Have you ever wondered how Matcha Tea is made?
Here we will describe step by step how matcha is produced from a tea plant to a powerful antioxidant powder that we get to enjoy daily.
Matcha is grown and produced in various areas in Japan. The process of production includes the following steps:
Step 1: Shading
Two to six weeks before harvesting the leafs, the tea plants are covered with bamboo mats in order to block out the sunlight. This process give the leaves a darker color and rich deep flavour.
Step 2: Harvesting
The tea leaves are hand-picked in different seasons. The first leaves that are harvested are the ones used for the finest quality of ceremonial tea. The last picked leaves are suitable for creating the culinary grade matcha
Step 3: Steaming
Once the leaves are harvested they are steamed in order to stop the oxidation process as well as preventing fermentation of the leaves.
Step 4: Drying
After steaming the leaves are now ready to dry. At this stage the tea leaves are thoroughly dried in order to remove any moisture.
Step 5: Selecting
The dried leaves are now in the process of sorting and selecting. In this stage the leaves go through different sizes of sieves on order to separate the different sizes of leaves. This is a very important step as the leaves need to be the same size in order to ensure even grinding.
Step 6: Milling
At this stage the leaves are milled in order to create the matcha powder.
Step 7: Storage
Storage conditions are critical to insure the quality of the tea. Matcha powder is stored in a low temperature industrial fridge that maintains the freshness and color of the tea.
Step 8: Packaging
Finally the matcha powder is packaged in small cans and distributed to stores or storage facilities.
This concludes the process of producing matcha powder from start to finish! We hope you found this article interesting and informative!
See our recipe for preparing a traditional matcha tea here Also don’t miss our article on the different types of matcha here
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