The Craft of Honzu Matcha: Mastering Light and Shadow

 

 

 

Honzu 

/hoɴ.dzɯ/, 本簀;

 

a traditional Japanese tea shading method using reed screens and straw to enhance flavour, sweetness, and colour in high-grade matcha.

 

 

 

 

The Art of Honzu Shading: The Traditional Craft Behind High-Grade Artisanal Matcha

 

For centuries, Japan’s most celebrated matcha has been shaped not only by terroir and cultivar, but by a cultivation method few outside the tea world truly understand: Honzu shading. Practised by only a small number of experienced growers, Honzu represents the oldest and most traditional approach to preparing tea fields for the production of exceptional artisanal matcha and gyokuro. In a time when synthetic materials and efficiency-driven farming have become the norm, Honzu remains a testament to meticulous craftsmanship and a deep respect for the natural environment.

 

 

What Makes Honzu Unique?

 

Honzu, written 本簀, refers to a shading method that predates modern shading nets. Instead of black synthetic cloth, farmers construct a living canopy made from hand-woven reed screens called yoshizu (葦簀) and thick rice-straw mats known as komo (薦), supported by wooden or bamboo frameworks. These natural materials breathe with the environment, creating a softer, more diffused light that protects the plants and encourages a unique transformation within the leaves.

As sunlight gradually decreases, the tea plants respond by increasing chlorophyll, boosting amino acids such as L-theanine, and reducing catechins that contribute to bitterness. The result is a leaf that carries a deeper colour, a smoother structure, and the unmistakable sweetness and umami associated with truly high-grade matcha.

 

 

Honzu Compared with Modern Shading

 

While most contemporary farms rely on Jikakabuse (direct synthetic net shading) for convenience, cost reduction, and time savings, this material and method cannot replicate the microclimate created by reed and straw. Honzu canopies regulate temperature and humidity with remarkable subtlety, creating a cooler, more stable natural environment. Shading is deepened gradually, allowing the plants to adapt slowly and develop richer flavour compounds. Throughout the shading period, farmers adjust the structure by hand, responding to shifts in wind, rain, and light. This level of human attention is impossible to achieve with modern netting and represents one of the reasons Honzu matcha tastes fundamentally different.

The leaves grown under Honzu become thinner, softer, and richer in nutrients, yielding tencha of exceptional refinement. When stone-milled, the resulting matcha is luminous and smooth, retaining a sweetness and depth that set it apart from matcha shaded with synthetic materials.

 

 

The Honzu Process in Practice

 

Each winter, reeds and rice straw are harvested, dried, and woven into panels by hand. This preparation alone requires great skill and patience. As the new growing season approaches, farmers build the wooden and bamboo framework that will support the canopy. Once the structure is ready, they place the yoshizu reed screens on the roof to form the first layer of shade, hang the komo rice mats along the sides of the canopy, and then gradually cover the roof with straw, layering it loosely until the fields are nearly completely shaded. The plants spend weeks in this controlled dimness, concentrating nutrients and developing the signature flavour profile that defines Honzu-grown matcha.
After 30 to 40 days of gradual shading and when harvest arrives, the tender young leaves are selected and picked by hand, carefully steamed, and dried into tencha. They are then stored and aged in boxes under climate-controlled conditions, and finally, after at least six months, milled into a fine, silky powder.

 

 

Why Honzu Matcha Is More Expensive

 

Honzu matcha commands a higher price not through manufactured exclusivity, but through the sheer devotion required to cultivate it. It is the result of a process shaped entirely by human hands, natural materials, and an ancient philosophy of agriculture that values patience, subtlety, and deep attentiveness to the land.

Every stage of Honzu begins long before spring arrives. Reeds are harvested at the close of winter, dried to the correct firmness, and woven into yoshizu screens by artisans who understand the delicate balance between pliancy and strength. Rice straw is bundled and crafted into komo mats with a steady, rhythmic precision.

Once spring approaches, farmers build the Honzu canopy, a breathing architecture of careful choreography. A framework of bamboo and wood is erected by hand: no nails, no plastics, only interlocking joints and natural materials chosen for their flexibility and breathability. The screens are lifted and tied one section at a time, the straw is layered gradual increments across the roof until the field rests in a dim, cool stillness. No machinery replaces these gestures; they are guided by skill, instinct, and decades of quiet experience.

Throughout the shading period, farmers must tend the structure with vigilance, for it behaves like a living organism. Rain can weigh down the reeds; wind can fray the straw; sunlight must be moderated with incremental adjustments. The canopy responds to the world, and the grower responds to the canopy.

Honzu tea fields are also shaped by another traditional practice: Shizen-jitate (自然仕立て). The tea plants are left to grow in their natural, unpruned form, an approach that encourages a gentle, organic shape rather than the uniform hedges seen on most machine harvested farms. This natural growth allows each plant to develop tender, flavour-rich buds but also reduces overall yield, making the harvest still more precious.

