How matcha is made

Between the tea plant and the bowl, matcha passes through eight stages. None of them can be fully mechanised: that is what separates a ceremonial powder from plain ground green tea.

1. Growing

The tea plants are shaded for several weeks before the harvest. Deprived of direct light, the leaf slows its photosynthesis and builds up amino acids: that is where the umami and the deep colour come from.

2. Harvest

Only the young leaves are picked, by hand. The tenderest ones give the finest powder.

3. Steaming

The leaves are steamed within hours of picking. Steam halts oxidation and fixes the green — this is what sets Japanese green teas apart from Chinese ones, which are pan-fired.

4. Drying

Gently dried, the leaves become tencha: the raw material of matcha, and the only one that deserves the name.

5. Destemming and sorting

Stems and veins are removed. All that is left is the blade of the noblest leaves.

6. Milling

The tencha is ground on a stone mill, slowly. The slowness is not an affectation: fast milling heats the powder and costs it its aroma.

7. Matcha

A pure powder, with no additives and no added sugar.

8. Preparation

Two grams sifted, seventy millilitres of water between 70 and 80 °C, whisked with the chasen until the foam is fine and tight. Never boiling water: any hotter and the matcha turns bitter.