2025Journal articleFree to read
Toniolo C, Patriarca A, De Vita D, Santi L, Sciubba F
Plants (Basel, Switzerland)
Matcha, a finely powdered green tea, has been cherished in Japan for centuries, used in the traditional tea ceremony and nowadays also valued for its health-promoting properties. Cultivated under shaded conditions to enhance chlorophyll production, which gives the typical vibrant green color, matcha is rich in important bioactive compounds, including caffeine, catechins, and theanine. This study analyzes three matcha grades-ceremonial grade 1 (G1), grade 4 (G4), and food grade (FG)-to assess variations in their metabolite profiles. The Bligh-Dyer method was employed to extract polar and non-polar metabolites from organic and hydroalcoholic phases. High-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) was used for qualitative metabolite analysis, while nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy was employed for both qualitative and quantitative analyses. Results reveal a decreasing gradient of amino acids and caffeine from grade 1 to food grade, while other metabolites, such as polyphenols, display an increasing trend. These findings suggest that factors such as harvesting time and leaf maturity significantly influence matcha's chemical composition, providing a scientific basis for its quality differentiation and potential nutraceutical uses.
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Study type
Chemical / analytical
Measuring what is in matcha, or how to detect it.
Assigned automatically from the title, abstract and subject terms.
Topics
Matcha is a main subject here (named in the title).
Toniolo C, Patriarca A, De Vita D, Santi L, Sciubba F. (2025). A Comparative Multianalytical Approach to the Characterization of Different Grades of Matcha Tea (Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze). Plants (Basel, Switzerland). https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14111631
DOI: 10.3390/plants14111631 · PubMed ID: 40508306 · Cited by 7 (OpenAlex)
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