Course:FNH200/Projects/2026/Matcha Overview

Focus A: General Information

• Comparison between Matcha and Green tea
  • Including a table to clearly convey the differences and similarities
• Drawbacks of Matcha consumption and production
  • sustainability or environmental considerations in matcha production
  • risks of matcha consumption, such as high caffeine content

< FDR Division 20 repealed in 2024. https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/C.R.C.,_c._870/page-28.html

< page rn is all health benefits (positive) but no negatives. Talk about like caffeine overload from consuming too much matcha (or whole leafs), heavy metal accumulations, sustainability. Rubric asks for proportional both sides

< matcha vs green tea table if you care for it (vs coffee vs monster, whatever)

Focus B: Food Chemistry

• Analyze the food processing steps from matcha leaves to countertop matcha
  • Steaming, milling, etc.

>Thorough “why” loop on processing steps, not just what they are. Steaming -> enzyme inactivation. Shading -> nitrogen -> theanine. Milling heat -> chlorophyll + catechins degredations. Le big chemistry brain + maybe touch on traditional vs modern methods.

Focus C: Preservation, Packing

Despite its caffeine content, there are very little regulations regarding the packaging of matcha in Canada. Products that naturally contain caffeine (coffee, tea, etc.) are unregulated, as opposed to products that are supplemented with caffeine. (eg. Energy drinks) In the case of the former, the Canadian government only recommends to indicate that a product contains caffeine when the caffeine source is not commonly recognized as such. (such as guarana and yerba maté) Since green teas such as matcha are commonly known to contain caffeine, there is no need to indicate the caffeine content on matcha packaging besides indicating the matcha powder in the ingredients list. It should also be noted that in the case of decaffeinated matcha, the ingredients list contains decaf matcha powder as opposed to just matcha powder.

• Degradation properties of Matcha
  • I.e. susceptible to oxidation, moisture, or light?
  • How is this mitigated using food processing techniques/packaging?
• Health Canada and CFIA regulations, standards of identity, other regulations related to Matcha
  • How does this affect consumer perception/opinion of matcha?

What destroys matcha (oxygen, light, moisture, temperature etc.) and how industry packages to stop it. Airtight containers etc.  are there regulations in canada for packaging? What do consoomers expect (downstream perception of quality?)