ORIGINS

The production of matcha is by far the most elaborate in the world of tea: only around 300 tea farmers in Japan master the cultivation. And only about 20 percent of their harvest is exported, making matcha a rarity. Four weeks before the fine youngest leaves are harvested by hand in May, the tea plantations are covered with opaque nets. This slows down the ripening time of the tea, which contributes to the special quality of matcha: With only ten percent of the actual sunlight available to the tea plants, a particularly high amount of chlorophyll is formed in order to carry out the vital photosynthesis even with little solar energy. The result is a bright green leaf that contains in addition to chlorophyll many valuable amino acids.