When you consume Matcha Tea regularly you will have asked yourself questions around storage and expiry of the vibrant green Matcha Tea powder. In this article, we will answer the question if Matcha Powder can expire, what its shelf life is and how to best store Matcha Powder in order to keep it as fresh as possible. We also stored it in the wrong way for a long time.
When does Matcha Powder expire?
Matcha Powder has a shelf life of up to 12 months. However, this is in original and factory sealed packaging. 12 months, however, is the maximum. The time really starts ticking as soon as the leaves have been ground and the powder has been produced. We recommend that you buy Matcha Powder from companies that will give you the manufacturing date on the packaging. The manufacturing date is much more meaningful if you really care about the beneficial properties of Matcha Powder.
After opening, Matcha Powder should really be consumed within 3-4 weeks. You can probably stretch it to 6-8 weeks, but every day reduces the quality of the Powder, as it slowly degrades. We therefore recommend you do not buy large packs. This is the reason for why so many Matcha Powders are available in 30g bags. While there are 100g or 200g bags available, it is probably impossible to consume it all within 3-4 weeks. We recommend that you purchase larger bag sizes only when you use the powder for baking or cooking. You may also want to consider using "expired" powder for baking or cooking, if it still looks and smells good. It will probably have lost most of its beneficial properties if it has expired, but this will happen anyway in the cooking/baking process, so it will not make much difference, and you can still put the powder to good use!
How to store Matcha Powder?
We recommend that you store it in a dark cupboard, where it is not exposed to any of these factors. Some people prefer to store Matcha Powder in the fridge. We did the same for quite a long time but actually we found it had a negative influence on the quality of the powder. There are two main reasons. The first reason is that strong odours, as you may find them in your fridge, will influence the taste and smell of your powder. The second reasons is that when you take the powder out of the fridge, condensation will happen. This always happens when you bring something that is cool into a warm room. If you wear glasses, you know that they fog up in the winter when you enter a room. The same happens with the powder. This can have a negative impact on the consistency and quality of the powder, and we found that it can impact taste and it can also happen that the powder does not dissolve well in water.
Conclusion
Matcha Powder lasts up to 12 months in sealed packaging, but this is the maximum. Try to identify the manufacturing date and once opened, ideally consume Matcha Powder within 3-4 weeks. Don`t store it in the fridge and keep it away from sunlight, heat or moisture.
If you want to find out more about Matcha, please check our Education section. We have also reviewed many Matcha Powders and recommend the best ones in the Reviews and Top Lists sections.
How do you store your Matcha Powder? Let us know!