ceremonial, premium, culinary — what is behind the words
Built as a memo rather than a table: the thing worth hanging it up for reads across the room, with the full reference in smaller type below it.
Three sizes in one archive — from a sheet on the fridge to a poster on the wall.
The colour blocks are indicative. Matcha is milled tencha: leaf shaded before picking, steamed and dried without rolling.
Official matcha grades do not exist: Japan has no register and no certificate behind the words "ceremonial" and "culinary" — they were invented for export, and anyone may print them on a tin.
Only the measurable can be relied on: which flush it is, whether veins and stems were removed, and what the leaf was milled with. A stone mill yields 30 to 40 grams an hour, so a kilogram of that powder is a full day of continuous work.
Hence both the price and the one useful test in a shop: if the tin names neither the flush nor the milling, the word on the label means nothing.
Why the numbers can be trusted. Every countable number here is computed from data rather than typed in, and the sheet must pass 3 independent checks before it is allowed to build — how many items there are, the order they come in, and the claim in the highlighted box itself. If one fails, there is no file.
