How Matcha is Grown

Excellence from seed to powder

To get a good grasp of what makes matcha exceptional, it is important to understand how matcha is grown. By getting a good idea of what it takes to produce matcha we can begin to further see and understand the art and science that go into producing matcha as tea. Let's start with the fundamentals; growing!

 

How matcha is grown

Matcha begins life as a tea plant. For tea plants to thrive, they need a few things, well quite a few. Tea plants grow exceptionally well with moist, nutritious soil that offers lots of porousness for proper drainage of water. Speaking of water, tea plants love moisture and thrive when they get lots of rain and cloud coverage from the sun. Tea plants do very well when the average rainfall of their area reaches around 100 inches.

Elevation is another key component to produce stellar tea plants with about 2000 feet and higher being ideal for matcha growth. Coincidentally, tea plants that are grown on volcanic soil do very well, and if a river is nearby to produce lots of mist, clouds, moisture, and nutrient-rich soil all the better. Many of Japan’s most famous tea-growing regions are situated on mountainous or hilly terrain that were formed by volcanic activity, and are also home to a river or source of water.

In addition to this, many matcha plants get additional shading often in the form of artificial shading techniques. An ideal climate for tea plants is sub-tropical, and many regions in southern China and south and central Japan do offer this type of climate to tea plants. Tea plants can survive in chillier climates, too but 57- 60 degrees Fahrenheit are ideal. Some of Japan’s regions that meet all or most of these criteria include Uji, Shizuoka, and Kagoshima.

 

Shading the tea plants

A special technique used when cultivating matcha tea plants that differ from growing other tea varieties includes the shading process. Sometimes tea farmers will use vinyl tarps, special tana tarps, honzu which is a special straw covering, yoshizu which is a special reed woven screen, bamboo coverings, or sometimes by growing taller trees and shrubs near the tea leaves. The plants are shaded for about 6 weeks before they are harvested.

But why the shading? As tea plants are exposed to sunlight and thus achieve more photosynthesis, a chemical reaction occurs that results in an often bitter taste due to amino acids in the tea plants being converted into catechins. To hinder photosynthesis via shading allows the chlorophyll amino acids like L-theanine to build up in the leaves. The result is a sweeter flavor than their sun-kissed cousins and also a higher sugar content which also contributes to matcha’s sweetness and distinct and highly sought-after umami flavor profile and palette.

The best matcha is harvested by hand in spring after the shading process. This will often occur in May. For the best results only the youngest, softest, and most tender leaves growing from the new shoot are plucked. The time of year when the leaves are plucked and their general overall quality usually makes up a bulk of the criteria used to grade matcha powder later on in their processing journey.