The Book Of Matcha

This book is a fun book to read.

"The Book of Matcha" is written by Louise Cheadle and Nick Kliby. Published in 2016 by Sterling Epicure.  This is a tea book that delves into the world of matcha, from history production, health benefits and the recipes included in the book would make you reach out for your matcha and give the tea a new twist.  

This book is easy and fun to read and the illustrations and pictures are lavishly included to make reading the book a breeze.

The authors categorise Japanese green teas into 6 classes; matcha, sencha, genmaicha, kukicha, hojicha and gyokuro.  The last, gyokuro is considered by the authors as one of the most expensive green teas as follows:

"Gyokuro Tamahomare (its full name) is one of Japan's most precious teas revered for its purity and richness of taste.  Mainly grown around Kyoto, Japan's ancient capital, gyokuro males up less than one percent of Japan's tea production.  Produced from just one harvest a year in late May or early June, twenty days before the tea leaves are plucked the tea bushes are covered with a netting. Covering the bushes in this way increases their production of chlorophyll (the pigment that makes the leaves bright-green) and amino acids.  As with matcha, the leaves are rich in L-theanine, which gives the tea a lovely sweetness.  Gyokuro is also known as 'jade dew' and is one of the most expensive green teas."

The matcha lemonade  recipe was one of my favourites.  Half teaspoon of matcha, syrup, lemon juice, club soda and ice with a garnish of mint leaves are all thats needed to make this drink.  

Yes, to make matcha ice-cream, you will need lots of matcha, 1-2 spoons full.  This would suggest using a lower grade as high end matcha would be too expensive.  

The authors misspelled Singapore as 'Sinagpore'.  Nevertheless, it is a good read.