Matcha is green tea ground into a fine powder, and unlike other teas you drink the whole leaf, whisked into water rather than steeped in it. The plants are shaded from the sun for several weeks before harvest, which deepens the green and sweetens the flavor, and the leaves are then dried and stone ground. It sits at the heart of the Japanese tea ceremony, where the preparation of a single bowl is an art practiced for a lifetime. In everyday life it is made far more casually, at home and in cafés, and served with a small sweet to balance its bitterness.

The everyday style is usucha, thin tea: a teaspoon of powder, a little hot water, and a brisk whisk until the surface is covered in fine foam. It takes a minute, rewards attention and gives a calm, alert sort of energy that suits the long wait before a Grand Prix start. You do not need ceremonial equipment to begin, though once you have tried a bamboo whisk you may find yourself buying one.

The matcha

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon (2 g) drinking grade matcha
• 1/3 cup (80 ml) water
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) hot water

Method

1. Boil the kettle, then leave it to cool for about 3 minutes, or until the thermometer reads 175°F (80°C).
2. Pour the warming water into the bowl. If using a bamboo whisk, stand it in the water for 30 seconds so the tines soften and do not snap. Pour the water away and dry the bowl with a cloth.
3. Hold the strainer over the bowl and push the matcha through it with the back of the teaspoon.
4. Pour the 1/3 cup (80 ml) of water over the matcha.
5. Hold the bowl steady with one hand. With the other, whisk quickly from the wrist in a zigzag, back and forth in a W or M shape, not round and round, for 15 to 20 seconds, keeping the whisk just touching the bottom. Then lift the whisk slightly and keep going near the surface for a few seconds to break the larger bubbles. With a milk frother, hold it just under the surface for 10 seconds. With a jar, shake hard for 15 seconds and pour.
6. Lift the whisk out from the center of the bowl, leaving a small peak of foam in the middle.

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