The word itself, matcha, translates as "rubbed" or "ground tea".During the Tang Dynasty (7th - 10th Century) in China tea became much more popular as techniques of much better preservation, much more effective storage and simpler transportation over distance were perfected. Throughout this time tea cakes of pressed tea leaves had been produced. These had been formed of tea shaped into cakes following traditional the leaves had been dried. The leaves were pressed firmly and then baked or fired for preservation. When preparing tea from pressed cakes one should break off pieces then crumble the pressed leaves to enable infusion. Within the past tea preparation techniques involved pounding and roasting the tea until it was powdered before infusing with hot water. From these beginnings the process slowly evolved whereby the grinding of green tea produced by normal methods (unpressed) by monks became popular in the Song Dynasty (10th - 13th Century). By this time the monks had ritualised the procedure of whisking the tea powder in a bowl with hot water, a practice still which still harks back to the preparation of matcha tea today.
It was not until the 12th Century when matcha tea arrived in Japan. As it gained in popularity in Japan, it lost its location in Chinese Tea drinking rituals. The procedure of whisking green tea with hot water has remained to this day, even though the Japanese have engendered their own complex cultural and ritualistic practices to form what is now referred to as the Japanese tea ceremony.
Since green tea's introduction to Japanese shores in that distant past, one geographical area in specific has turn out to be well-known for its production of matcha tea. As with any kind of tea factors such as climate, geology, soil and altitude comprise growing conditions that impact upon the high quality of matcha tea which can be produced. Uji in Kyoto prefecture is an area in which these conditions are ideal because of its rich soil, sloping mist shrouded hills and a healthy temperature differentiation of warm days and cool nights. These inherent environmental conditions alongside production methods following careful tradition and high standards have result in this area gaining respect as the premier matcha tea growing region in Japan these days.
Typical matcha tea production techniques follows standard tea farming techniques until the final three weeks or 20 days of its growth. Traditionally at this stage the tea is shaded by reed or straw screens, in modern large scale farming this is frequently replaced by black tarpaulin sheeting. This serves to limit the sunlight reaching the leaves which has several effects. Most obvious is that the leaves turn a brighter vivid shade of green due to increased chlorophyll production. Levels of a particular amino acid known as L-Theanine which is distinctive to green tea, are also increased. This leads to both a sweeter taste along with a higher value for 1 of the well being advantages of consumption. This is the compound which is recognized as giving this tea its tension reducing effects promoting a calm yet focused alertness. Following this shading period is total the very best quality matcha tea will be produced from the highest component of the plant, the unopened tip and two topmost leaves. The hand plucked suggestions are then steamed to arrest oxidation retaining the fresh quality and nutrient wealthy content..
At this stage the tea now qualifies as Tencha both a finished tea in its own correct and the precursor to both the very best Gyokuro and matcha teas. For matcha tea production the fibrous stem and vein structure is then stripped from the leaves leaving small irregularly shaped parts of the tea leaf which can lastly be stone ground into the final item! Some preserve that hand milled matcha tea is still the very best and it is certainly more authentic. Nowadays industrial methods can guarantee greater consistency because of stringent temperature regulation, grinding precision and higher grinding power and speed all thanks to mechanisation. Personally I think each technique has something to offer today's tea enthusiast.
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