"Over the past few years, matcha has grown in popularity because of its bright green color, health benefits, and the fact that it makes for a lovely latte. Matcha is part of the green tea family, but it's unique. Unlike traditional forms of green tea where you steep leaves in water, matcha is the powder made from ground-up tea leaves. Because of this, when you consume matcha, you're getting a higher concentration of the leaves' nutrients (translation: more benefits).
These days, you can pretty much find it at any American coffee shop. But matcha’s rich history dates back to the twelfth century and has been an important component of Japanese tea culture for more than 800 years."