What Is Uji Matcha? All About Japan’s Finest Green Tea

Today, the popularity of matcha is rapidly rising all over the world. A beautiful green color reminiscent of forests. A refreshing fragrance like young grass. A rich taste, woven from sweetness, umami, and bitterness. It’s no wonder that matcha is becoming more and more popular.

Japanese matcha has a long history that dates as far back as the late twelfth century. Since then, the act of whisking matcha and serving it to guests has been elevated into not just the realm of culture, but of art. This is the practice of chado, or the “way of tea.”

In recent years, matcha has expanded beyond its traditional role as a hot tea and is now widely enjoyed in sweets, ice cream, lattes, and even cocktails, reaching an increasingly broader audience. Nutrients in matcha, such as catechins and theanine, are also drawing attention for their health and beauty benefits.

Although a number of regions across Japan produce matcha, the most highly regarded by far is matcha produced in Uji. Uji matcha, renowned for its quality, has been celebrated in Japan for centuries and is now attracting attention worldwide. But what exactly is Uji matcha, and why does it receive such high acclaim?

Read on to dig deep into the true nature of Uji matcha. Little-known facts of this deeply appealing tea await you.

Matcha is a type of green tea made from the leaves of the evergreen shrub Camellia sinensis, or tea plant, of which more than 200 varieties are distributed across East Asia, including China and Japan. It is those same leaves that produce oolong and black tea, but green tea differs in that the leaves are heated immediately after harvesting to stop enzymatic activity, preserving their original green color.

Differences in cultivation before harvest and in post-harvest processing create various kinds of green tea, one of which is tencha, matcha’s raw material. Tea leaves for tencha are distinctive in that they are grown under coverings made of either synthetic fiber or reed screens and straw. Known as covered cultivation or shade growing, this method has the following effects:

The umami component theanine, which gets absorbed from the plant’s roots and accumulates in buds and leaves, becomes less likely to convert into bitter catechins, as it does under sunlight. More shade, therefore, results in tea leaves with less astringency and richer umami.

Blocking sunlight means the leaves have to work to carry out photosynthesis by expanding their surface area and producing more chlorophyll. This results in leaves that are vivid green, as well as thin and soft—ideal for grinding into powder.

Covering the plants produces a distinctive fragrance known as ooi-ka, literally “covered aroma.”

The new buds or young leaves of tencha are picked around May and processed through the following steps to produce matcha.

Steaming

The leaves are evenly steamed. Air is then passed over the leaves to cool them while removing droplets of water from their surface.

Cooling

The steamed, still-hot tea leaves are allowed to cool. If mechanical processing is being used, strong air currents lift the leaves high while cooling them.

Drying

With the steaming complete, the tea leaves are dried. In the case of mechanical processing, a ten-meter-long conveyor-style furnace known as a tencha furnace is used.

Sorting

The dried leaves are sorted into leaf and stem. When using machines, this is done by cutting leaves from stems and applying a stream of air so that the leaves, which are lighter, are blown upward while the heavier stems fall, sorting the two groups.

Grinding

Finally, the sorted leaves are ground with a millstone into a fine powder, producing matcha. In some cases, pulverizer machines may be used in addition to millstones.

So that is how matcha is produced, but what, precisely, is Uji matcha?

Official Definition of Uji Matcha:

Uji matcha is matcha made from tencha grown in the four prefectures of Kyoto, Nara, Shiga, and Mie, refined and processed within Kyoto Prefecture by vendors in Kyoto using methods originating in the Uji region.

The Uji region refers to a section of present-day Uji City in southern Kyoto Prefecture. While this area is indeed one of Uji matcha’s main production areas, its production is not limited to Uji alone. Initially, one might find it strange that the neighboring prefectures of Nara, Shiga, and Mie are also included.

But if you look back in history, “Uji cha (tea),” including Uji matcha, originally referred to all green tea cultivated in the basin of the Yodo River (more commonly known as the Uji River). With its source as Lake Biwa, the largest lake in Japan, this river flows across five prefectures: Kyoto, Nara, Shiga, Mie, and Osaka. However, Meiji-era (1868–1912 CE) administrative reforms and post-World War II municipal boundary changes established the local government of Uji City—creating the situation where Uji cha appears at first glance to be produced in areas unrelated to Uji. Yet all four prefectures except Osaka have long been traditional production areas for Uji matcha, so including them in the definition makes perfect sense.

Until recently, all green tea refined in Kyoto Prefecture was labeled as Uji cha, at times even including those blended with teas from other major tea-producing regions like Shizuoka or Kagoshima. To address this issue, an association of Kyoto tea producers in 2006 established the definition cited above.

The next key point is: what are “methods originating in the Uji region?”

In truth, the techniques for producing and processing Japanese green tea—including matcha—were all developed in Uji and then spread nationwide. In other words, all matcha in Japan is essentially made using “Uji-region methods.”

