What is latte grade?

This article is written by Seiya H.

During our d:matcha tours, we offer tastings of different types of sencha, as well as demonstrations and tastings of matcha. Towards the end of the tour, although just briefly, we touch on the difference between latte-grade and ceremonial-grade matcha. In this piece, I’d like to explain that a little more.

As of now, there are no official or standardized criteria that define what is considered ceremonial-grade or latte-grade matcha. However, at d:matcha, we roughly define them as follows:

• Ichibancha (first harvest matcha from May–June) is considered a ceremonial grade. All the matcha used in our tasting comparisons comes from ichibancha.
• Nibancha (second harvest matcha from July–August) is considered latte grade. We may also use lower-quality ichibancha as latte grade.

Ceremonial-grade matcha refers to high-quality matcha that tastes good even without any added sugar or milk.

Some tea producers may sell nibancha as ceremonial grade, but in reality, it is more bitter compared to ichibancha. This is because the tea leaves used for nibancha are exposed to more sunlight than those for ichibancha, making them absorb more catechins, which are compounds responsible for bitterness.sugar-free matcha latte made from ichibancha—please give it a try!

Even for someone like me who drinks matcha every day, nibancha can taste quite bitter when simply whisked with hot water and drunk as is.

At d:matcha, we sell nibancha as latte-grade or for use in sweets. Of course, first-harvest matcha also works wonderfully in lattes or desserts—it tastes amazing either way.

Recently, at the end of our tours, after the matcha tasting, we offer guests some milk so they can enjoy a ceremonial-grade matcha latte without sugar.

We highly recommend trying it!