ONE ORGANIC Matcha Powder

Earlier this year I was curious if there was really that much difference between the lower priced Matcha from China I was seeing on Amazon and the higher priced from Japan. From the lower cost Chinese brands to the high end Japanese brands there is an over 13x per gram cost difference. I decided to order 5 different brands ranging in cost and do a comparison between them. I made my purchase in March 2016 so for review purposes I will be using the prices from that order date, though the prices do fluctuate. I also did the comparison & photos at that time though its taken me awhile to post the review For my review I used American Weigh Scales GEMINI-20 Portable MilliGram Scale, 20 by 0.001 G and SEOH Plastic Hexagonal Weigh Boats Micro Dish 100pk to weigh all the samples within .01 grams of one another. I used the same 5 exact cups with water all the same warm temperature for tasting purposes cleansing my palette between each sample and then redoing them again. The following is the brand name, the price for the quantity I purchased, the quantity in grams in that container, the final price per gram (at time of purchase), and the country of origin. These are listed from cheapest to most expensive. The photos are listed in the same order from left to right - cheapest -> most expensive Matcha DNA 19.95 283.45 .0704 p/g China One Organic 19.95 250 .0798 China Use Matcha 25.25 113 .2235 Japan Midori Spring 26.47 30 .8823 Japan Kyoto Ippodo 38.99 40 .9748 Japan First you will notice that the cheapest "Matcha" comes from China with a substantial increase in price for Japanese Matcha. Also in the photos of both the powder and the liquid there is a very clear transition from left to right from a browner darker green to a brighter more vibrant green - One Organic being the outlier which looks the brownest and as if it would belong farthest to the left. What I found a little surprising was that the level of bitterness seemed to almost directly correspond to the color of the matcha which also almost completely corresponded to the price. Again from left to right the cheapest on the left was the most bitter with the least bitter the very expensive Kyoto Ippodo on the right - One Organic being the outlier here again and being the most bitter, and most brown, more so then the Matcha DNA. I also found the ease with which the Matcha mixes follows the same trend - from left to right the powder becomes finer and easier to mix with One Organic the outlier. So which is the best? Well I'm going to give all of them 5 stars. Why? Because a single rating system as we have here on Amazon creates conflicting ratings depended on the reviewers criteria. If you are rating on an absolute scale of Taste Kyoto Ippodo would be the 5 and One Organic a 1. But the Ippodo costed over 12x as much as the One Organic when i purchased it! Personally I'm going to attempt to rate these based on what I paid for them. The One Organic at my time of purchase costed more then the Matcha DNA and was both aesthetically less pleasing, mixed worse, and was more bitter so it deserved a lower rating but if it were to price itself less it would be a better buy. Checking now as of 8/8/2016 the Matcha DNA is now $19.94 (one cent lower then at purchase) but One Organic is now 14.95 making it a substantially better buy depending on your criteria. If you want Matcha for traditional ceremonial Tea you will probably not want to go lower then the Use Matcha and quite likely the Midori Spring or Higher. For making lattes & shakes Use Matcha may be your sweet spot - needs far less sweetener then One Organic but more than 1/3 less the cost of Midori Spring. For baking purposes it depends again on how much your baking, how bright green you want it without food coloring, and how much sweetener you are willing to add. Personally in the future I do not think I will consider anything below the Use Matcha quality. Perhaps China has some good Matcha but the difference in bitterness between these two and the Japanese Matcha in this review was substantial. As for the other health properties of Matcha - anti-oxidants / improving alertness. While anti-oxidants can probably be measured fairly straightforward with the right equipment science seems to be increasingly mixed on whether more is really better since it determines when & where these anti-oxidants are delivered in the body. Increasing alertness & clarity can be difficult to objectively measure since many other factors would skew results. But it does make me wonder if these properties would follow the same trend. I also wanted to note that I purchased all of these myself. I've seen quite a number of reviews where people were being provided these products free - and who knows how many more where they did not disclose it.

I've been using this since July and have been pretty impressed with the way it quells my appetite. I read about it first in Woman's World magazine, you get a diet of the week followed by several pages of high-calorie recipes. I've always had a problem with my weight, yo-yo dieting between 135 and 172, and the last 10 pounds are always the hardest. I just like to cook and eat, no big emotional issues with food, I just like it a little too much. I have familial hypercholesterolemia and have to watch my fat intake very closely. My best weight is about 128. I needed to fit into a sweater in July, and at 137 that was not going to do. I saw this article and tried the Matcha. Taking 1 teaspoon in the morning and 1/2 teaspoon at mid afternoon, the weight just flew off at 2-1/2 pounds a week. Frankly I was shocked, it had never ever been that easy before. I'm just not that hungry, I eat like before but just way less, I'm satisfied with a few bites of whatever. I am at 125 right now and that is perfect and effortless. To me it tastes like alfalfa--not good (but I still give it 5 stars). I place a level teaspoonful directly on the middle of my tongue, don't breathe, and follow with 3 gulps of cold water. I don't notice any unpleasant side-effects at all, sleep well at night, doesn't make me anxious, I just don't feel the need to overeat. I do walk and lift some light weights several times a week as I have always done. Give it a try. I waited this long to review it because I wanted to make sure I wasn't being suggestible. So it's been several months now and I do believe I've found the key to staying at the right weight forever.

I really like this unsweetened brand. I do have to make a couple adjustments with measuring because I do 16oz milk not 12, but that equals like 5 tsp so it isn't too hard to do. It tastes wonderful. I do highly recommend either blending as you put tea in milk, or using a blender to get a smooth consistency. I enjoy being able to have my tea every morning. Sometimes I put a little whipping cream in it to make it more like the Matcha I get at that well known coffee shop, but it is definitely a lot cheaper and I can control what goes into it.

Great item to drink and easy to make. Have been drinking every day and will definitely buy it again. Cheaper than going to my local store to buy it.

Absolutely Love This Matcha Green Tea! The flavor is smooth, vibrant, and just the right balance of earthy and sweet. It gives me a great energy boost without the jitters I get from coffee. Plus, it’s super easy to prepare and perfect whether I want a quick pick-me-up or a calming ritual. Highly recommend to any matcha lover!

Most matcha is made using specially constructed grinding bits made of granite, in order to slowly grind the tea leaves into pieces as small as 5 microns. This stuff was not. It was probably just thrown in some sort of industrial blender. You can tell just by making some. All the big chunks of leaf fall straight to the bottom, making the last few sips of this stuff really harsh on the throat. I know a lot of people complain about the tea being dark, which is usually the way you determine matcha quality. This is because they sort the leaves out by color specifically in order to make different qualities for drinking, ceremonies, or just for cooking. However, they DO NOT ever skip the granite grinding process for making authentic matcha. This is not authentic matcha. I would not suggest drinking this stuff. It is worse than culinary quality matcha. But for the price, it is definitely good for use in cooking. I can't complain too much.