How Matcha is Made (Basics of Production)

Matcha is produced from shade-grown tea leaves using ooi-shita saibai. How shading boosts umami, how leaves become tencha, and how stone milling creates fine matcha powder.

By Kosuke Mori · December 17, 2025

How matcha is produced

Leaves for matcha are grown using a method called ooi-shita saibai (shaded cultivation), where sunlight is blocked before harvesting, increasing chlorophyll and amino acids (umami components), resulting in a vibrant green color and deep umami flavor. After harvesting, the tea leaves are steamed to stop oxidation and then dried. After drying, the stems and leaf veins are removed, and this becomes tencha. Tencha is traditionally ground with a stone mill to produce an extremely fine matcha powder.[3]

For a deeper look at how producers in Japan apply this process at scale, including regional differences and the export pipeline, see our guide to importing matcha from Japan.

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FAQs

Tea leaves are grown using ooi-shita saibai (shaded cultivation), which blocks sunlight before harvest to increase chlorophyll and amino acids. After harvesting, leaves are steamed, dried, then stems and veins are removed to produce tencha. Tencha is ground with a stone mill into fine powder — that is matcha.

Shaded cultivation blocks sunlight before harvest. This increases chlorophyll (vivid green color) and amino acids like theanine (umami flavor), while reducing bitter catechins. Without proper shading, the resulting matcha is yellower, less umami, and more astringent.

Tencha is the dried, de-stemmed, de-veined tea leaf that becomes matcha after milling. It is the intermediate product of matcha processing — not finished matcha until ground.