Koicha and usucha: understanding balance

I used to wonder how to understand tea intended for koicha and usucha. Then a simple bowl of usucha gave me something to think about.

One evening, I visited a tea producer I respect. As usual, they made tea for us. It was a modest tea from their range, yet the cup was fresh, balanced, and very enjoyable.

That experience reminded me that these two styles are about more than a ranking of quality.

Different concentrations, different balance

Koicha means thick tea. It uses relatively little water, with tea-to-water ratios such as 1:7.5 or 1:10. Usucha means thin tea, and uses more water, for example 1:30. These are examples of proportions, rather than a single recipe for every tea.

A tea suited to koicha needs to hold its balance at that high concentration. A tea suited to usucha may show its aroma, character, and structure more clearly with more water.

Changing the ratio does more than make a tea stronger or weaker. It changes how we experience its umami, sweetness, bitterness, aroma, astringency, and body together.

A tea with deep, rich umami as koicha may feel quieter or flatter when diluted as usucha. A lighter, aromatic tea that is lovely as usucha may become too bitter or astringent when prepared as koicha.

What do we actually taste?

The amount of umami-related compounds in a tea does not tell us everything about the umami we perceive. We experience the whole cup, with each element affecting the others.

A tea with fewer amino acids may feel more clearly umami at its intended usucha concentration. A tea selected for koicha may lose the structure that makes it satisfying when we add too much water.

So I find it more useful to ask: how does this tea taste best? At what concentration does its balance become clear?

That modest bowl of usucha stayed with me because it was prepared in a way that suited the tea. In that moment, it could be more impressive than a more expensive tea prepared at a ratio that did not suit it.

It also gave me another reason to keep learning. Understanding matcha begins with paying attention to what is in the bowl, and allowing each tea to show us how it wants to be enjoyed.