Why does the best matcha come from Uji?

Tea cultivation took hold in Uji in the thirteenth century and has been refined more or less continuously since. The shading method that gives matcha its colour and savoury depth was developed here.

That length of practice matters more than it sounds. Growing tencha well is a series of judgement calls, when to shade, when to pick, how long to steam, and those judgements are handed down rather than written down.

Mist off the river softens the light before it reaches the plants. Cool nights slow growth, so leaves take longer to mature and build more of the amino acids that read as umami.

Push a tea plant to grow fast in strong sun and you get a bigger, coarser, more bitter leaf. Uji's conditions do the opposite.

For around three weeks before picking, the plants are covered. Deprived of full light, the leaf produces more chlorophyll, which gives the deep green, and holds more theanine, which gives the sweetness.

Leaf grown this way is tencha. Milled, tencha becomes matcha. Anything not grown this way is not really matcha, whatever the packet says.

Less than you would hope. The word is used widely, sometimes loosely, and there is no single guarantee behind it on an export label.

The narrower questions are better: which tea house, and when was it milled. Ours comes from one tea house in Uji making matcha for over two centuries, milled there in small monthly batches and packed by us in London the week it sells.