All you need to know

What you need to know about umami, the fifth basic flavour.

When we try to describe the taste of matcha tea, we often read that it has a vegetal flavour and is slightly bitter. It is also said to be ‘umami’.

But what is umami flavour?

You’re probably already familiar with the four basic flavours: sweet, salty, bitter and sour.

But there’s also a fifth flavour, well known in Asia: umami.

Discovered by Professor Kikunae Ikeda in 1908, a chemist at Tokyo’s Imperial University, the word umami means “savoury taste” in Japanese, a combination of the words “umai”, delicious, and “mi”, taste. He is said to have discovered the role of glutamates in the presence of this characteristic flavour, particularly in dashi broth, the famous Japanese bonito broth.

The combination of three amino acids, namely glutamate, inosinic acid and guanylic acid, enables the receptors on our tongue to sense umami.

The value of umami in terms of taste is the balance and roundness it brings to a dish. This is why umami-rich foods are often added to enhance the flavour of a dish, such as Parmesan or tomato sauce on pasta.

In the mouth, it’s a difficult sensation to identify. More simply, it’s a flavour that coats the whole tongue, offering a balanced taste, without acidity, sweetness, bitterness or pronounced acidity.

According to a study published in 2014 in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the umami flavour increases appetite, but also the feeling of satiety. It is therefore ideal for regulating appetite, and can be an ally in weight loss.

What foods taste umami?

Umami is a balanced flavour, present in many foods such as soy sauce, ripe tomatoes, (dried) mushrooms, meat and fish broths, cheeses, anchovies, seaweed (kombu) and miso.

Umami is also very present in green tea, especially matcha tea.

Matcha tea is distinguished from other green teas by its jade-coloured powdered form, but above all by its strong umami flavour, combined with a characteristic light herbaceous bitterness.

Unlike other teas, the green tea leaves are finely ground to produce a delicate, high-quality powder. Matcha green tea powder is not brewed, but consumed directly by mixing it with hot water and beating it with a bamboo whisk, called a chasen.

The umami present in matcha tea gives it a delicious sweet aftertaste, as opposed to the umami present in Chinese teas, which is simply a balanced flavour.

When you drink matcha tea, you can feel the umami flavour with all your taste buds, so it coats the whole of your tongue with a delicious taste. It gives the tea a tantalising taste, which makes you salivate and gives you a lovely round mouthfeel.

So for me, drinking matcha is the most delicious way to discover the umami flavour so prized in Japanese cuisine.

Matcha, incredible flavours

Because as well as being delicious, matcha is one of the foods with the strongest umami flavour!

And with good reason: the tea leaves used to produce matcha, the tencha leaves, are covered for around twenty days before harvesting.

This has the effect of increasing the concentration of L-theanine in the leaves, which is also responsible for matcha’s rich umami flavour!

Using a whisk, in a wide bowl, we obtain a thick foam on the surface, which gives a creamy texture and a very pleasant sensation of softness.

The umami flavour balances out the bitterness that matcha tea may contain, adding a slight sweetness on the finish.

All this gives matcha a totally unique, comforting and invigorating flavour that cannot be found in any other green tea!

With Kumiko Matcha, my aim is to work with my partner farmers to offer exceptional organic matcha teas, produced with a great deal of love, care and respect for the environment.

Because each matcha tea is unique and invites you on a sensory and gustatory journey, I offer a varied selection of matcha teas, each of which in its own way offers a pronounced umami flavour, a taste devoid of bitterness, and notes ranging from cocoa to citrus fruit.

In this way, like a fine wine, everyone can find a delicious matcha tea, the best being the one that suits YOUR taste!

Conclusion

We have seen that umami is the fifth flavour, after salty, sweet, bitter and acidic.
It was discovered in 1908 by a Japanese professor, Kikunae Ikeda. It gives a balanced flavour to dishes, making them more gourmet.

Matcha offers one of the most intense umami flavours, thanks to its content of
(video in French)

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