What is matcha made of? Most people answer, powdered green tea, right? Wrong.
Making matcha is a process that involves choosing the right variety of plant, deciding where the tea's grown, when it's picked, and how long it sat under shade before harvest. And whether it’s stone-ground or run through a machine.
So, two packs can both say "matcha" on the label, but when it comes down to taste, they can be quite different. That's why the good stuff, like organic ceremonial grade Japanese matcha, gets treated like a craft product, not a commodity.
So let's start where it actually starts. The plant.
The Raw Ingredient: What Plant Does Matcha Actually Come From?
Matcha begins life as Camellia sinensis. It’s the same plant behind black tea. White tea. Oolong. All of it. So the plant isn't the special bit. What happens to it after? That's where it gets good.
Camellia Sinensis: The Same Plant, a Completely Different Outcome
Cultivar matters more than most people ever realise. "Cultivar" just means cultivated variety, and Japan's bred a handful specifically for matcha. Yabukita is the workhorse. Planted everywhere. But for the really good stuff? Farmers reach for Okumidori, Samidori, Yutakamidori, or Gokou instead. Chosen for their amino acid profile and that clean, sweet umami you only get from growing under shade.
Here's the thing, though. One cultivar alone rarely makes premium matcha. The best ceremonial blends are made from a mix of varieties lik Yabukita, Okumidori or Yutakamidori, done on purpose by tea masters chasing sweetness, umami, and a faint bitterness underneath.
Cultivar selection happens long before harvest day. That's really where the process starts.
Why Shade Growing Changes Everything: The Role of Tencha Leaves
Tencha means "tea for grinding." The name specifies shade-grown green tea that becomes matcha powder.
Shading kicks off three to four weeks before harvest. Older farms still use bamboo and reed frames. Most modern ones use black mesh netting instead. Both methods target cutting sunlight off from the plant, after which chlorophyll production ramps up, causing the leaf to acquire that almost electric green colour.
During the shade-growing process, photosynthesis slows down, so L-theanine and other amino acids build up instead of burning off. While catechins, the compounds that give regular green tea its sharp, bitter edge, drop off fast.
The result?
A leaf that tastes rich and savoury instead of sharp. Once it's shade-grown, de-stemmed, and de-veined, that leaf is tencha. Not sencha. Not gyokuro but tencha, because only tencha becomes matcha.
Some producers push it further to create an organic roasted matcha, roasting the leaf after grinding for a toasty, nutty edge. A real departure from the grassy, savoury flavour most people expect.
Japan vs. Other Origins: Does Geography Affect Composition?
Uji, in Kyoto, is the most historically prestigious matcha region. Layered, complex. Nothing else quite like it. While Nishio in Aichi produces a big chunk of Japan's commercial matcha, that’s reliable and well-suited to café work. Kagoshima, further south, offers a warmer climate and longer growing seasons.
Keep in mind that Chinese green tea powder sometimes gets marketed as matcha's equal. It's not. Not quite. The shade-growing protocols, the cultivar selection, the stone-milling tradition, it all adds up to a chlorophyll and L-theanine profile that's genuinely hard to copy outside Japan. Geography isn't just a nice label here. It's baked into the chemistry, which is exactly why the claim JAS certified organic sourcing straight from Japan actually means something on a label instead of just sounding nice.
From Harvest to Stone Mill: How Matcha Powder Is Made
Once you know what matcha comes from at the plant level, the next question is where quality gets locked in. Or lost. Every step between harvest and the pack on your shelf matters.
The Harvest Window: First Flush vs. Later Harvests
Ichibancha, the first harvest, runs roughly from late April through May. Youngest leaves, the most tender, are picked. They have the highest concentration of amino acids. This becomes ceremonial-grade powder.
Second and third harvests give you leaves with more bitterness. Higher catechins and lower L-theanine. Nothing wrong with that. They're exactly right for cooking, baking, and the high-volume grind of a busy café, which is why plenty of businesses buy bulk organic café-grade matcha instead of ceremonial powder for everyday service, and why we run a dedicated wholesale matcha programme for cafes alongside it. Ever wondered why matcha costs what it costs? This is a big part of it. First-flush, shade-grown, stone-ground matcha is labour-intensive at every stage. No shortcuts.
Stone Milling: Why Grind Quality Affects Your Cup
After harvest, tencha leaves get dried and stored. When it's time to mill, they pass through granite stone mills, slowly, so heat doesn't wreck the chlorophyll and volatile compounds. A single mill turns out roughly 30 to 40 grams an hour. That's not a typo. It really is that slow.
Grind fineness decides how well the powder suspends in water. Coarse matcha clumps. Floats on top. Turns gritty in the mouth. Properly stone-ground matcha disperses evenly, and that's exactly where a good bamboo matcha whisk earns its keep. The chasen's fine tines are built for fine powder, whisking up the emulsion that gives ceremonial matcha its froth and body, especially over a wide matcha mixing bowl that gives your wrist room to work. Grind and whisk. Two halves of the same job.
Grades, Uses, and What Actually Goes Into Your Cup
What matcha powder is made of shifts depending on grade. Ceremonial matcha is first-flush tencha, stone-ground, from cultivars chosen for sweetness. Café-grade matcha is built differently. More robust. Less delicate. Engineered to hold its colour and flavour once milk gets involved, which is also true of our culinary grade matcha, built for smoothies and baking rather than a quiet morning bowl. Neither one's the lesser product. They're just built for different jobs.
So what is a matcha latte made of, in practical terms? Matcha whisked with a splash of water into a smooth paste, then combined with steamed milk. Grade matters here. Delicate organic ceremonial matcha gets lost behind milk fat, so save that for the bowl. For lattes we find the best is our all-purpose ceremonial grade is the one we'd reach for. It's smooth enough to taste good, and robust enough to hold its flavour through milk. Want it organic? Go for café grade, which is also built to stand up to milk.