Uji Tencha Leaf Tea

Tencha is the shaded, steamed and flat-dried leaf that is stone-ground into matcha. Steeped whole, it makes a mellow, deep cup of sweet umami, sweet pea and almond-like nuttiness. Brewed at 65°C in a kyusu.

Origin & Story

Every cup of matcha begins as tencha. The tea bushes are shaded for two to three weeks before harvest, which raises the chlorophyll and the sweet amino acids and lowers the bitterness. The leaves are steamed for 10 to 15 seconds, cooled, and dried flat, without the rolling that gives sencha its needle shape.

Then the leaf is sorted. The stems and veins are removed, and the leaf is cut into pieces of about 5 millimeters. They have only one job: to be ground in a stone mill into matcha. The Japanese word says so. Its first character refers to grinding with a mill, and tencha means tea intended to be ground.

Tencha is rarely drunk as it is, but it can be steeped like loose-leaf tea. It tastes mild and mellow, with the sweetness and savory depth of shade-grown leaf. The shaded method behind it developed in Uji, near Kyoto, where growers learned to shade their tea in the 16th century.

Japan now makes a lot of it. Tencha production in 2025 was 6,278 tonnes, more than three times the 2014 level, and Kagoshima, Kyoto and Shizuoka led it.

Brew it gently: water at about 65°C, a kyusu, and a minute to a minute and a half. Use about 2.4 g of leaf for 240 ml for a light cup, or more if you like it stronger.

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