Where to find good matcha in Switzerland: how to spot it in a café

How do you recognise a good matcha latte?

A look at the glass and one sip before any syrup tell you most of what you need to know. This works the same in Basel as in Zürich, Bern, Lucerne, Lausanne or Lugano.

Colour: bright green, not olive

Matcha is ground from tea leaves that are shaded for several weeks before harvest. Shading raises the chlorophyll content, so the leaves turn a deeper green. That is why good matcha is bright green.

If it looks olive or yellowish, it usually comes from a later harvest or has been open for a while. Chlorophyll breaks down with oxygen and heat, and the colour fades with it.

The colour is easiest to judge in an iced latte where the matcha goes in last, on top of the milk and ice.

Foam: fine and stable

Good matcha, freshly whisked, forms a fine, dense microfoam. Lower grade matcha barely foams, or forms large bubbles that collapse quickly.

Whether the café uses a bamboo whisk (chasen) or an electric frother matters less. What counts is that the matcha is whisked fresh.

Taste: mild, with little bitterness

Good matcha tastes smooth and naturally a little sweet, with clear umami. L-theanine plays a part here: it is an amino acid in the tea leaf that shapes the umami taste.

Bitterness comes mainly from catechins. Shading lowers their content in the leaf, while matcha from later harvests often tastes more bitter. A lot of syrup covers this up, so if you can, take the first sip unsweetened.

Freshly whisked or made in advance?

Some cafés mix matcha with water in advance and pour it from a bottle or jug. It saves time, but the quality suffers.

Matcha does not dissolve. The finely ground leaves are only suspended in the water and settle over time. Pre-batched matcha loses its foam and goes stale within hours. Matcha that sat in the fridge with water overnight is no longer fit to serve the next day.

Whisking fresh takes 10 to 15 seconds. If you can see or hear your matcha being whisked, that is a good sign.

What can you ask the barista?

Good cafés are happy to answer these questions. The answers usually tell you more than any label on the menu.

• Is the matcha whisked fresh? The most important question. Fresh means for each drink, or for a few drinks at once, not in advance.
• Where is the matcha from? A specific region in Japan, such as Uji south of Kyoto, says more than "Japanese matcha".
• Which harvest is it from? Matcha from the first spring harvest (ichibancha) is the reference. Summer and autumn harvests usually give a less green, more bitter matcha.
• How much matcha goes into a drink? We work with 2g of matcha to 40ml of water as the base. With much less matcha, the latte turns pale and milky.
• How hot is the water? We use 80°C at most. Hotter water extracts more catechins, and the matcha tastes more bitter.

A label like "ceremonial grade", on the other hand, says little. It is not an official grade in Japan; more on this in What does ceremonial grade mean?.

Is lower grade matcha in a latte a problem?

Lower grade matcha usually comes from a later harvest in summer or autumn and from older leaves. It costs less. In return, it is often more bitter and less green.

For baking it is often fine. In a latte the difference stays visible, mostly in colour and foam. Why good matcha still makes sense with milk is covered in Ceremonial or culinary for lattes?.

How to check matcha powder yourself before you buy it is explained in How to spot good matcha.

Which cafés serve matcha⁷?

Our matcha is served in specialty cafés across Switzerland. These cafés are listed publicly on our partner page (as of October 2026):

• Basel: BRÜ Specialty Coffee, specialty coffee café
• Canton of Lucerne: Four Hundred (MG) Coffee Roastery, 3 locations: the roastery in Hitzkirch and the cafés at Inseli Park and Max Chocolatier in Lucerne
• Lugano: re:fuel by re:form pilates club, café at the re:form pilates studio
• Scuol (GR): La Motta Bergrestaurant, mountain restaurant at the Motta Naluns top station
• Thurgau: nichtnur Fenstercafé, specialty coffee café

Running a café and thinking about adding matcha? Terms and samples are on our page Matcha for cafés.

And if you make matcha at home?

Our standard, also for lattes:

1. Put 2g of matcha into a bowl.
2. Add 40ml of water at 80°C at most.
3. Whisk with a moistened bamboo whisk for 10 to 15 seconds in a zigzag until a fine, dense foam forms.
4. Drink it pure, or add 80 to 120ml of (oat) milk for a latte.

The full steps are in our preparation guide. Our certified organic matcha from Uji is available as organic matcha 60g.