THE first matcha-themed dessert shop recently opened on the second floor of OCT Bay shopping mall.

    The dessert caterer, 36 Matchart, prides itself on the high-quality ingredients they use: Everbright brand’s high-end fresh milk containing a milk fat of 3.6 percent and matcha produced in the 36 degrees north latitude areas.

    Top matcha powders of the world are all grown at this latitude, such as Uji, Kyoto in Japan and Rizhao in Shandong Province. That’s how the dessert shop has got its name.

    A tradition started around the Tang Dynasty (618-907), matcha is a finely ground powder of specially grown and processed green tea. To guarantee its pure flavor and smooth texture, the green tea plants for matcha are shade-grown for about three weeks before harvest, with the stems and veins removed during processing. In ancient times, the tea ceremony centered on the preparation, serving, and drinking of matcha. In modern times, the powder is used to flavor and dye foods such as mochi and soba noodles, green tea ice cream and a variety of Japanese candies.

    While most of us have tried milk matcha, the newly opened dessert shop definitely will open the eyes of foodies. Beautiful to look at and delicately luscious in the mouth, the combination of matcha and cheese is a delightful drink to go with their matcha cakes. They also offer Royal Matcha with layers of the sour/sweet pomelo jam topped by delicately bitter matcha, a mango matcha ice cream, matcha smoothies, matcha lattes and refreshing matcha shaved ice.

    The versatile 36 parfait is a dream coming true for a matcha fan: matcha smoothies, red bean paste, matcha ice cream, matcha cake, loop-shaped cereal as well as fresh berries and cherries form rich layers of this tasty dessert served in a slender glass ice cream cup.(Debra Li)