How social media made a trend out of tradition with matcha – WTOP News

When you walk into the Teaism teahouse in Penn Quarter, the frantic energy of the downtown D.C. neighborhood melts away on a floral breeze.

Hundreds of pounds of dried tea line the walls in decorative boxes, and for Lela Singh, daughter of co-founder Michelle Brown and manager of the Teaism Shop, it has become a kind of second home.

“I grew up in the tea business with my mom, so I remember when I was really little, someone came to sample a bunch of matcha,” she recalled, making a sour face at the memory of the bitter taste.

Matcha is a centuries-old traditional drink from China and Japan. Once central to ceremonial practices for monks and warriors, the tea has evolved into a bright, popular drink that can be found at many neighborhood coffee shops in North America.

Ground from green tea leaves, the sharp, bitter drink is best known for its bright green color and creamy foam.

Age-old traditions with some unfortunate timing

Singh quickly whisked a bowl of matcha, noting that a traditional tea ceremony contains more choreography than can be seen at your local Starbucks.

“What’s been wild about the explosion of matcha on social media is it’s almost like we’ve circumvented that whole tradition,” Singh said. “There’s room for machinery, but it also, I think, takes away a little bit from the magic and the human touch.”

Down to the ceramics specifically crafted for making a small cup of matcha, Singh noted how much the ceremony has changed over time. Some tea and coffee shops pre-make their matcha in large batches and keep them in pitchers, while others whisk them by hand for each customer, and some take an easier route and just mix matcha powder and water in a blender.

“There are a few features that will be … salient in a matcha bowl that’s used for a tea ceremony. Because the pottery that goes with the tea ceremony is just as important as the tea itself,” she said.

The virality of matcha in the past few years happened at the worst possible time, Singh said, citing the 15% tariff the U.S. government levied on nearly all imported goods from Japan.

“For a time for it to be going globally viral, it wasn’t great, but we’re making it work,” she said. “We’ve been sort of inundated with this low-quality matcha that’s been served in lattes.”

There are two main types of matcha powder — ceremonial and culinary — and the difference in production is noticeable on the palate. Culinary grade matcha is a slightly lower grade and used in lattes and baking, while ceremonial matcha is a high-quality grade that can be consumed on its own with water.

During production, the leaves are shaded for two weeks and then harvested in the spring, which changes the way the plant reacts when brewed.

“That changes the flavor of the leaf itself and gives much more depth of flavor to the matcha when you’re drinking it,” Singh said.

To make a traditional cup of matcha, you use a chashaku bamboo spoon, scooping half a teaspoon of powder into a tall bowl with ridged sides. Then, you mix in a 1/4 cup of hot water with a chasen whisk, making quick “W” and “M” motions without hitting the bottom of the bowl.

“You have to understand that matcha, in its truest form, is not a latte,” Singh said. “You’re drinking in about three gulps, if you’re sitting in on a Japanese tea ceremony.”

Make everything matcha

As recently as 2023, matcha was valued as a $4.3 billion industry, and it only stands to grow.

Matcha’s trendiness is due largely to young people and social media influencers who’ve found in it the perfect combination of wellness and aesthetics.

Matcha has a lower caffeine content than coffee, at 70 milligrams per serving with coffee’s 100-plus milligrams. It also contains amino acids and antioxidants that ease the body’s absorption of caffeine, and provide a sustainable, long-lasting boost of energy without the crash when the caffeine wears off.

At Dolphin Café in downtown D.C., students from around the area make the most of that long-lasting energy, especially during finals season.

Meriç Turhan, a manager at the cafe, said when the coffee shop opened, customers kept requesting that matcha be added to its menu.

“Once we started doing that, it started getting crazier and crazier,” he told WTOP. “First, we started with strawberry matcha, and we added banana bread matcha, then lavender matcha, everything.”

Though the cafe’s management is Turkish, Turhan said diversifying its menu to combine different cultures was important — especially since the cafe sits under the Bay Atlantic University building and around the corner from the White House.

“We wanted to combine all the different cuisines together, (and) matcha is one of them,” he said. “If you have a coffee shop, I don’t think you can do without matcha, especially right now.”

Unlike traditional matcha tea ceremonies, Dolphin Café serves a shot of matcha over milk and ice, like a latte, or with unique flavors like cookies and cream.

“We wanted to add some small touch … because the coffee business is kind of hard because everyone modifies their drinks,” Turhan said.

The aesthetically pleasing and intricately crafted drinks look good on social media but can be an acquired taste to some. Nonetheless, the #matcha hashtag has over 10.2 million posts on Instagram alone.

And though the method of drinking matcha has changed — with less of a focus on its health benefits and the traditional ceremony of drinking it — it remains an alternative for those who might want to move away from coffee.

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