Shizuoka Matcha Classic Grade by Otsuka
While waiting for my other matcha to arrive via airmail, I went to my local asia market and saw they had a few matcha as well. This one cost me a little over 6 Euros, so I didn't expect too much, but I wanted to try it nonetheless. Finding out what company it actually is was difficult, because there was a sticker slapped over that which peeled off the info with it. Online, I was able to find it written as Otsuka, Otsuka Seicha, and Ohtsuka. The importer is JFC Deutschland GmbH. Seems to almost be some kind of no-name product.
General Info
The label doesn't say much aside from it being green tea and "classic grade" - because of the price and this, I assume it is cooking grade, so nothing fancy. Descriptions in online stores say "Crafted from rich, aromatic Gyokuro tea leaves from Shizuoka in Japan."
When opening the tin, you'll see a little shiny bag with the matcha powder in it.
Color and Smell
The smell is very, very earthy. Almost nothing of the algae, grass, pine-scent you often get with other matcha. Very heavy soil scent for me. The powder looks normal, but something seems off about the smell. My fiancΓ©e noticed, too.
The color is a very muted, yellow-y green. It seems faded, oxidized, older, or simply of lower grade tea leaves or stems. It was actually difficult for me to take a picture of this that is accurate because phones nowadays do so much color correcting and making everything look better than it is; I already tried my best and tried to edit it in a way that makes it look accurate, but I think it still looks better on the image than in real life.
Taste
For a cheap tea, I didn't expect any sweetness or umami, of course. I expected the typical grassy bitterness of less-shaded matcha. But surprisingly, I taste.. nothing, really. I wonder if I have a faulty or rather old batch? But it says best before September 2025.
I did not try it as an iced matcha latte this time because of the lack of taste.
Conclusion
I think this one works fine if you are really into extremely mild, affordable matcha, but I think it isn't really good for tea; it's more for baking (but would just add a green that looks slightly dull and dirty, instead of bright), smoothies and making matcha skincare at home, like a matcha face mask. But personally I wouldn't buy it again for tea.
π΅ 1 out of 5 matcha bowls.