Matcha

Matcha is a finely ground powder made from green tea leaves that are grown in the shade before processing. This shading technique gives matcha its vivid green color and strong umami taste, which comes from the amino acid theanine. The powder is typically stirred into hot water and consumed as a suspension.

The practice of drinking powdered tea began in China during the Tang dynasty, when tea leaves were pounded, milled, and shaped into cakes. By the Song dynasty, tea was steamed, dried, and ground into a fine powder, then whisked with hot water in a bowl. Zen Buddhist monks traveling between China and Japan brought this method to Japan around the late 12th century. While the practice eventually faded in China, it continued to develop in Japan.

During the 16th century, Japanese tea farmers in the Muromachi period created shading methods to produce tencha—the specific tea leaves used for grinding into matcha. This innovation led to the modern form of matcha, with its bright green color and rich umami, and also influenced the development of other Japanese tea styles like sencha and gyokuro. For centuries, matcha was almost exclusively produced in Japan, but today it is also made in countries such as China and South Korea. In the 21st century, to meet growing global demand, China invited Japanese experts for technical guidance, imported necessary equipment, and began large-scale production in Guizhou Province in 2018. Although Japan still produces the highest-quality matcha, Chinese matcha has improved rapidly and is now used in the food industry at competitive prices.

The traditional Japanese tea ceremony, known as chanoyu or sadō/chadō, centers on preparing, serving, and drinking matcha as a hot tea, and is considered a meditative and spiritual practice.

Matcha is also used to flavor and color foods like mochi, soba noodles, green tea ice cream, matcha lattes, and various Japanese wagashi sweets. For these purposes, cheaper matcha made with color additives—rather than expensive shade-grown leaves—is often used.

Strict definitions of matcha are provided by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO 20715:2023) and the Japanese food labeling standard from the Japan Tea Central Public Interest Incorporated Association. Both require that matcha be made from *Camellia sinensis* var. *sinensis* (Chinese small-leaf tea), grown in the shade, steamed and dried without rolling, and ground into a fine powder. The Japanese standard specifies that the leaves must be shaded for two to three weeks before harvest using materials like yoshizu, komo, or cheesecloth. After steaming and drying without rolling, the leaves are called tencha. ISO allows matcha to be made from tender leaves, buds, or shoots, while the Japanese standard permits only leaves.

Inexpensive green tea powder called hunmatsucha, made from non-shade-grown leaves crushed into a powder, is sometimes sold as "matcha" even though it does not meet these definitions. This cheaper alternative is used to flavor and color foods.