Ceremonial grade gets specific

Matcha sellers are getting more specific about what “ceremonial” means, and where they will — and will not — use it. Purpose Matcha + Coffee House in Bengaluru says it uses Uji ceremonial matcha for classic drinks, separate grades for flavored beverages, and culinary-grade powder for desserts. (hospitality.economictimes.indiatimes.com) Purpose opened on Residency Road in Bengaluru with a menu built around that split. Founder and chef Sreekar Varma said the café uses ceremonial-grade matcha for straight preparations and lower grades where milk, fruit, syrups, or baking would change the flavor anyway. (hospitality.economictimes.indiatimes.com) Retail brands are making the same pitch. Lindt said this week that its Tokyo Style Matcha Strawberry bar uses ceremonial-grade Chamei Minami matcha, and the product is returning to Lindt stores after what the company described as a sold-out limited run last year. (retailtimes.co.uk; grocerygazette.co.uk) In India, Heapwell Superfoods said on April 14 that it had started importing Tenmyo Uji Matcha for shoppers looking past a generic “ceremonial” label. The company said buyers now ask for origin, producer details, and processing information before paying premium prices. (thehansindia.com) The shift is partly about price and partly about disclosure. A café can spend more on powder meant to be whisked with water, then use less delicate and less expensive matcha in lattes, blended drinks, and pastries where other ingredients dominate. (hospitality.economictimes.indiatimes.com) It is also a response to a labeling problem: “ceremonial grade” is widely used in export markets, but it is not an official government-regulated matcha standard. Tea sellers and educators routinely note that the term can mean different things from one brand to another, even when all of them source from Japan. (o-matcha.com; dmatcha.com) That leaves origin names such as Uji doing more work on the package. Uji, in Kyoto Prefecture, is one of Japan’s best-known tea regions, so brands increasingly pair “ceremonial” with a place name, a producer name, or a named blend to signal a narrower claim than the old catchall label. (thehansindia.com; hospitality.economictimes.indiatimes.com) The result is not a new official grading system. It is a more detailed menu and retail language: ceremonial for straight service, other grades for flavored formats, and more emphasis on where the powder came from before anyone calls it premium. (hospitality.economictimes.indiatimes.com; thehansindia.com; o-matcha.com)