Matcha is everywhere in India right now. In cafes in Bandra and Koramangala and Hauz Khas, in the menus of bakeries that didn't exist five years ago, in the Instagram feeds of people who would have been drinking chai at this hour a decade ago. It has arrived with the speed and completeness of a genuine cultural shift.
But matcha is not new. It is, in fact, one of the oldest prepared beverages in the world — with a history that stretches back nearly a thousand years and a cultural significance in Japan that goes far beyond a morning drink. Understanding where it comes from makes what it has become in India considerably more interesting.
What Matcha Actually Is
Matcha is finely ground powder made from specially grown and processed green tea leaves. The key word is "specially" — the production of matcha is significantly more involved than the production of ordinary green tea, and the difference in process is the reason for the difference in flavour.
The tea plants used for matcha are shade-grown for the final three to four weeks before harvest. Covering the plants reduces photosynthesis, which causes the leaves to produce more chlorophyll — giving matcha its characteristic vivid green colour — and more L-theanine, an amino acid that contributes to matcha's distinctive flavour: umami-rich, slightly sweet, with a vegetal depth that ordinary green tea doesn't have.
After harvest, the leaves are steamed to stop oxidation, dried, and then stone-ground into a fine powder. The grinding is slow — a traditional stone mill produces only about 30 grams of matcha per hour — because speed generates heat that degrades the flavour compounds. The result is a powder so fine it is almost silky, with a colour that is unmistakably, intensely green.
When you drink matcha, you consume the entire leaf rather than an infusion of it. This is why matcha has a more concentrated flavour, a higher caffeine content, and a higher concentration of antioxidants than steeped green tea. You are not drinking water that has passed through a leaf. You are drinking the leaf itself.
Where It Came From: The Japanese Tea Ceremony
Matcha arrived in Japan from China in the 12th century, brought by the Buddhist monk Eisai, who had studied in China and returned with both tea seeds and the practice of grinding tea into powder. The practice was initially confined to Buddhist monasteries, where the caffeine helped monks stay alert during long meditation sessions.
Over the following centuries, matcha became central to the Japanese tea ceremony — chado, or "the way of tea" — a ritual practice that is as much about philosophy and aesthetics as it is about drinking tea. The ceremony is governed by principles of harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility. Every gesture, every utensil, every movement has meaning. The matcha is prepared and consumed with a level of attention that transforms a simple act into something closer to meditation.
This context matters for understanding matcha's flavour. Ceremonial-grade matcha — the highest quality, made from the youngest leaves of the first harvest — is designed to be consumed on its own, whisked with hot water into a frothy, vivid green bowl. Its flavour is complex and subtle: the umami, the sweetness, the slight bitterness, the long finish. It is a flavour that rewards attention, which is appropriate for a beverage that is consumed in a context of deliberate attention.
How India Has Adapted Matcha
India's relationship with matcha is young and, characteristically, its own.
Matcha arrived in Indian cafes primarily as an aesthetic object — the vivid green of a matcha latte is visually striking in a way that photographs well, and the early adoption was driven as much by Instagram as by flavour curiosity. The matcha latte — matcha powder whisked with steamed milk and sweetened — is a significant departure from the Japanese ceremonial preparation, but it is the form in which most Indians have encountered the ingredient.
From the latte, matcha has spread into baking, into desserts, into ice cream, into confectionery. Indian pastry chefs and chocolatiers have found that matcha's flavour — the umami, the slight bitterness, the vegetal depth — pairs well with the sweetness and richness of dairy-based preparations. The bitterness of matcha and the sweetness of milk chocolate, for example, create a balance that is interesting and approachable.
India has also adapted matcha to its own flavour sensibility. The Indian palate is comfortable with complexity — with flavours that are layered, that have multiple dimensions, that don't resolve into a single simple note. Matcha, with its umami depth and its bitter-sweet balance, fits naturally into this sensibility. It is not a foreign flavour that requires adjustment. It is a complex flavour that the Indian palate is well-equipped to appreciate.
There is also a practical dimension: India grows tea. The Nilgiris, Darjeeling, Assam — these are among the world's great tea-growing regions. The knowledge of tea, the appreciation of its complexity, the cultural centrality of a hot beverage made from leaves — all of this creates a receptive context for matcha that might not exist in a culture without a deep tea tradition.
What Cavasa Is Doing with Matcha
We have been working with matcha long enough to know that it is not a single-use ingredient. It is a flavour system — one that behaves differently depending on what it is paired with, what format it appears in, and what role it is asked to play. Our matcha range reflects this: four products, each using matcha differently, each arriving at a different result.
Cashew Matcha Dragées
Our Cashew Matcha Dragées were the first matcha product we made, and they remain the most approachable entry point into our matcha range. The cashew brings a mild, buttery nuttiness that provides a neutral base for the matcha to express itself against. The matcha brings its characteristic umami depth and slight bitterness, which cuts through the richness of the cashew and the sweetness of the chocolate shell. The milk chocolate shell provides the sweetness that balances the matcha's bitterness and the fat that carries the flavour across the palate. The combination is not obvious, but the flavour logic is sound — the three elements occupy different parts of the flavour spectrum and complement rather than compete with each other.
Strawberry Matcha
Strawberry matcha is the most unexpected combination in our range — and the one that surprises people most when they taste it. The pairing works because strawberry and matcha occupy opposite ends of the flavour spectrum in a way that creates tension rather than conflict: the bright, sweet acidity of the strawberry against the deep, umami bitterness of the matcha, with chocolate as the medium that holds them together. The result is a piece that moves — that starts in one place and arrives somewhere different, with the matcha's long finish pulling the strawberry's sweetness into something more complex. It is the most interesting piece in the matcha range and the hardest to describe accurately before tasting.
Matcha Ganache Bar
The matcha ganache bar is matcha at its most direct. A ganache — matcha incorporated into a cream base, set inside a chocolate shell — allows the ingredient to express itself without the distraction of a nut or a fruit. The umami is present and clear. The bitterness is present and controlled. The texture is smooth and rich in the way that a well-made ganache always is. This is the bar for the customer who already knows they love matcha and wants to experience it in its most concentrated chocolate form — without anything else getting in the way.
Ganache de Luxe in Matcha Format
Our Ganache de Luxe is our most complete expression of what we make — a collection of ganache pieces that represents the full range of our craft. The matcha format brings matcha into that context: alongside our other ganache flavours, as one voice in a larger conversation rather than the only voice in the room. For customers who want to explore matcha alongside other Cavasa flavours — to understand how it sits in relation to the filter coffee, the masala chai, the jamun — the Ganache de Luxe in matcha format is the right starting point. It is matcha in context, which is often the most revealing way to experience a new flavour.
Why Matcha and Chocolate Belong Together
The deeper reason matcha works in chocolate is structural. Both ingredients share a quality that is rare in food: they reward attention. A piece of matcha chocolate eaten quickly, between other things, yields a fraction of what it offers to someone who is present with it — who notices the entry, the development, the finish, the way the flavours shift as the chocolate melts.
This is what the Japanese tea ceremony understood about matcha a thousand years ago. It is what good chocolate has always understood about itself. The two ingredients, brought together, reinforce each other's best quality: the invitation to slow down and pay attention.
Matcha has travelled a long way from a Japanese monastery in the 12th century to a kitchen in Ambur, Tamil Nadu. We think the journey has been worth it.
Explore our full matcha range — starting with our Cashew Matcha Dragées — or browse the complete Cavasa Chocolates collection. Made in Ambur, Tamil Nadu. 🍫🌵
