Matcha is seen today as very green, and very Japanese – but as it turns out, this wasn't the case for much of its history. As it turns out, the method of making matcha, namely grinding tea to a fine powder and whisking it with hot water, was the standard way to drink tea during the Song dynasty in China (960 to 1279). Japanese monks carried it home in the 12th century. After an imperial decree in 1391, China moved to steeping loose leaves, while Japan preserved powdered tea and refined it into the matcha we know today. China now grows most of the world's matcha again.
One plant, many teas
Black, oolong, white and green tea all come from the same plant, Camellia sinensis. What separates them is processing, and above all, oxidation: how long the picked leaf is left to react with air. Black tea is fully oxidised and green tea is heated soon after picking to stop oxidation altogether, which keeps it green; while oolong sits in-between.
Matcha is a green tea with two extra steps. The plants are shaded for several weeks before harvest, which pushes up amino acids such as L-theanine and gives the leaf its sweetness and deep colour. The leaves are then steamed, dried, stripped of stems and veins, and stone-ground to a powder. Because you whisk the powder into water rather than steeping and discarding leaves, you drink the whole leaf.
As we'll see, tea took on many shapes and forms throughout Chinese history, transmogrifying over centuries as dynasties waxed and waned.
Tang dynasty: tea as a pressed cake
In the Tang dynasty (618 to 907 AD), China experienced an apotheosis in cultural sophistication that extended to painting, poetry, pottery and more. During this time, tea was consumed as an accompaniment to these highly regarded pastimes. Tea leaves were steamed, pounded and pressed into cakes that could be stored and traded. To drink it, you roasted a piece, ground it and boiled the powder in water, often with salt. Lu Yu's Classic of Tea, written in the 8th century, set out the method and turned tea from a remedy into a cultivated pursuit.
Song dynasty: the age of whisked tea
The Song dynasty (960 to 1279 AD) changed the method. Instead of boiling, tea powder was placed in a bowl, worked into a paste with a little water, then whisked as more hot water was added. This was called diancha, and it is the direct ancestor of how you prepare matcha today.
Whisked tea became a social art. Scholars held tea contests, doucha, judged on the whiteness of the foam and how long it held. Black-glazed Jian bowls from Fujian became prized because the pale foam showed best against a dark glaze (our own matcha bowl design takes direct inspiration from this tradition). Some practitioners went further and drew pictures in the foam, a game the Song called fencha. The Southern Song painter Liu Songnian recorded the scene in Grinding Tea, now in the National Palace Museum in Taipei: one figure turns a stone mill while another pours.
A detail of the Southern Song dynasty painting “Grinding Tea” by Liu Songnian, showing practitioners preparing tea. From Taipei Palace Museum
How powdered tea reached Japan
Japanese monks studying at Chan (Zen) monasteries in Song China, including Jingshan near Hangzhou, saw powdered tea whisked at temple tea gatherings. In 1191 the monk Eisai returned to Japan with tea seeds and the method. Seeds he shared were planted at Toganoo and Uji, near Kyoto. Two decades later, Eisai wrote Japan's first book on tea, which promoted it as a drink for good health.
In 1391 the Hongwu Emperor, founder of the Ming dynasty, ordered that tea sent to the court as tribute should be loose leaf, not pressed cakes. Making elaborate cakes had been a heavy burden on tea farmers. Over the following generations, steeping whole leaves in a pot or cup became the Chinese norm. The stone mills, whisks and wide bowls of the Song fell out of use, and powdered tea all but disappeared from everyday Chinese life.
Japan took a different path. From the late 15th century, tea masters such as Murata Jukō and later Sen no Rikyū shaped a quieter, more austere way of tea, favouring simple local utensils over costly Chinese imports. In the 16th century Uji growers began shading their plants under covers before harvest, producing a sweeter, greener leaf. That leaf, ground fine, gave the drink its modern name: matcha, ‘ground tea’. Song-era Jian bowls, known in Japan as tenmoku, are still treasured there today.
Matcha goes global
For most of the 20th century matcha stayed close to the tea room. Then it moved into food. Häagen-Dazs Japan launched green tea ice cream in 1996, and in 2006 Starbucks added a green tea latte made with Japanese matcha in the United States. Matcha's colour photographs well, and social media did the rest.
Demand has now outgrown Japan's supply. Japan produces roughly 4,000 tonnes of matcha a year. China produced more than 12,000 tonnes in 2025, which industry reports put at 60 to 70 per cent of global output, much of it from Guizhou and Zhejiang. Chinese producers are also moving up from culinary grade into ceremonial grade.
Chinese matcha is not a substitute for Japanese matcha, in the same way that an Italian Barolo isn't standing in for a French Burgundy. It is the same drink, returning to the country where the method began. Get a taste of it with our Fujian Single Cultivar, made from the native Longjing 43 cultivar, steamed and stone-ground to ceremonial grade. Whisk it the way Song scholars did, or pour it over milk.
FAQ
Is matcha Chinese or Japanese?
Both, at different stages. The method of whisking powdered tea comes from Song dynasty China. The shading technique, the name ‘matcha’ and the tea ceremony were developed in Japan.
When did China stop drinking powdered tea?
Gradually, after the Hongwu Emperor's 1391 decree switched tribute tea from pressed cakes to loose leaf. By the later Ming dynasty, steeped tea had replaced whisked tea.
Is Chinese matcha as good as Japanese matcha?
Quality depends on the cultivar, how long the plants are shaded, when they are picked and how finely they are ground, not on the country. China now produces everything from cooking grade to ceremonial grade.
What is the difference between matcha and green tea?
Ordinary green tea is steeped and the leaves are thrown away. Matcha is shade-grown green tea ground to powder, so you drink the whole leaf.
