Just like coffee, my first experience with matcha wasn’t great. It tasted bitter, earthy, and had a strange fish-like smell. Milk helped mask these flavors to a certain degree, but I couldn’t quite understand why matcha beverages were becoming so popular.

And then recently, my perception changed when I discovered a matcha brand that made me realize I haven’t tasted the right grade matcha all along. Discovering the right ceremonial-grade matcha is like entering another rabbit hole, similar to my journey in specialty coffee.