Coffee or black tea often emphasizes single-origin beans or leaves grown on a single estate, but matcha is somewhat different.

Matcha has three factors that determine its quality: fragrance, taste, and color. However, almost no single-origin tencha leaves are high-quality in each of these three factors. To create an ideal matcha, matcha producers therefore tend to rely on tea masters, or chashi: specialized experts who blend multiple tencha varieties from different regions, producers, and cultivars.

Usually, it is the matcha’s fragrance that is considered most important—even more than its flavor. This fragrance is created by the complex blending of many aromas: those from the cultivation place of origin, those specific to each cultivar, the “covered aroma” from shade growing, the “roasted aroma” from drying in special furnaces, and scents released when the tea leaves are ground with a millstone.

Even when the same producer grows the same cultivar in the same field, differences from year to year are inevitable. Uji’s matcha manufacturers therefore store tea leaves from previous harvests and blend them with newly harvested leaves to ensure consistent quality each year.

These blending methods differ by manufacturer. They are closely guarded secrets that serve as a showcase of the tea master’s skill.

Now, among the many varieties of tea plants, there are three main cultivars used for Kyoto-origin tencha.

This cultivar covers the largest land area and has the highest production volume among hand-harvested tencha. Picked in late May to early June, it has a long harvest window. Although it has good coloration, it contains many stems and small twigs. It is close in flavor, umami, and fragrance to cultivars considered native to the Uji region.

It was also in Uji that the covered cultivation method essential for producing tencha was developed around the sixteenth century. A late-sixteenth-century Portuguese missionary to Japan, João Rodrigues, who recorded Japanese geography and society in his History of the Church in Japan, wrote that the method of covered tea cultivation was practiced in Uji and that this region produced the highest-quality green tea.

Another feature of Uji tencha cultivation is that much of the harvesting is still done by hand. Though more laborious than machine harvesting, careful hand-picking allows for visual inspection by the pickers. This ensures that only tender new shoots are gathered and reduces the inclusion of old leaves and stems, thereby improving the final quality. While tea leaves are generally harvested two to three times a year depending on tea type, only the finest new shoots from late April to late May are hand-picked for tencha.

What made Uji a famous tea-producing region comes down to a few main factors.

First are the environmental factors that make the area suitable for tea cultivation. Uji is rich with fresh water thanks to its rivers and frequent rainfall. Additionally, the gently sloping terrain produces large temperature differences between day and night, as well as fog that helps prevent frost damage to the tea plants’ shoots. Furthermore, the nutrient-rich, well-draining soil is ideal for tea plants.

Uji’s proximity to the city of Kyoto is another factor. Not only was Kyoto the stronghold of chado, the “way of tea” that is inseparable from matcha, but it was also long a major center of green tea consumption. Tea cultivation and processing in Uji developed hand in hand with the tea culture of Kyoto, while fully meeting the needs of consumers. Also, up until around the end of World War II, the main source of the large amounts of fertilizer required for tencha’s shaded cultivation was “night soil,” including human waste. The urban center of Kyoto, with its large population, was a central supplier.

From the Edo period (1603–1868 CE) onward, the prestige of this high-quality Uji matcha grew as it was patronized by the shogunate, various feudal lords across the country, and even by the Imperial Household. It is easy to imagine that Uji’s tencha farmers and processors would have spared no effort in striving to improve the quality of tencha and matcha in order to live up to the expectations of their wealthy and influential patrons.

That effort has given us Uji matcha, with its vivid green color and the deep sweetness and richness that follows the initial touch of bitterness. The production techniques for such fine Uji matcha continue at a high level even today. The facts that all the mechanical tencha furnaces now used nationwide to dry tencha were first devised in Uji during the Taisho era (1912–1926 CE), and that the top places in the tencha division of the annual nationwide tea competitions are monopolized by teas from Uji City, are nothing less than proof of this.

Next, we’ll cover what to be aware of when choosing Uji matcha, and a few tips for getting even more delicious enjoyment out of it.

Have you heard of culinary-grade matcha? Used in foods like ice cream and cookies, its raw material is actually an inexpensive powdered green tea. Made by processing leaves and stems that were not grown with shaded cultivation, and were crushed with machinery rather than ground with a millstone, this powdered green tea possesses the same form as matcha, but has inferior color and aroma in addition to a strong astringency. It is designed to be combined with ingredients like sugar and milk, rather than consumed on its own, so be aware when purchasing.

In today’s lifestyle, every day passes by in a rush. But even so, it’s worth it to bring out high-quality, long-historied, Japanese-made Uji matcha, a chasen, and mindfully whisk up a bowl. Intentionally taking the time to enjoy the tea’s color, aroma, and taste in their entirety is a precious chance to sharpen the five senses and heal the fatigue of daily life—an invaluable moment of rest.