What is matcha?
Matcha is shaded green tea leaf, de-stemmed and stone-milled to a powder, then whisked into water and drunk whole. Every part of that sentence is load-bearing, and powdered green tea that skips any of it is not matcha.
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What is being compared
Why these get confused
Powdered sencha is sold as matcha regularly. It is neither shaded nor de-stemmed, and it tastes harsh and looks olive rather than jade.
Point by point
| Aspect | Matcha | Sencha |
|---|---|---|
| Cultivation | Shaded for three to four weeks before harvest, which raises amino acids and lowers catechins. | Grown in full sun. |
| After steaming | De-stemmed and de-veined into tencha, never rolled, then stone-milled. | Rolled into needles and dried. |
| Preparation | Whisked into suspension. The leaf is consumed entirely. | Steeped and strained. The leaf is discarded. |
| Why grade matters so much | Nothing is left behind, so every fault in the leaf reaches the cup. | The water extracts selectively, which hides a good deal. |
| Price driver | A stone mill yields around forty grams an hour, and heat from faster grinding dulls the colour. | Conventional processing at industrial rates. |
The short answer
Culinary and ceremonial are marketing terms rather than grades. What separates good matcha from bad is shading, de-stemming and slow milling — and the colour shows it.
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