Making Matcha From A Camellia Tea Plant

With a bit of effort, you too can make your own matcha tea! See our guide to producing the delicate, fine matcha powder that we all know and love!

 

What You’ll Need

• Your Camellia Sinensis plant
• A steamer
• Paper towels
• A baking sheet
• Oven
• A mortar and pestle or grinder
• A fine-mesh sieve

Steam

Your leaves should be immediately steamed after picking for a short time to prevent oxidation. This preserves their vibrant green colour and enhances their antioxidant properties! This technique is fundamental to the uniqueness of Japanese green tea and makes matcha matcha!

Cool

Next, your leaves should be cooled - line a baking sheet with paper towels and spread the leaves out to dry for a minimum of 10 minutes. While your leaves are cooling, preheat your oven to 80°.

Dry

Place the leaves in your preheated oven for 5-10 minutes, keeping a close eye on them to make sure they don’t start to brown. This allows them to dry gradually without roasting.

Remove Veins and Crush Leaf

Now the leaves and stems need to be gently removed, leaving behind the soft leaf tissue. Crush up the rest of the leaves until they resemble dried herbs. Your leaves are now what is referred to as ‘tencha’

DID YOU KNOW?
Traditionally, the tea plants will have been covered and shaded 6 weeks before harvest. The characteristic bright green colour is due to the increased chloroplasts that the plants produce to collect more light in the shade

Grind Leaf into Powder

Traditionally, large granite stone mills are what are used to create the very fine matcha powder we know, but a coffee grinder or mortal and pestle can also get the job done. The result won't be as fine as ceremonial-grade matcha, but it will still be quite good. Slowly grind your tencha into as fine a powder as you can

Sift Powder

Using your fine-mesh sieve, sift your ground tea to eliminate any larger particles. You now have matcha!