Matcha lattes, matcha cheesecake, matcha donuts, matcha milk tea, matcha tiramisu, matcha powder, matcha facemasks, matcha perfumes, matcha coffee, matcha beer — the practical uses of matcha seem endless. You can eat, drink, wear and even smell like it.
While this green gold has exploded in popularity recently, matcha has a deep cultural history dating back almost a thousand years. It originated in China, and Buddhist monks brought it to Japan, where they heavily influenced the practices surrounding its cultivation and use.
Japan continues to be the leading exporter of matcha today. The drink’s popularity has risen so much that Japan has seen recent matcha shortages caused by increased demand and environmental factors.
Isabela Castilla, senior in LAS, has worked at Starbucks for nearly four years and has personal experience making matcha. Castilla has seen the rise in matcha’s popularity among her friends, believing in several reasons for the increasing popularity of the drink.
“I think that mainly it’s the health benefits,” Castilla said. “I know that matcha has a lot of vitamins and antioxidants and minerals, so it has a reputation for being a healthier, altered coffee.”
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Haley Kharvari, sophomore in LAS, has also noticed an increase in the popularity of matcha. Kharavari works as a Starbucks barista but also owns her own matcha business through Instagram.
Kharvari’s business focuses on selling higher quality ceremonial grade matcha, a market she believes is relatively niche in Champaign-Urbana. She enjoys the communal nature of matcha and uses her business to connect to the local community.
“I really like getting to share it with everyone,” Kharvari said. “I know it’s a relatively unfamiliar drink, it’s a lot less familiar than coffee … and by getting to share it with new people, we’ve been able to collaborate with a lot of clubs on campus. We started offering workshops for RSOs, and that’s been really fun.”
Matcha has a long history of bringing people together. According to Diana Liao, education and engagement specialist at Japan House, matcha spread from Buddhist monks to the Japanese noble class, eventually trickling down to the common population.
As the beverage developed in popularity over centuries in Japan, a rich cultural ceremony began to surround the drinking of matcha. The ceremony is called “Chadō,” or “the way of tea,” and involves complex procedures around the making and consumption of the drink.
Sen Rikyū was particularly instrumental in developing tea ceremonies and culture in Japan. In the 1500s, he helped formally codify many Japanese tea ceremony traditions that are still practiced today.
Students interested in matcha’s rich cultural history and incorporation into popular culture can study “Chado” through a course at the University.
“I think, from my perspective as an instructor … a lot of students … know it as a health food,” Liao said. “It’s like the trending cool thing to have, but they didn’t realize there was such a deep and long history and (about) the context that it really became apparent in both Japan and other parts of the world.”
Whether you are drinking matcha at a traditional tea ceremony, eating it as a flavor of dessert or using it as a moisturizer, these powdered green tea leaves have a rich cultural history.
“It’s not just about drinking tea,” Liao said. “It’s about the more philosophical aspect of tea, which is about our tea … In a Japanese tea ceremony, there’s not much talking, but they say that you should be able to communicate your good intentions and your thoughts through actions and showing respect by making and serving your guests a good bowl of tea.”
