If you follow me on instagram, you must already know I am a compulsive tea consumer! My day begins with a hot cup of “danedar chai” and the ritual continues the whole day whenever I crave the next cup*malai maar k*! And if you offer me Masala chai even at least once in your life, you are my friend forever!
A while back I shared 10 types of exquisite tea around the world which introduced me to the indigenous Japanese Matcha tea tradition. Since then, I have been trying to get my hands on Matcha in Pakistan and stumbled upon this new tea brand “Kibocha”. Although we can get Matcha green tea leaves in Pakistan from wholesale markets but currently there are no commercial Matcha labels here, so I thought of giving it a try and now sharing this review with you.
What is Matcha
You must be wondering “it’s just another green tea right?” yes, but quite different from the ones you find in tea bags. Matcha powder is actually ground up green tea leaves collected from certain regions of Asia-the best quality is found in Japan though. As the leaf is de-veined, de stemmed and ground, it turns into a fine powder we call “Matcha”. Since this powder is ground up leaves, we actually consume the whole leaf which doubles its antioxidant properties providing numerous health benefits like:
The Story of Kibocha
Kibocha is the new Karachi based Matcha tea label that imports Matcha tea from Japan. When asked what drove the launch of Kibocha, the very lovely owner of the brand Rija said that:
“As I was already fond of Matcha tea, after shifting to Pakistan I wanted to order some for myself for regular use; but I had to struggle hard to easily find it. There were no known brands, and I was not sure if I could trust the quality of the leaves available here. So, I began ordering matcha from Japanese sellers online in the quantity enough for myself, and later decided to offer it to others who might be facing the similar issues! Hence, Kibocha was born!
How to make Matcha?
There are a lot of ways of preparing Matcha-it can either be a latte, creamy matcha, plain green tea, or lemon infused matcha. I followed two very basic recipes which can be made in just a few minutes! And once your taste buds are set to Matcha, you can always experiment with new recipes.
Matcha Green Tea
- Heat a cup of water
- Add a few drops of hot water in a half tea spoon of Matcha powder and mix it into a paste. You can also add honey in the paste if you like.
- Add the rest of the water and stir well
- Add lemon to taste and enjoy your matcha!
Matcha Latte
Matcha latte follows the same recipe as latte coffee but you need to really whisk the matcha well.
- Add matcha powder and sugar in a mug
- Add a little warm water and whisk until a smooth green paste is formed.
- Once its whisked well, pour warm milk into the mug and here is your hot cup of Matcha latte
My Opinion
Packaging
Kibocha comes in a neatly packed tear top pouch so its quite easy to handle without any risk of having the powder wasted during consumption.
Taste
I found the taste quite exotic, and earthly. There is no single rule that says how a cup of matcha should taste but I experienced a strong taste mixed with a slightly sweet aftertaste. It might taste a bit bitter especially to most of the creamy tea fans, but your taste buds would definitely set to the flavor after sometime.
Price and Quantity
Kibocha’s 50g matcha bag is for PKR 900/ which is enough to make about 50 cups of tea. So I believe it is fairly priced.
You can reach Kibocha at their Facebook page. Delivery is available all across Pakistan.
I will also share the ways in which you can add matcha in your regular meals and desserts, until then let me know which new tea flavor have you tried recently?
She can be reached at https://linktr.ee/hinailyas
