Matcha, an ancient yet trendy beverage, is renowned worldwide for its unique powdered form and rich content of theanine and caffeine. It boasts a history steeped in Tea culture spanning over a thousand years, and it is frequently featured in many popular beverages today. The English term “matcha” originates from Japanese pronunciation and holds a significant place in Japanese tea ceremonies. Nowadays, many people associate matcha with Japan. However, upon closer examination of its origins, this vibrant green drink actually originated in China.
In ancient times, the Chinese referred to matcha as “mocha,” where “mo” means “powder” or “fine particles.” This name is closely related to the traditional method of making matcha. Ancient techniques involved using fresh Green Tea leaves, which were steamed and then formed into cakes. When it was time to consume them, these cakes would be ground into a fine powder, known as “mocha.” According to Lu Yu, the Sage of Tea, in his classic work “The Classic of Tea”: “There are coarse teas, loose teas, powdered teas, and cake teas.”
The origins of matcha also include a legend. “The Divine Farmer's Classic of Materia Medica” records: “Shennong tasted hundreds of herbs, encountering seventy-two poisons in one day, and he was cured by tea.” Legend has it that Shennong chewed and swallowed tea leaves to detoxify himself, marking the beginning of human consumption of tea. Shennong is revered as the “ancestor of matcha.”
Matcha first appeared during the Wei and Jin dynasties, became popular in the Tang Dynasty, and reached its peak in the Song Dynasty. Zhang Yi's “Guangya” from the Three Kingdoms period (Wei) describes how tea was collected and made into cakes in the Jing and Ba regions. When preparing the tea for drinking, it was first roasted, then “ground into powder and placed in ceramic ware.” This “powder” can be considered an early form of matcha. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, people began to crush steamed green tea cakes into powder, which they would stir with hot water using a tea whisk or spoon before drinking, a process known as “eating tea.” Ancient descriptions of the preparation of matcha read: “When freshly prepared, the coarse froth sinks while the refined essence floats. It shines like accumulated snow, brilliant as spring foliage in full bloom.” When the tea broth was just prepared, the coarse froth sank while the refined essence floated. The froth of matcha was bright like pristine snow, dazzling like flourishing grass and trees in spring.
The Song Dynasty was the golden age for the development of matcha. The elegant tea competitions among literati and scholars elevated the art of tea to new heights. They pursued perfect froth and continuously refined their tea-making skills.
Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty had a special fondness for matcha. His treatise “Da Guan Tea Treatise” details the method of making “steamed green tea cakes.” Steamed green tea is precisely the raw material used in modern matcha. In the chapter on “pointing tea,” he discusses Song Dynasty tea philosophy and tea-making techniques, not only depicting the prosperous tea industry of the Northern Song Dynasty but also providing a window into Song Dynasty Tea culture. In the Song Dynasty, the production of tea cakes became more refined, and the tea-drinking process became increasingly elaborate. From the initial tea picking, every step in the tea-making process was strictly controlled by specialized “tea officials.” The Song Dynasty emphasized methods such as boiling tea, pointing tea, and distributing tea, allowing various patterns, including characters, flowers, plants, insects, and fish, to form on the surface of the tea broth, a technique known as tea painting, exquisitely akin to works of art. “Tea became prominent during the Tang Dynasty. In recent times, there has been a method of stirring tea with a spoon and applying special techniques to create images from the tea broth, such as birds, beasts, insects, fish, and flowers, finely detailed like paintings. However, these images quickly dissipate. This is a variation of tea, known as tea painting.” (“Da Guan Tea Treatise”)
Song Dynasty people enjoyed tea competitions. Cai Xiang recorded the detailed process of “tea competition” in his “Tea Record”: break the tea cake into small pieces, grind it into fine powder, sieve the powder, take two qian (a unit of weight) of the powder, place it in a warmed tea cup, pour boiling water over it, create foam, and taste its color, aroma, and flavor, with the best being the winner. This method of consuming matcha, known as the “pointing tea” method of the Song Dynasty, involved grinding small pieces of tea into powder, a step essential to the consumption of tea cakes and similar to the current method of making matcha.
Art added infinite charm to matcha culture. From Liu Songnian's “Tea Brewing Picture” from the Southern Song Dynasty to the “tea paintings” created with tea juice by Song Dynasty artists, tea transcended mere taste and evolved into art. Painters used tea juice of varying shades to paint on xuan paper, utilizing the tannic acid in the tea juice to create unpredictable color effects.
In the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty, matcha gradually faded from history. Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang disliked complex tea-making processes and abolished the tribute system for Fujian Jian'an tea cakes. The culture of tea cakes, prevalent since the Tang and Song dynasties, suddenly declined. Zhu Quan's “Tea Spectrum” of the Ming Dynasty recorded both the method of pointing tea and the production of loose tea, reflecting the characteristics of the transitional period in tea drinking. Tea processing methods in the Ming Dynasty approached those of modern times. This change directly influenced future tea-drinking practices: teapots replaced tea bowls, and kettles were used for boiling water. Matcha and its associated utensils gradually disappeared from the historical stage.
To appreciate the color of tea, white porcelain cups became the centerpiece. On the surface, tea-drinking rituals seemed to have been simplified. However, the aesthetic tastes of literati in the mid-Ming Dynasty infused new vitality into tea culture. Yixing purple clay teapots became representative of tea ware, and the quality of the teapot directly impacted the taste of the tea. At the same time, literati raised higher requirements for the tea-drinking environment, encompassing aspects such as tea quality, spring water, tea ware, incense, flower arrangement, and tea companions. Tea rooms and tea huts became indispensable elegant spaces for literati, showcasing their reverence for tea affairs. Literati in the Ming Dynasty were extremely meticulous about creating the tea-drinking environment. Renowned calligraphers and painters such as Tang Yin, Zhu Yunming, and Wen Zhengming left behind numerous artistic works with tea themes, promoting the prosperity of tea culture in late Ming Dynasty and igniting a new wave of creation in tea paintings and tea literature.
During the Tang Dynasty, Japanese envoys to Tang learned tea culture in China, including the practice of boiling tea. Matcha was introduced to Japan by these envoys in the 9th century. At the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, Zen Master Nanzhou Shōmyō visited Jingshan Temple in Yuhang County, Zhejiang Province, to study the scriptures, bringing Chinese Tea culture to Japan for the first time. “The Rise of Tea Culture” in “Miscellaneous Collections of Famous Objects” records: “The rise of tea culture occurred when Zen Master Nanzhou Shōmyō of Chofukuji in Chikuzen Prefecture brought it back from China during the Shōgen period.”
Later, Zen Master Eisai brought back the “pointing tea” method from the Song Dynasty. Based on this, Japanese tea ceremony gradually took shape. The utilization of tea in Japan remained largely consistent with the “pointing tea” method of the Song Dynasty. As a result, matcha became widely popular in Japan and gradually developed into a relatively systematic ritual. Matcha is a continuation of the “mocha” of the Song Dynasty but no longer involves boiling. Instead, it inherited the Song Dynasty's methods of powdering, stirring, and creating fro