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Craft & Process · 2026
Real matcha is made in three defining steps: the tea plants are shade-grown for weeks, the fresh leaf is steamed and dried flat without rolling to become tencha, and that tencha is slowly stone-milled into fine powder. Each step is what the international ISO definition of matcha requires, and each one adds the color, umami, and cost that separate matcha from ordinary green tea. This is the short, cafe-buyer version of how it actually happens on the farm and in the mill.
Key takeaways
In this guide
Matcha starts weeks before harvest, when the tea plants are covered to block most of the sunlight. Growers shade the rows for roughly three to four weeks in spring, cutting 70% to 90% of the light. Starved of direct sun, the leaves produce more chlorophyll and more L-theanine, the amino acid behind matcha's umami, while making fewer of the catechins that taste bitter. This shading step is the single biggest reason matcha is vivid green and smooth rather than sharp and grassy.
Only leaf grown this way can become matcha. A plant grown in full sun makes green tea, not matcha, no matter how finely it is later ground. This is why the international ISO definition of matcha starts with shade cultivation, and why our guide to what officially counts as real matcha treats shading as non-negotiable.
After the shaded leaf is picked, it is processed fast to lock in the color and freshness. Within hours it is steamed, which stops oxidation and keeps the leaf green. Then, unlike almost every other Japanese tea, it is dried flat without being rolled, in a brick-walled dryer called a tencha-ki. The result is a light, crumbly leaf called tencha. Finally the stems and veins are removed, leaving only the tender leaf flesh.
That "dried without rolling" step is what makes tencha, and tencha is the only leaf that becomes matcha. Ordinary green teas are rolled and shaped during drying; matcha's leaf is deliberately not, so it stays open and grinds cleanly. Tencha is the in-between product a buyer rarely sees but should understand: it is finished, shelf-stable leaf that is ground to order into matcha.
The final step turns tencha into matcha: slow grinding between two granite stones. The tencha is fed into a stone mill that turns gently, crushing the leaf into an extremely fine powder while staying cool enough to protect the aroma and color. Speed is the enemy here. Fast industrial mills generate heat that dulls flavor, so traditional matcha is stone-milled slowly, which is why the particle is so fine and the powder whisks up smooth.
Because matcha oxidizes quickly once milled, the best practice is to grind tencha to order rather than hold ground matcha in stock. On the sourcing side, this is why lead times matter: fresh matcha is milled close to when it ships, not months ahead.
Every step above adds labor, time, and cost, which is why matcha is more expensive than other green tea and why supply cannot expand overnight. Shading requires weeks of extra fieldwork and lowers yield. Tencha processing needs dedicated dryers. And stone milling is genuinely slow: a single granite mill produces only about 30 to 40 grams of matcha per hour, so scaling output means adding mills, not just running them faster.
That milling bottleneck, on top of a limited supply of shade-grown tencha, is a core reason the matcha market stays tight even as demand climbs. For the fuller supply picture, see the matcha market in 2026, and for the quality traits this process produces, see what makes matcha good.
Tencha is the leaf that matcha is made from: shade-grown tea leaf that has been steamed, dried flat without rolling, and had its stems and veins removed. It is a finished, shelf-stable product on its own, but it is not matcha until it is stone-milled into powder. In short, tencha is matcha's raw material.
Stone milling grinds slowly and stays cool, which produces an extremely fine particle without the heat that dulls flavor and color. Fast industrial mills generate heat that degrades the aroma. The trade-off is speed: a stone mill makes only about 30 to 40 grams per hour, which keeps quality high but output low.
Roughly three to four weeks before harvest in spring, the plants are covered to block about 70% to 90% of sunlight. This shading raises chlorophyll and L-theanine and lowers bitter catechins, creating matcha's vivid color and umami. Leaf grown in full sun cannot become matcha, no matter how it is later processed.
No. Matcha must be made from shade-grown leaf, steamed and dried without rolling into tencha, then stone-milled. Ordinary green tea powder is usually sun-grown, rolled leaf ground fast by machine. The growing and processing are what make matcha matcha, not simply the fact that it is a powder.
Matcha is defined by how it is made: shade-grown, steamed and dried into tencha, then slowly stone-milled. Those three steps create the color, umami, and fine texture cafe customers pay for, and they are also why matcha costs more and stays in short supply. When you buy, you are really buying the process.
We export single-origin, shade-grown, stone-milled matcha straight from farms in Kagoshima, Yame, Uji, and beyond, and we will send samples with the origin and process spelled out.
Request samples & pricingHiroshi Asami is the founder of Japanomars, an exporter of premium single-origin Japanese matcha to US specialty cafes, working directly with tea farms in Sayama, Ibi, Ureshino, Yame, Kirishima, and Chiran.
Sources: ISO/TR 21380:2022, Matcha tea, Definition and characteristics (ISO, 2022); Japanomars sourcing and milling experience, 2026.
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