Can you make koicha with ordinary ceremonial grade matcha?

You can try, but most ceremonial tins are blended for usucha, and doubling their concentration usually doubles their bitterness. Koicha rewards powder specifically designated for it, so treat a harsh result as the tin's limit rather than your technique.

Does koicha have more caffeine than usucha?

Per bowl, yes, roughly double, because it uses about twice the powder: in the region of 76 to 176 mg from 4 g against 38 to 88 mg from 2 g. Sipped slowly and often shared, a serving in practice can be closer than the per-bowl numbers suggest.

Is usucha supposed to have foam?

It depends who taught you. The Urasenke school whisks usucha to a full, even foam, while Omotesenke prefers only a light, partial froth. At home the foam is a texture preference, and a fine stable foam is also a handy freshness check on the powder itself.

What does koicha taste like?

Concentrated sweetness and deep umami with almost no sharpness, carried by a thick, glossy texture closer to warm honey than to tea, assuming the powder deserves the preparation. Made with too ordinary a matcha, the same method just tastes intensely bitter.

Usucha vs koicha

Usucha and koicha are the two ways matcha is traditionally prepared. Usucha, thin tea, is about 2 g of matcha whisked with 70 ml of water into a light, foamy bowl. Koicha, thick tea, is roughly 4 g kneaded with only 40 ml into a glossy, espresso-thick liquid with no foam.

What is the difference between usucha and koicha

They are the same powder at two concentrations, made with two different motions. Usucha is whisked fast to aerate it; koicha is kneaded slowly so it never foams. Everything else follows from that.

Usucha and koicha in the matcha glossary: quick definitions of both terms alongside the rest of the vocabulary.

Usucha and koicha side by side
	Usucha (thin tea)	Koicha (thick tea)
Matcha	About 2 g (2 chashaku scoops)	About 4 g (3 to 4 scoops)
Water	About 70 ml	About 40 ml
Motion	Whisked briskly in a W to a foam	Kneaded slowly, never whipped
Texture	Light and frothy	Glossy and thick, like warm honey
Grade	Any good drinking matcha	Only top ceremonial lots
Where you meet it	Daily bowls, cafes, most of a gathering	The formal heart of a tea gathering

How do you make usucha

Sift about 2 g of matcha into a warmed bowl, add roughly 70 ml of water at 75 to 80 degrees Celsius, and whisk briskly from the wrist in a W motion for 15 to 30 seconds until a fine, even foam covers the surface. It is the standard bowl of plain matcha, drunk daily in Japan and the preparation every home drinker should learn first. The full step-by-step method, with equipment notes, is in our traditional recipe.

Traditional matcha tea recipe: the complete usucha method, step by step with NZ measures.

How do you make koicha

Sift about 4 g of matcha into a warmed bowl and add only half the water first, roughly 20 ml at 75 to 80 degrees Celsius. Instead of whisking, knead: work the chasen slowly through the paste, pressing and folding from the wrist until it is perfectly smooth. Add the remaining 20 ml and keep kneading gently until the tea is glossy, thick and lump free, flowing off the whisk in a slow ribbon. There should be no foam at all.

The result is intense: concentrated sweetness and umami with a texture closer to warm honey than to tea. In a formal gathering one bowl is traditionally shared between guests, each taking a few sips and wiping the rim, which is part of why the ceremony treats it with such weight.

Which matcha grades suit koicha

Only the best. Koicha doubles the powder into half the water, so every characteristic of the matcha is magnified: an ordinary tin's mild bitterness becomes overwhelming at koicha concentration, while a top first-harvest lot turns thick, sweet and rounded. Japanese producers reserve specific high-amino lots for it, often from prized cultivars such as Asahi, and label them as suitable for koicha.

That label is worth knowing as a buyer, because a genuine koicha designation is the strongest quality claim in matcha labelling: it says the producer will stand behind the powder at double strength. Usucha-grade tins, including most ceremonial tins sold in NZ, are blended for the lighter preparation.

When is each one drunk

In a formal tea gathering the order is fixed: koicha is the centrepiece, prepared in near silence and shared from one bowl, and usucha follows as the lighter, more social close. Outside the tea room, usucha is simply how matcha is drunk, from Kyoto kitchens to NZ benches, and koicha is rare, partly because of the grade it demands and the price that follows.

For home drinkers the practical advice is to master usucha first, then try koicha once with the best tin you can justify. Even made imperfectly, it explains more about why top-grade matcha costs what it does than any label can.

Common questions

Can you make koicha with ordinary ceremonial grade matcha?: You can try, but most ceremonial tins are blended for usucha, and doubling their concentration usually doubles their bitterness. Koicha rewards powder specifically designated for it, so treat a harsh result as the tin's limit rather than your technique.
Does koicha have more caffeine than usucha?: Per bowl, yes, roughly double, because it uses about twice the powder: in the region of 76 to 176 mg from 4 g against 38 to 88 mg from 2 g. Sipped slowly and often shared, a serving in practice can be closer than the per-bowl numbers suggest.
Is usucha supposed to have foam?: It depends who taught you. The Urasenke school whisks usucha to a full, even foam, while Omotesenke prefers only a light, partial froth. At home the foam is a texture preference, and a fine stable foam is also a handy freshness check on the powder itself.
What does koicha taste like?: Concentrated sweetness and deep umami with almost no sharpness, carried by a thick, glossy texture closer to warm honey than to tea, assuming the powder deserves the preparation. Made with too ordinary a matcha, the same method just tastes intensely bitter.