Tana Shading: The Traditional Method Behind Matcha’s Umami and Sweetness

For several weeks before the first spring harvest, our heritage farms in Uji shade their tea fields beneath tana, a raised structure built by hand above the tea plants.

Known as 棚掛け (tana-gake), this traditional method reduces the direct sunlight reaching the leaves while allowing the tea plants to grow freely in their natural shapes beneath the canopy.

This single step shapes the sweetness, umami and vivid green colour of our ceremonial matcha.

With tana shading, farmers construct a raised framework above the tea bushes, propped up by long metal poles over entire rows of tea bushes. Agricultural mesh cloth are laid across the frame, leaving space between the covering and the plants below.

This differs from direct shading, or 直被覆 (jikagise), where black cloths are placed directly over the tea plants. This method restricts the circulation of air and constraints the natural growth of young, new shoots, producing lower quality teas. Hence, direct shading is commonly used in machine harvested tea gardens, where bushes are maintained in a rounded, uniform shape.

The space created by a tana structure leaves an air gap above the tea plants, allowing young shoots to emerge freely in their natural form. It also provides better airflow beneath the shade, stabilizing the microclimate around the tea plants and preventing the stress that comes from cloth resting directly on the plants.

Building and maintaining these tana structures requires considerably more time and labour than direct covering, making it a more expensive shading method. Nonetheless, our heritage farms are committed to using tana shading as part of their meticulous process of cultivating matcha in Uji.

Reduced sunlight changes the way the tea plant develops in the final weeks before harvest.

Under the tana shade, the tea plants retain higher levels of L-theanine (responsible for the umami and natural sweetness of matcha), while developing more chlorophyll and fewer bitter catechins.

This careful shading develops the deep green colour, natural sweetness and rich umami that define high-quality matcha.