When the time comes to pick the leaves, the harvest is conducted entirely by hand, tezumi (手摘み), a skill that requires precision, speed, and deep familiarity with the plant. Only the youngest, freshest, and healthiest buds are chosen; each one must be seen, felt, judged, and selected individually. Such harvesting cannot be rushed, and machines cannot imitate. Today, very few tea pickers still possess the mastery required for this delicate work, making their labour highly valued by growers and producers alike. Their efforts, patience, and practiced eyes and hands are integral to Honzu’s quality and deeply appreciated by discerning matcha enthusiasts who understand what is required to create truly artisanal matcha of such refinement.

Honzu is harvested only once a year in spring, a single, unhurried moment when the year’s quiet labour finally meets the light. After the leaves are gathered, the natural rice straw used for shading is released back onto the earth. It is left to decompose gently into the soil, enriching it with organic matter and nourishing the roots for the following year’s harvest. This closed, regenerative cycle is a sustainable practice at heart: what shelters the tea also feeds it, and nothing is wasted.

The use of natural materials introduces another layer of vulnerability. Reeds, straw, and wooden supports are susceptible to weather; storms can collapse a canopy in minutes; and a single misjudgment can compromise a year’s harvest. Combined with slower plant growth, lower yields, and the scarcity of skilled artisans, Honzu matcha becomes not simply rare, but profoundly fragile. Only nine growers in Japan continue to practice this traditional shading method and still possess the expertise, knowledge, and discipline to craft Honzu properly.

Its cost, therefore, reflects a constellation of factors: extraordinary labour, traditional sustainable practices preserved against modern pressures, the irreplaceable hands of experienced pickers, and the ever present risk borne by those who refuse to substitute nature with convenience. Because of this delicate balance, Honzu matcha remains extremely rare, labour-intensive, and deeply valued.

To support Honzu matcha is to support a living lineage, one that continues only because a handful of growers choose devotion over efficiency, and a community of appreciative drinkers recognises the quiet, enduring value of their craft.

 

 

How Honzu Shapes Flavour

 

Matcha cultivated beneath Honzu shading carries within it the imprint of its environment, an imprint that is unmistakable from the very first glance. Its colour is not merely green but luminous, akin to young moss after rain or the deep, resinous tone of spring forests. This vividness is the visual signature of elevated chlorophyll, nurtured patiently in the softened light of reed and straw.

On the palate, Honzu matcha reveals a texture that borders on tactile luxury. It is dense yet weightless, coating the tongue with a velvety smoothness that recalls fine cream rather than leaf. This plush mouthfeel arises from the tender, delicately structured leaves grown in cool shade, leaves thin enough to grind into an exceptionally fine powder, free from coarseness.

The flavour unfolds slowly, with a composure that speaks to the weeks spent in gentle dimness. First comes an enveloping umami, round and resonant, without the sharp vegetal notes found in lesser teas. Then, a subdued, quiet sweetness, a sweetness not added, but cultivated, born from elevated amino acids such as L-theanine that flourish only under prolonged, natural shading.

Notably absent are the traits often tolerated in everyday matcha: harsh bitterness, blunt astringency, the sting of excessive catechins. Honzu shading gently suppresses these compounds, creating a cup defined by harmony rather than contrast.

As the final sip settles, it leaves behind a lingering finish that is both clean and contemplative, an aftertaste that hovers like the final light of dusk, subtle yet resonant. This depth, this clarity, this almost meditative refinement is the direct result of Honzu’s traditional environment: the breathing canopy of natural materials, the gradual reduction of light, the attentive adjustments made by skilled hands.

Every nuance of flavour is a testament to the cultivation process. Honzu shapes not only the leaves, but the entire sensory experience, transforming matcha into something that is not simply drunk, but understood.

 

 

Honzu Matcha and Its Proper Place

 

Honzu matcha, produced with meticulous precision and care, is reserved explicitly for ceremonial use and meant to be enjoyed in its purest form, prepared only with water. Its high concentration of amino acids, along with the natural suppression of bitterness and astringency, makes it ideal for koicha, the thick, concentrated tea used in formal chanoyu, as well as usucha, the lighter, whisked preparation, where clarity of flavour and texture are paramount.

Using Honzu matcha for lattes is considered wasteful, as milk, sugar, and added flavours mask the delicate characteristics that define this tea. Matcha intended for lattes is typically commercial or culinary grade, grown with higher light exposure to produce stronger, more robust flavours that can stand up to dairy. In contrast, Honzu matcha is crafted for clarity, purity, and ceremonial appreciation, allowing its delicate natural characteristics and flavours emerge and be fully appreciated. Using it in a latte would obscure the subtle sensory qualities that growers have painstakingly cultivated.

 

 

Honzu in the Modern World: would it survive?

 

As agriculture becomes increasingly mechanised, Honzu survives thanks to the dedication of a small community of farmers committed to preserving traditional Japanese tea practices. Supporting Honzu matcha means supporting the continuation of a craft that would otherwise fade, a craft that carries centuries of skill, culture, heritage and knowledge.

 

 

 

Honzu shading represents the pinnacle of artisanal matcha production. Its natural materials, gradual shading process, limited yields, and exceptional flavour make it one of the most refined expressions of Japanese tea craftsmanship. Intended for straight preparation as koicha or usucha, Honzu matcha reveals the full potential of the tea leaf when cultivated with patience, precision, and deep respect for tradition.