Vietnam is matcha heaven

I almost always need caffeine during daytime. Energy drinks are packed with sugar, so coffee has become my only source of caffeine over the years. It's been the necessary evil I've had to live with, along with the palpitations, the bitter taste, the acidity. That is, until I learned about the effect of matcha. It's like coffee, but caffeine is released into the bloodstream more gradually, resulting into a prolonged awake yet relaxedstate. It's like green tea except that you consume the whole leaves. The tea plants are grown in conditions different from the usual tea, and the leaves are harvested immediately and dried to prevent fermentation. This gives matcha its unique, bright green color, and earthy taste. I've been consuming matcha in different forms - cake, crepe, and most often, as latte - but I've only thought about replacing coffee with matcha after doing my usual rounds reading random Wikipedia pages. Matcha sold in cafés are expensive, so I thought about prepqring my own matcha.

There's a problem, though. I've scouted all major grocery stores and found no matcha powder. I haven't tried Japanese stores yet but I've only seen actual matcha powder in Healthy Options. It costs - gasp! - 500 pesos per box.

You can imagine how happy I was when, on a recent trip to Central Vietnam, I found an entire shelf of matcha. I've known Vietnamese to be huge tea fans but I did not except matcha to be available in their grocery stores, considering that they are completely absent in ours.

Now, I've been told by an actual Japanese person that the best matcha comes from a certain place in Japan - which I have already forgotten. However, given the unavailability of cheap matcha powder in the Philippines, I am willing to settle for what is probably second rate matcha.

So here's the stash I brought home - which I probably have to stretch until I found reasonably price matcha hiding somewhere in the the Philippines:
- Nestea Matcha Latte. Around 45k VND for a pack of 8, 20g/pack.
- Maya Matcha Gold. This I distinctly remember the exact price since it's the most expensive at 99k VND for a pack of 5, 10g/pack. But it's pure matcha, and, based on the videos I've seen on how to prepare match, I only really need a small amount per serving.
- ArchCafe Matcha Latte. It's like the Nestea brand, but in a fancier, minimalist packaging. It's around 70k VND for a pack of 12, 11g/pack.

Matcha, like all other kinds of tea, is prepared in Japan in a rather ceremonial manner, using unique paraphernalia such as a bamboo wisk. However, wire wisk seemed to work perfectly fine.

By the way, those are dried kiwis I got from Saigon Market, at just 40k VND/100g. Why is everthing cheaper in Vietnam?

Here's matcha frappe from McCafé in Saigon Post Office. I don't think our McCafés serve this.

Anyway, my stash won't be forever, so I have to continue looking for the elusive affordable matcha somewhere in Manila, perhaps in some obscure shop. Fingers crossed.