By Victoria Cosford
The cornerstone of traditional Japanese tea ceremonies for centuries, matcha is enjoying a burst of popularity for its health benefits. It’s finely ground green tea – its vibrant colour is due to the leaves’ high chlorophyll levels, and it’s supercharged with antioxidants.
At the Mullumbimby farmers’ markets you can now find Ayumu Kishimoto, smiling from behind his Matcha Byron stall. After some six years in the Byron region, Ayumu started his business in late 2022. ‘I initially arrived in the Gold Coast,’ he tells me, ‘but couldn’t forget this place after visiting once. So I came back.’
Ayumu sources his matcha from Uji, a region on the south-east border of Kyoto which is renowned for its tea and is the birthplace of the Japanese tea ceremony. Its matcha powder is considered the highest grade in Japan, prepared using the youngest leaves.
It’s typically whisked into either water or milk and offered as a beverage, and at Ayumu’s stall there’s a variety of ways you can enjoy it: matcha latte (the most popular, according to Ayumu), roasted green tea, toasted green tea latte, iced latte and bubble (or boba) tea – with tapioca pearls. You can select what type of milk you prefer – cow, almond, oat or soy – the sweetness level, and the topping, be it whipped cream or boba. ‘It’s truly enchanting,’ Ayumu tells me, ‘to have the people in Byron Bay, whom I love, appreciate and enjoy the matcha from Kyoto that I also love.’ He says that the response so far has been positive, with most people coming back each week, ‘drawn by the rich aroma and deep flavour of matcha, appreciating the unique balance of bitterness and sweetness.’ In addition, he has customers who come ‘specifically for the potential health benefits of matcha, and they report experiencing positive effects after consuming it.’
Ayumu’s past experience as a chef in Japan means there’ll also often be his beautiful green muffins on offer, examples being the bush matcha ones, studded with white chocolate and pecans, or the vegan ones with adzuki beans, gluten- and sugar-free. Once it cools down there’ll be soba noodle soup with matcha incorporated.
I have to ask Ayumu if he himself consumes matcha, in some form, regularly. His reply? ‘To be honest, I’ve fallen in love with coffee ever since I came to Australia, and since I drink coffee every morning I only drink about one matcha latte a week. Haha!’
Matcha muffin recipe
courtesy of Ayumu Kishimoto of Matcha Byron
*Plain flour: 400g
*Baking powder: 12g
*Matcha powder: 20g
Butter: 240g
Brown sugar: 240g
Eggs: 4
Milk: 160g
White chocolate: 150g
Pecan nuts: 120g
Preparation: Sift together the ingredients marked with an asterisk (*).
Bring butter to room temperature.
Warm the milk.
Instructions: In a bowl, cream the butter until softened. Gradually add sugar while mixing with a whisk until it becomes white and fluffy.
Add beaten eggs gradually to the bowl with butter and sugar, mixing continuously.
Gradually mix the bowl of dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, matcha powder) with the bowl containing butter, sugar, and eggs. Add milk slowly while stirring with a rubber spatula.
Add the pre-crushed pecan nuts and white chocolate to the batter.
Pour the batter into muffin cups and bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 25 minutes.
Enjoy your delicious matcha muffins!
Matcha Byron is at Mullumbimby Farmers Market every Friday from 7 to 11am.
