When Is Matcha Harvested?

People usually ask this expecting a date, and there is one. But the date is the least useful part of the answer, because two tins picked the same week can be entirely different tea.

The first picking runs from late April into May, and that first picking — ichibancha — is what becomes tea-grade matcha. Later pickings in June and through the summer become the powder that goes into baking and lattes. What separates them is not the calendar so much as the three weeks of shade before the leaves are taken.

The three pickings

Timing shifts with latitude. Southern growing areas start earlier than Uji, and a cold spring pushes everything back. A grower will tell you the picking, not the date, and that is the more honest unit.

What the shade does, and why it decides the taste

For roughly three weeks before the first picking, the bushes are covered. Traditionally that meant reed screens on a frame over the whole field; today it is usually black cloth. Either way the light is cut by most of what the plant would otherwise get.

A tea plant in full sun converts its amino acids into catechins. Catechins are what you register as astringency and bitterness. Shade interrupts that conversion, so the leaf keeps more of the amino acids — theanine chief among them — and that is where matcha's savory sweetness comes from. The leaves also grow thinner, softer and darker green, because the plant is producing more chlorophyll to make use of the little light it has.

Second and third pickings are generally not shaded, or shaded for less time. That is most of the difference in your bowl, and it is decided months before anything is ground.

Between the field and the tin

Shaded leaf destined for matcha is called tencha. It is steamed within hours of picking to stop oxidation, then dried — and, unlike sencha, never rolled. The stems and veins are then taken out, which is why matcha is made only from leaf flesh.

Grinding is the slow part. Granite mills turn at a walking pace, and the figure usually given is around 40 grams an hour from a single mill. That is one small tin in a working day, and it is a large part of why good matcha costs what it does.

It also means the grinding date and the picking date are not the same thing. Tencha keeps well in leaf form and is milled to order; a tin bought in November may hold leaf picked in May and ground in October.

Why the harvest date is not on the tin

Japanese tins carry a production or best-before date, which refers to milling and packing rather than picking. You will rarely see a harvest date, and you will almost never see the picking number stated in English.

Nor does the grade language help. "Ceremonial grade" is a marketing term with no standard behind it — I have written about where that phrase came from and why it cannot be trusted. A tin can say ceremonial and hold second-flush leaf.

What you can judge is in front of you: color, particle, and taste. Vivid green rather than olive, a powder fine enough to cling to the sides of the tin, and a finish that is sweet rather than sharp. That is the practical test, and it is covered in telling real matcha from the rest.

Does fresher always mean better?

Up to a point. Matcha does not improve with age and it loses color and aroma steadily once milled — but the clock that matters most to you starts when you break the seal, not when the leaf was picked. Four to eight weeks after opening is the honest window.

Some Japanese drinkers deliberately wait. Tea from the spring picking is sometimes rested until autumn, when the sharper edges of a young tea have settled — a practice with its own season in the tea year. If you are interested in how the calendar shapes drinking rather than growing, see the twenty-four seasons.

What this means when you are buying

Two practical conclusions follow from all of the above.

Buy small. A 30-gram tin is about fifteen bowls. Buying 100 grams to save money means drinking the last third of it past its best, which costs more than it saves.

Do not pay first-picking prices for milk. A latte puts sugar, fat and cold in front of the tea, and the delicacy you paid for disappears behind them. Keeping two powders — a good one for whisking, an everyday one for milk and ice — is cheaper than using one tin for both jobs, and it tastes better in both directions.

Questions I get asked

When is matcha harvested?

The first picking runs from late April into late May, varying with region and weather. Later pickings follow in June and through the summer, and those become culinary powder rather than tea-grade matcha.

Is first-flush matcha always better?

For drinking on its own, generally yes — it is sweeter and less astringent. For a latte or for baking, the difference is largely lost, and a later picking is the sensible choice — which is why, for milk drinks, the cheaper tin is the right buy.

How long are the plants shaded before picking?

Roughly three weeks. The shade keeps the amino acids in the leaf that sunlight would otherwise turn into the compounds you taste as bitterness.

Is matcha harvested only once a year?

No, the plant is picked several times, but only the first picking is normally shaded and made into matcha for whisking. Later pickings go to other uses.

Can I find out when my matcha was picked?

Usually not. The date on a Japanese tin refers to milling and packing. If the picking matters to you, ask the seller directly — a shop that knows will tell you.

Does old matcha make you ill?

No, it goes flat rather than unsafe. The color dulls toward olive and the sweetness goes first. It is disappointing, not dangerous.

Where this fits

If you are starting from nothing, the complete set has the whisk, bowl, scoop, sifter and caddy in one box, and the starter set has the three that matter most. Whatever powder you buy, sift it before you whisk. For everything around a first bowl, start with the complete beginner's guide.

The leaf itself has a name and, in 2026, a price story of its own — what tencha is.

Written by Mio.K, who chooses everything in this shop by hand in Japan.