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“In the Chinese market, we don’t promote that matcha Tea whisking is a way to
comes from Chinese.” In fact, however, the original matcha drink tea. It is popular in
the Song Dynasty, and it is
technique of ‘tea whisking’ was presented in The Story of Ming
considered as one of the
Lan, a TV series in 2018 based on the Song Dynasty, and caused great leisure activities, the
a heated discussion with many followers. other three being flower
When Zheng intended to plant a flag on the virgin land arrangement, antiques
of Chinese matcha and bring the authentic drink back to Chi- identification and incense
appreciation.
nese customers, the market feedback opposite to matcha
‘authenticity’ set an obstacle for him.
TING HE ZHENG the global supply chain are taking advantages of exaggerated
Around the world, matcha powders for sale at the end of
advertising. The story is the same even in Japan. While the
matcha with lower quality flowing into the market, the high-
est-quality matcha from prestigious tea companies, like the
Make C hin e se Matc h a one from Ippodo Tea founded in 1717, is unaffordable and
Fashi on ab l e Ag ain only served for company leaders, political personnel and
other high-class customers in tea companies. Even the famous
matcha city Uji is not a representative of high-class matcha,
but only a place for popular brands with high sales.
“Most of matcha in the Japanese market — if not all
of them — are imported from China. Many tea factories
in our country are ‘hidden’, as they are Japanese-funded
and have signed contracts to provide tea only for Japan.
Their products are not sold in Chinese mainland, but they
are really good tea.” Zheng mentioned. Luckily, the do-
mestic market seems to have waken up, as a bunch of tea
producing zones have emerged, such as Shaoxing Royal
Tea Village, Mochacun in Henan, tea fields and factories
M atcha, originally written as ‘mo- Removing tags of “japan” and “uji” Guizhou where Zheng comes from.
in Sichuan and Chongqing, and Tongren Tea Village in
from matcha
cha’ (meaning powdered tea) in
Chinese, is a traditional drink
made from high-quality green tea “I decided to open this store only one year Matcha and matcha flavor: putting the cart
before the horse
that are steamed and ground into powder. In the ago.” Said Zheng, who was a game scenario art design-
21st century, it is a frequent ingredient in coffee hous- er before. He has been interested in ancient Chinese culture Talking about matcha from Guizhou, Zheng used
es, milk tea stores and bakeries. With its typical light since he was little, and his passion about Chang’an, the local diet habit to explain the difference between Chinese
green color, matcha has satisfied taste buds for more prosperous capital of Tang Dynasty, drove him to Kyoto, a and Japanese matcha. Though people from Guizhou and
young customers and become their preferred afternoon Japanese city where Tang style remains. While looking for Sichuan both love spicy food, Guizhou people were the
tea choice. the lingering beauty of Tang in Kyoto, he met matcha by first to eat chilies in China and created more than 10
As shown in Chinese Matcha Industry Report 2019, chance in a traditional garden. “The beautiful place served processing techniques to keep fragrance of pickled chili
there were 94 matcha-dedicated brands with nearly 500 authentic matcha with a handmade dessert, which is a tra- and get rid of the numbing spice.
stores in the market in July 2017; In the middle of 2019, ditional experience that is passed down in Japan.” Described These efforts made chili more acceptable and finally
Beijing, Shanghai and Canton were home to 15 matcha he, “This is why my store is called ‘Ting He Zheng’, meaning it became a common food in China. This is similar to how
brand chains each. Most of these brands choose Jap- Garden and Zheng. It is about my first encounter with gar- matcha became acceptable in Japan. In the Southern Song
anese matcha as their trademark product, and the style den matcha.” Dynasty, monks brought traditional Chinese tea culture to
of their brand name, packaging and advertising ma- No phrase can describe his experience with matcha Japan, but the bitter drink didn’t satisfy every consumer.
terials is very ‘Japanesy.’ better than ‘hit it off.’ At that time, Zheng visited Japan five To remove the bitterness of tea leaves, Japanese people tried
This midsummer, the glaring sunshine witnessed times straight and his destination was always Kyoto, where he to have tea with other ingredients or put tea into deserts.
Ting He Zheng settle down in the city center of Shang- spent days visiting tea houses and learning tea ceremony. Matcha then became acceptable and popular in Japan, and
hai. This independent specialty match store is where While being immersed in matcha experience, he felt sorry the Japanese matcha took shape.
Xu Zezheng, the founder, wishes to start the journey of that matcha originated in China in Tang and Song Dynasties Bitterness, the natural flavor of tea created by poly-
reviving Chinese matcha. but thrived only in Japan. phenol and chlorophyll, is the essential difference.

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