Green Means "Go": Premium matcha green tea stands out as an ingredient for both its flavor and function in food and beverage applications
Editor’s Note: In conjunction with our August feature on formulating with tea ingredients, Prepared Foods wanted to examine one form, matcha, in greater detail. Following is Prepared Foods’ interview with James Oliveira at Aiya Matcha (Aiya America Inc.), Torrance, Calif. Oliveira is an account executive with the company’s Ingredients Division. Aiya America is a North American division of Japan’s Aiya Co. Ltd., headquartered in Nishio.
In addition to traditional green tea, Aiya supplies organic matcha for retail, foodservice and industrial customers. The following conversation explores matcha’s growing use in new consumer packaged foods and beverages, its on-trend culinary and nutritional profiles, its role as an ingredient and trending future applications.