Matcha's Eastern Origin and Western Craze

The shading technique

Uji, Japan, has always been seen as an ideal location for cultivating the green tea plant. Surrounded by mountains, green tea leaves can benefit from the mild climate, mist in the valley, and water evaporation from the nearby Uji River. Besides taking full advantage of the natural environment, tea farmers in Uji learned from the surrounding forest-filled areas that yielded higher-quality matcha with a smooth and bold taste. Replicating the trees' natural shading, the tea farmers set up bamboo structures and straws over the green tea plants to block out the sunlight. Though most modern farmers replaced the traditional bamboo-and-straw practice with nylon coverings, they still follow the timeline for shading that had been perfected through hundreds of years of trial and error.