How is matcha made and ground into a powder?

Matcha is now a mainstay on any coffee shop menu like espresso or a chai latte, but most matcha admirers likely don’t know how the fine, emerald green powder gets from leaf to cup.

As the steeper price of good quality matcha reflects, the matcha making process is more involved than your average tea. And understanding just what goes into making that frothy green goodness will help you appreciate matcha way beyond its legendary antioxidants.

In a nutshell, matcha is made of a Japanese green tea that is shaded for a few weeks before harvest, then ground into a powder.

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How is matcha made?

The matcha process involves cultivating Japanese green tea, harvesting, processing, and finally grinding it into a delicate powder.

1. Cultivation

How matcha is made starts with cultivating tencha, a type of Japanese tea used for grinding matcha and sometimes even hojicha powder.

Tencha is green tea that’s uniquely kept shaded with a cover for 2-3 weeks before harvesting [1]. This process allows softer new leaves to grow that have a more umami flavor, higher caffeine, more concentrated amounts of L-theanine and a more vibrant green color as a result of restricted sunlight.

2. Harvest

The best quality tencha is harvested at the end of spring, with other harvests following in later months [2].

3. Processing

Immediately after plucking, the tea leaves are steamed to lock in moisture and prevent oxidation, which results in a different type of tea. For example, black teas are almost fully oxidized.

Right after steaming, the leaves enter a wind chamber that blows them around to loosen stuck-together leaves and cools them [1].

Next, the leaves enter a heated furnace to reduce the moisture in the leaves to 5%, resulting in the crude version of tencha called aracha [2].

Another signature differentiator of tencha is the step to remove stems and veins from the leaves, where some moisture still remains. What’s left is smaller pieces of tea leaves that resemble fish flakes in texture! The founder of Japanese tea company Yunomi points out that because tencha is not rolled like other green tea, the distinctly shaped flakes remain flat.

Now, tencha can be stored for months at a time before grinding and transforming into its final form of matcha.

Differences in processing determines ceremonial vs culinary grade matcha

While following the steps above ensure a high grade matcha (marketed outside of Japan as “ceremonial grade”), some key differentiators result in lower grade matcha often labeled as “culinary grade”.

What lowers the quality of matcha [3]?

Shorter shading periods
2nd or 3rd harvest
Pan frying (not steaming)
Veins and stems not completely removed
Ground by machine
Poor storage

✨ Read next: Where to buy matcha online

4. Grinding

Today, large automated stone mills grind tencha into matcha. However, even though they are now automated, they still run quite slowly, only producing about 25g – 30g of matcha powder (enough for a small tin) every hour [4]. The slow movement and traditional granite structure ensures that the matcha doesn’t heat up too much, which can negatively affect its taste and freshness.

Traditionally, matcha was ground with smaller hand-operated stone mills also made of granite. These hand-ground versions are still crafted today, but are very hard to find and are only made by a few skilled craftsmen in Japan.

How a matcha stone mill works

One of those craftsmen is Takaaki Saida, a 5th generation stonemason and National Traditional Craftsman in Japan. His company Saidasekizai crafts traditional works, ranging from Japanese stone lanterns to the occasional matcha grinder.

At a workshop for how to grind matcha at the Japanese Friendship in Phoenix, I learned first-hand how the grinder works and got to try it for myself.

how a stone mill works for matcha — Diagram by Mr. Saida from his *How to Make Matcha Workshop* on how a stone grinder works.

Here’s how a hand-ground stone mill works:

Tencha is inserted into an opening on top
It then falls into the very thin area between the top and bottom stones
Using a wooden handle, the top stone is turned counterclockwise
This movement grinds the tea between the two stones, which have contrasting patterns that allow the very fine powder particles to fall out the side and onto a ledge

Mr. Saida stated that it would take about 2-3 minutes of using the grinder to produce enough matcha for a single serving. It also took him a whopping one month to craft that matcha grinder by hand!

Can you grind green tea leaves into matcha powder at home?

Due to the lengthy, specialized process that goes into making matcha, it’s often pricier than most other tea. However, while it may be tempting to save some money and DIY matcha at home, the result will be far from the vibrant green powder fresh out of a matcha tin.

The hurdles to making matcha at home come down to two factors: tea leaves and the grinder.

Matcha requires tencha, a green tea purposefully grown for ground tea like matcha. As mentioned above, tencha is processed by removing the stems and veins of tea leaves that have been shaded for the last few weeks before harvesting. As such, tencha leaves have a much different texture, color, and taste than your usual tea bag green tea that you can’t recreate at home.

As for the grinder, in order to get the quintessentially fine matcha powder, you’ll need a stone mill grinder. Grinding with a mortar and pestle or using a spice grinder will produce a very coarse and chunky version. Traditional Japanese stone mills are crafted by a few artisans in Japan by hand and often are only available by order.

Matcha Konomi sells a matcha millstone at $1,350, while Yunomi advertises one for $3,173.

So technically if you want to invest in a traditional stone mill grinder and track down tencha green tea, then–yes–you can make authentic, bright green, finely ground matcha at home. ;)

[1] “碾茶（てん茶）の定義: 伊勢抹茶株式会社.” 伊勢抹茶株式会社 | 苗を植えるところから何年も手塩にかけて育ててきたお茶の葉を、日本ーと評される職人が積み上げた総レンガの碾茶炉で製造し、抹茶にした、こだわりの"伊勢抹茶", 26 Dec. 2018, https://isematcha.co.jp/tentya/.
[2] Simona. “Tencha (碾茶) - the Hidden Treasure.” Global Japanese Tea Association, 23 Feb. 2021, https://gjtea.org/tencha-the-hidden-treasure/.
[3] “Ceremonial vs Culinary Matcha.” YouTube, Matcha Konomi, 4 May 2018, Ceremonial vs Culinary Matcha.
[4] ShiZen Tea. “Grinding Japanese Matcha Green Tea Powder.” ShiZen Tea, https://www.shizentea.com/blogs/matcha-vs-green-tea-sencha/grinding-japanese-matcha-powder.

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about the author

Hello, is it tea you’re looking for? Raquel is an Arizona-based tea drinker who writes about tea as a side hobby. Her current favorites are Earl Grey with a splash of milk and any Japanese green tea.