Tencha: Shade-Grown Tea Leaves Steamed and Dried Flat for Matcha

Tencha is green tea grown under cover for the last two to three weeks before picking, then steamed and dried flat, without the rolling that gives sencha its needles; stems and veins come out and the leaf is cut small. Ground in a stone mill, tencha becomes matcha. Shading makes the leaves thinner, greener and sweeter. The picture: tencha on a stone mill in Uji (photo by Derjochenmeyer, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0).