The Dreaded Culinary Grade
So I’m thinking of using this grade of matcha for Lattes.
What am I thinking?!
That if you put enough milk and sugar on that grade it will taste good ;)
I hope so. It’s a bit less than 1/2 the price. The one I’m looking uses summer (second) picked tea.
Well if milk doesn’t work, just go full on cream ;)
I was drinking matcha at home every morning for awhile. One day I stopped at a Scooters, kind of like a Starbucks. Anyway, I saw they had matcha lattes and requested one, except I told her to hold the milk and sugar, since that’s the way I had been drinking matcha. What I got was this very thin green water with little chunks of floating matcha. Not good at all! I’m sure that was culinary grade. It definitely needed the milk and sugar ;)
That sounds more like a problem preparing properly.
I’m looking for someone who uses culinary grade all the time. I have faith in the company that it will be good.
I’ve been using culinary grade every morning for years. Mixed cold with milk and a little sweetener.
I use a little cold milk in my tumbler, then add powder and sweetener. I use a hand held frother instead of a whisk. After foaming I add more milk. Ceremonial gets lost in the mix I think. I’ve used Deluxe Matcha (culinary grade) from Matcha Outlet for the last couple years. It is a Chinese tea powder. Lately I have been trying out three Japanese culinary matcha from Matcha Outlet. Haven’t reached a complete opinion of them yet. Very different from what I have used. Kind of like the difference between Assam and Yunnan black tea – which is better? Depends on the tastes of the drinker (to me Yunnan wins every time).
A lot of coffee shops also use culinary grade as it is the cheapest and is mixed with a ton of sugar. Culinary grade is decent for anything you are going to mix with sugar. Although if you have a Japanese grocery store near you I would suggest looking at their matcha selection. There are 3 types of quality ceremonial, universal, and culinary. I use the universal quality that I got at my local Japanese grocery store for like $9.
I typically get a matcha latte when I’m near my local tea shop, they only sell ceremonial grade matcha, and it’s pricey. I found culinary grade matcha at the grocery store and thought, “Hey, it’s only $5, I’ll try it”… and it just wasn’t the same. It didn’t have as deep and naturally sweet a flavor, it was more bitter and green. I prefer higher quality matcha for drinking, this is just my opinion though. If you can find culinary grade for a cheap price, you can always try it, if you don’t like it you can use it for, well, culinary purposes… matcha cookies, anyone?!
Culinary grade matcha can work if it’s good quality. I got a sample of “Restaurant Grade” matcha from Den’s once that made an excellent matcha latte.
Alternatively, you can get an inexpensive ceremonial grade. That’s what I do since I consume matcha primarily in the form of lattes.
I decided to use ceremonial grade for my daily ceremony, and buy culinary grade for morning Lattes.
Usually I like a bowl without milk in the morning. I will be switching to Lattes with sugar.
I’ve had culinary grades that are better than ceremonial grades. It all boils down to taste, being stored well, and a seller that knows their stuff. If it is decent culinary grade, the most you might have to do is use more than usual.
Same time, a great ceremonial grade loses a lot of its magic with milk and sugar added. It is a total waste to use nice matcha for latte unless it is getting old and needs to be used up.
Well, the culinary grade arrived. Overall, it’s good. There is more of a tea flavour to it, along with a slight difference in colour. I think I will be able to use it.
I tried this once as a normal matcha with sugar. I don’t think I would like it this way.
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