drinking matcha tea on the trail

[Diane Pinkers]

For those of you who drink matcha, how are you preparing it? I understand it needs whisking, or do you just drink it grainy?

When I e-mailed Rishi Tea, she suggested their On-the-go Matcha sticks, which are meant to be put in a bottle and shaken, as being a more travel-friendly option. But, she says, many people take a hand-held milk frother with them instead of a whisk, because it is faster and more durable.

Are there ultralight options for milk frothers?;-)

Maybe I'll just drink it grainy.

[Rick M]

Matcha is something only served in ceremony or at temple. 24yrs in Japan and married into a Japanese family and I can count on one hand the number of matchas I was served. Now I see matcha bars popping up here in London and New York!

Matcha itself sucks as a tasty drink and requires too much pomp and circumstance to drink daily. Its so bitter that it has to be accompanied by a sweet when served in Japan.

That's why in Japan it is mainly consumed as a food additive. Pretty much all Japanese consume either plain green tea or mugi-cha and coffee as their daily drink.

Anyway, it would a sacrilege to whisk it with anything but the intended bamboo whisk. Doubt if there is anything lighter weight either.

[Ian]

Hi Diane,

I should have brought some to the GGG. This is the stuff I have right now and is the only matcha I've tried so far:

http://www.amazon.com/Matcha-DNA-Certified-Organic-Green/dp/B00BG0ZJ0Y/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1434487707&sr=8-11&keywords=matcha

Comes in single serve packets and I do use a bamboo whisk in the front country. I'm not overly concerned with all the ceremony involved with it and wouldn't hesitate to use some pine needles off of dead fall or even a spoon if need be.

[royo royo]

Montbell has you covered.
http://en.montbell.jp/products/goods/list.php?category=330000
The fake-ceramic "meramine" ultralight tea bowl is pretty funny/amazing. I saw all this stuff in a montbell store in Japan, not sure the best way to get it in the US.

Also, I couldn't disagree more about matcha not being tasty. An acquired taste, sure.

[Diane Pinkers]

Of course, Ian, I should have thought of it myself. 'Course, so much of the time I'm hiking in hemlock and spruce country, not pine, but still!

Montbell–figures they would have an answer!

The difference in opinion on flavor is interesting. I drink green tea daily as my comfort drink. Is the flavor that different? The idea of not having to mess about with disposal of a tea bag was my primary reason.

[Rick M]

Yes, Montbell pounced on the 2013 Everest summit by 80yr-old Miura when his son Gota was photographed preparing matcha in their tent at Camp 4.

Matcha is like espresso. High in caffeine and nutrients, as well as lead and residual pesticides, especially risky with the stuff coming out of China. Meant to be sipped in small quantity on special occasions. Not a daily drink.

Unfortunately, like all food products in the USA I suspect it gets supersized and adulterated with sugar and other flavor enhancers to make it more palatable.

[Ian]

"The difference in opinion on flavor is interesting. I drink green tea daily as my comfort drink. Is the flavor that different? The idea of not having to mess about with disposal of a tea bag was my primary reason."

I like it and wasn't much of a leap for me to transition from traditional green tea. If you enjoy drinking straight green tea without other stuff (eg ginger or coconut), then you'll probably like this. Some people make green tea smoothies and other drinks with matcha so you're only limited by your imagination. That might make a purist's head explode but whatevs.

[J K]

Yeah, I actually like the taste. It's just a more concentrated green tea flavor.

Here's a good blog if you're getting into it and don't know what brand to start with: http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2014/03/matcha-green-tea-brand-reviews-buying.html

[Laura Rippy]

I have a suggestion! At Culinary Teas we have Cold Brew Matcha tea bags. They are really handy for backpacking and sports. All you do is add the pyramid tea bags to water and shake vigorously. At home I add ice cubes, but on the trail that is not an option. ;-) The Matcha is very high quality and the bags are fairly large. As a result, I usually get 3-5 infusions from each bag. In other words, you can continue to add water to the bag, shake, and the taste will be delicious. We have them in Classic, Mango, and Peach, here: http://culinaryteas.com/collections/matcha

Other posts have asked about a light weight frother. We just introduced one on our site. http://culinaryteas.com/collections/matcha/products/matcha-tea-frother It is powered by to AAA batteries. Very nifty. Fabulous froth, very quickly. We sell chasen (bamboo whisk) too, but I do not find those to be very handy on the trail as they are not simple to keep clean.

Lastly, we have a mini matcha whisker ball. I have not personally tried this on the trail, but the concept is simple. With vigorous shaking, the ball will make matcha froth in almost any water bottle. At home I use this in our glass tumbler. I will remember to try it the next time I go out on a trip.

[Apologies for the shameless plugs, but backpacking and matcha are two things I care about!]
— Laura (new to Backpacking Light, and glad to be here!)

[Ian]

Much appreciated Laura and thanks for fully disclosing your involvement with Culinary Teas. That's something I may be interested in. Just to give you a heads up, there has been some heated discussions here lately about commercial postings. You may want to reach out to our moderator Roger Caffin for some guidance on how best to post this kind of stuff.

I, for one, am interested.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/profile.html?u=rcaffin

Edit: You'll need to set up your email address in your BPL account to send and receive messages on our PM system. The personal messages will go to your email in box, and is not a stand alone messaging system here within BPL. Kludgy I know.

[Laura Rippy]

Super helpful. I will take a look at the email situation. Thx!

[Millette Jones]

I use Double Green Matcha Tea bags from The Republic of Tea (found at World Market $12/50ct). They are a blend of green tea and matcha. I enjoy them and it is a good way to get some matcha without being overpowered by the taste of it. (Full strength matcha is pretty intense to me.)

A few in a baggie would keep the matcha powder from sifting out much and with half and half they probably wouldn't froth even if you tried. Anyway, just another option.

[Marko Botsaris]

I also use a battery powered frother (for milk, including powdered when necessary) – it works great. It is mostly for car camping, and is in my coffee "backpack", which also include an Aeropress, a tiny Japanese ceramic burr grinder, and beans roasted the day before. People car camping with me scoff – until they see the results. :-P

I like matcha too, but think the idea of tea bag matcha is abhorrent. It reminds me of the joke about white chocolate being for people who don't want the taste of chocolate to interfere with the experience of its texture. On the other hand I don't have any purist cred since I also like matcha lattes with honey drizzled on top sometimes.

A regular bamboo chasen, including the plastic case, may be the ultralight option for this anyway. Admittedly the form factor and fragility leave a lot to be desired. Mine are about 0.35 oz – but if I drill holes in the handle I'm sure I could get it down to < 0.2. With the plastic case it does comes to a whopping 2.0 oz in total, but we can start a thread (so like this site) about the lightest protective case for a chasen. Store it inside your DIY beer can pot maybe, or wear it around you neck on a lanyard.

Rick, while taste is something that varies genetically a great deal, if you use FRESH matcha bitterness is not the predominate flavor at all – at least that is my experience. But the good stuff is expensive and you can't just use it now and then – it will be crap after a few months, even vacuum sealed – and then it WILL be bitter.

[Diane Pinkers]

Thanks for the heads-up about the Mini Whisk Ball, Laura, I bought it, and for the gram weenies, it weighs 5 g.

I also am trying powdered Sencha from Rishi-tea.com. I like it, possibly better than their Matcha-on-the-Go. The Sencha has a nutty, roasted rice flavor to it. Using the mini-whisk ball stirring it with my spoon seemed to help with the graininess of the powder and getting it well blended.

[Author]

Posts