How Is Matcha Made? From Shaded Field to Fine Powder
Share
Most matcha packaging tells you a grade and a country. Ceremonial. Japan. That's usually where the information stops.
But matcha passes through half a dozen deliberate steps between the field and your tin, and each one changes what ends up in your cup. Understanding them is the difference between choosing matcha by label and choosing it by what's actually in the bag.
Here's how it's made.
1. Shading
A few weeks before harvest, the tea plants are covered. Cutting off sunlight slows growth and changes the leaf chemistry: more chlorophyll, more L-theanine, fewer of the bitter compounds the plant produces in full sun. This is what makes matcha vivid green and gives it that smooth, savoury character.
Shading length is one of the most important variables, and it isn't uniform. Our ceremonial matcha is shaded for around 21 days, which is a long shade and shows up as deep colour and pronounced umami. Our everyday matcha is shaded for a minimum of 5 days, enough to build colour and smoothness while keeping a bolder flavour that still comes through milk.
Different shade, different purpose. Neither is a shortcut.
2. Harvest
Timing matters as much as shading. First harvest in spring gives the youngest, most tender leaves and the most refined flavour. Later harvests, including autumn, produce leaves with more body and strength.
Here's where most brands oversimplify. First harvest is not automatically the right answer for every product.
Our ceremonial matcha is first harvest only, single estate, from Yamato in Nara. That's the product where delicacy is the point. Our everyday matcha is deliberately blended from first, second, and autumn harvest leaves from Kagoshima, because a blend gives you balance: colour from one, body from another, smoothness across the whole. It isn't a lesser ceremonial. It's built for a different cup.
3. Steaming and drying
Within hours of picking, the leaves are steamed. This halts oxidation and locks in the green colour. It's also what separates Japanese green tea from Chinese, where leaves are typically pan-fired instead.
The leaves are then dried. For traditional tencha, the unmilled base of real matcha, this happens in a brick-lined furnace where controlled heat develops aroma while protecting colour and flavour. It's slower than modern alternatives and it's part of why proper tencha costs what it does.
4. Sorting and refining
Dried tencha still contains stems, veins, and coarse material. These get removed through sieving and air separation, leaving mostly tender leaf.
This step is invisible on the label and makes a large difference. Stems and veins are more bitter and less green. How thoroughly they're removed is one of the real dividing lines between grades, more so than the word printed on the tin.
5. Storage
Between processing and milling, tencha is held in cold storage. Matcha degrades from the moment it's ground, so keeping the leaf whole and cold until it's needed preserves colour, aroma, and flavour.
This is also why milling in regular small batches beats milling everything at once. Less finished powder sitting around waiting.
6. Milling
The final step turns tencha into matcha. Particle size determines texture, how easily it whisks, and how it feels in the mouth.
Our ceremonial matcha is milled to roughly 10 to 15 microns, which is very fine, and it's what produces that silky mouthfeel and effortless whisking. Our everyday matcha is micro-milled to a fine powder built for smooth blending in lattes, iced drinks, and smoothies.
You'll see "stone-ground" used widely in matcha marketing, often as shorthand for quality. It describes one traditional method among several. What actually matters for your cup is the resulting particle size and consistency, which is a specification you can check rather than a word you have to trust.
Why any of this matters
Two brands can both print "ceremonial grade Japanese matcha" and sell genuinely different products. Grade is not a regulated term. Neither is authentic, artisan, or premium.
Specifications are different. Shading days, harvest composition, particle size, storage method, and origin are all verifiable, and a brand that knows its own supply chain can tell you them without checking.
That's the useful test when you're choosing matcha. Not whether the language sounds impressive, but whether there's anything specific underneath it.
Our tea is processed by a Japanese partner with more than forty years in tea, working in ISO 22000 certified and FDA-registered facilities alongside partner farms across Japan. That relationship is why we can tell you the shade days, the harvest blend, and the micron count, rather than just the word on the front.
Quick answers
How is matcha made? Tea plants are shaded before harvest, the leaves are picked, steamed, and dried into tencha, then sorted to remove stems and veins, cold stored, and finally milled into fine powder.
What is tencha? Tencha is the dried, unmilled leaf that matcha is made from. If a powder wasn't made from tencha, it isn't really matcha.
How long is matcha shaded before harvest? It varies by tea and intended flavour. Longer shading, around three weeks, builds deeper colour and umami. Shorter shading produces a brighter, bolder profile suited to milk drinks.
Is stone-ground matcha better? Not necessarily. Stone milling is one traditional method. What affects your cup is the final particle size and consistency, which different milling methods can achieve.
Why is first harvest matcha considered better? First harvest leaves are the youngest and most tender, giving a more refined, delicate flavour. For blended everyday matcha, later harvests add body and balance, which is desirable rather than a compromise.
What's the difference between matcha and other green tea? Matcha is shade grown, made from tencha, and consumed as whole ground leaf. Most green tea is unshaded, processed differently, and steeped then discarded.