Japanese reading: namaha

Tea leaves immediately after plucking. Freshness control directly affects colour and flavour.

Japanese reading: pitto

A temporary holding unit used before the steaming step. Cold air is supplied to prevent heat build-up and to minimise quality deterioration.

Japanese reading: aracha

An intermediate raw material produced by steaming and drying fresh leaves to enable distribution.

Japanese reading: jounetsu

A process that applies high-temperature steam to inactivate oxidative enzymes, preserving green colour and aroma.

Japanese reading: jounetsu jikan

For tencha production, the steaming time is short (around 20 seconds). Because shaded leaves are soft, it is set shorter than standard steaming using open-field leaves (about 30 seconds) or deep steaming (about 90 seconds).

Japanese reading: sanchaki

A machine that uses airflow to spread steamed leaves while cooling them and removing excess surface moisture. It also helps spread the leaves evenly on the conveyor of the tencha dryer.

Japanese reading: tencharo

A dedicated dryer for tencha. It rapidly dries steamed leaves at high temperature and produces a characteristic toasted aroma known as hi-ka.

Japanese reading: hika

A distinctive toasted aroma generated in the tencha dryer, which influences the overall sensory impression of matcha.

In Uji it is also called “motobi no kaori”. Motobi” refers to the aroma produced during the first drying in the first processing sequence (moto = beginning; bi = fire).

The intensity can be adjusted; in some overseas markets, a stronger toasted note tends to be preferred.

Japanese reading: tencha aracha

Aracha of tencha dried without rolling. The leaf shape remains intact.

Fig. The foreground shows tencha aracha, while the background shows finished tencha after processing.

Japanese reading: mogacha

Simplified tencha produced using a sencha processing line.

Japanese reading: shiage kakou

A set of processes that further refine aracha and prepare it for product use and price targets.

Japanese reading: setsudan & seikei

A process that uses equipment such as a cutting rotary sieve to size aracha to about 5–8 mm and remove fine powder. Standardising the size helps multiple finished lots mix uniformly during blending and makes the material easier to grind in a stone mill.

Japanese reading: bunbetsu

A process that uses airflow to separate the parts that become tencha from unwanted parts. A typical machine is a winnower (toumi — 唐箕).

Japanese reading: shiage kansou

A process to lower the moisture content of aracha for long-term storage. The tea is slowly dried at low temperature to reduce moisture from about 4–5% to below 3%. This step does not add hi-ka. Because it is done slowly over time, it is also called “neri drying”.

Japanese reading: denki senbetsu

A process that applies electrostatic separation to remove contaminants such as leaf dust, leaf veins, straw, and nylon strings that could not be removed by air separation alone. Contaminants are removed in two stages: airflow and electrostatics.

Japanese reading: honcha

The central leaf fraction used as the raw material for matcha.

Japanese reading:  demono

Parts other than honcha, such as stems, leaf veins, and powder.

Japanese reading: hone

The hard stem portion. Called “hone” in both rolled teas and tencha.

Japanese reading: budomari

The proportion of honcha obtainable from the total aracha.

Japanese reading: gougumi

A process to combine multiple honcha lots and design taste, colour, aroma, and price as a whole. It may be referred to as “three-way blend” (taste, colour, aroma) or “four-way blend” (taste, colour, aroma, price).

Japanese reading: burendo tanku

A blending machine used to mix multiple honcha lots uniformly.