romancing the consumer away from the fact that matcha is a product from the leaves of a plant that needs to be cared for by humans. What about the skill, knowledge, and dedication of tea farmer’s, producers, and blenders that bring the world’s best matcha to life?
There is a new guard of tea companies focusing on the living producers that have dedicated their lives to producing high-quality products. These new tea companies are forward-looking focusing on the story of the producers and the important decisions they make to create fantastic matcha. They discuss things such as shade duration, cultivar used, processing differences, fertilizing practices, and milling differences.
This new generation of tea vendors make the case that ceremonial grade matcha is a made-up marketing term and is basically meaningless and distracting consumers away from information that is actually predictive of quality. The quality variability of matcha sold as “ceremonial grade” is enormous from vendor to vendor and the use of the term is completely unregulated. Anyone can use the term “ceremonial grade” and tea ceremony practitioners are definitely not the gate-keepers of quality like the name implies.
Washing products in a “ceremonial grade” label makes it much more difficult for consumers to differentiate between high and low quality products. Ultimately the classification of “ceremonial grade” commodifies products.
Origins of “Ceremonial Grade” Matcha
The origins of “ceremonial grade” matcha are a bit of a mystery. 100 years ago all matcha was intended to be used in ceremonies; “ceremonial grade” is a modern invention. After scouring countless blogs, the New York Times archives, and other news sources, I cannot find a clear origin to who first started using that term and why. Zach Mangan, founder of Kettl, wrote in an article “The origins of the term Ceremonial are not clear - although it was already being used when I began my career in Japanese tea in 2007.” And according to Google Trends, “ceremonial grade matcha” as a search term doesn’t have a history prior to 2005.
While it’s unclear where the term was first used, its utility seems to be to segment product offerings and create an entirely new grade of low-quality matcha: culinary grade, matcha that’s been produced with the intention of it being an ingredient, not good enough to consume as a drink on its own. There are dozens of delicious applications of matcha in everything from cookies, to cheesecake, to ice cream. The new classification attempts to prevent confusion and disappointment. When used as an ingredient, matcha needs to be stronger in taste so it doesn’t get lost in the dish, and the more delicate flavors of well-made matcha will probably get overshadowed.
Problems with “ceremonial grade” matcha
All tea vendors have a vested interest in creating a good experience with their product, especially for new matcha drinkers. First-time matcha drinkers are in a vulnerable stage; matcha’s appearance, taste, and smell are foreign to most people and novel to nearly any other type of beverage. Matcha needs to make a good first impression to create a repeat consumer.
Utility of existing classifications
Pick a matcha powder at random and there’s a decent chance you’d pick a culinary grade, which would almost certainly leave a foul first impression. Right off the bat, the existing classification system separating ceremonial grade and culinary grade is useful. However, the range of quality within ceremonial grade matcha is very large. If they randomly pick a ceremonial grade matcha on the low-end of the spectrum, they might prematurely decide that matcha is not their thing. That hurts the entire matcha category.
Inconsistent standards
Let’s say a new consumer has a positive first experience and explores the category further. With the help of the internet, they learn that they need to search for “ceremonial grade” matcha powders and try a few more. But this time, it’s terrible. We might have just lost a consumer.
Ceremonial-washing products
There’s a more insidious side to ceremonial-washing products: the implication that it’s somehow endorsed by tea ceremony practitioners. A lot of marketing language around matcha is based on connecting to an ancient ritual, one steeped in the arts, philosophy, and wellness, a sacred ceremony with the healing powers of nature. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Most tea masters, teachers, and practitioners would flat out reject what’s being pedaled as ceremonial grade matcha. Selling low-quality ceremonial grade matcha waters down the beauty and cultural traditions developed over hundreds of years in Japan.
Commodification of High-End Matcha
A thriving specialty market cannot form where consumers are not able to predict their preferences from marketing terms. In an era where consumers primarily care about the “ceremonial grade” label, there’s an incentive to cut cost and sell a cheaper, lower-quality product. It’s turned matcha into a commodity.
Long Live Ceremonial Grade Matcha
The floor is very low and the ceiling is very high for “ceremonial grade” matcha. It’s time for new, more useful descriptions or classification systems to be used to distinguish matcha based on its quality and uniqueness. In recent years we’ve seen a labeling renaissance in matcha borrowing terms from specialty coffee and fine wine to differentiate their product offers based on origin, terroir, cultivar, shading duration, and many other factors.
The “good enough to drink” implications of ceremonial matcha is not really a classification system. The term ceremonial matcha has been slowly killed rendering it meaningless by those using and abusing this made up classification. It’s time we put “ceremonial grade” matcha to rest, but long live ceremonial grade matcha!
Our team recorded a podcast about matcha grades, links below:
