Grinding

碾磨

Stone-milling dried tea leaves (tencha) into an ultra-fine powder. Exclusively used for matcha production, where the entire leaf is consumed rather than infused. Traditional granite stone mills (ishiusu) rotate slowly at 40-80 RPM to prevent heat damage, producing only 30-40 grams per hour per mill. The resulting particle size (5-10 microns) creates matcha's characteristic smooth, creamy texture when whisked with water. Only shade-grown, destemmed, deveined tencha leaves produce true matcha — grinding other teas creates funmatsucha (powdered tea), which is categorically different.