2026Journal articleFree to read
Jiaxin Wu, Zhirui Ye, Jiayi Xu, Jiaying Yang, 袁彩君, Junjie Dong, Yuefei Wang, Jihong Zhou
LWT
The quality of matcha foam is a key determinant of the sensory characteristics and consumer acceptance of matcha beverages. Although mechanized whisking offers a promising strategy for standardized preparation, whether it can reproduce the foam quality of hand whisking and the mechanisms governing foam performance remain unclear. This study investigated the effects of whisking frequency, water temperature, whisking duration, and matcha powder addition on foaming capacity (FC), foam stability (FS), and sensory quality, followed by process optimization using a Box–Behnken design. A whisking frequency of 5000 rpm provided the best overall performance and was selected for subsequent optimization. The optimal conditions were 76°C, 3.5 min, and 1.20 g of matcha powder, yielding an experimental FC of 128.39%, 60-min FS of 63.48%, and overall sensory score of 8.33. Compared with the center-point mechanized treatment, the optimized process increased FC by 5.5% and 60-min FS by 33.0%, achieving sensory quality comparable to hand whisking. Biochemical analysis revealed preferential enrichment of soluble proteins and catechins, particularly EGCG, ECG, and GC (enrichment factors up to 2.21), in the foam phase under high-foaming conditions, whereas free amino acids showed opposite trends under two foaming conditions. Multiscale characterization further showed that enhanced foam performance was associated with a more homogeneous bubble architecture, greater powder entrainment, and improved cohesiveness and resilience. These findings reveal the structural and compositional basis underlying matcha foam quality and provide a scientific basis for standardized preparation of high-quality matcha beverages.
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Study type
Observational (human)
Surveys, cohorts and consumer studies, with no intervention.
Assigned automatically from the title, abstract and subject terms.
Topics
Matcha is a main subject here (named in the title).
Jiaxin Wu, Zhirui Ye, Jiayi Xu, Jiaying Yang, 袁彩君, Junjie Dong, … Jihong Zhou. (2026). Mechanized whisking reconstructs matcha foam structure and sensory quality toward hand-whisking. LWT. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2026.120061
DOI: 10.1016/j.lwt.2026.120061
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