Uji is the Japanese city most famous for producing high-quality matcha.
Located in Kyoto Prefecture south of Kyoto City, Uji has been associated with tea cultivation for centuries. Its name is strongly linked with Uji tea, a prestigious regional tradition that includes matcha and gyokuro. The area’s reputation reflects both favorable growing conditions and careful cultivation, shading, harvesting, and processing techniques.
Matcha is made from tencha leaves. Tea plants are shaded before harvest, which encourages a rich, savory flavor and increases the prominence of compounds such as theanine. The leaves are steamed, dried without rolling, deveined, and ground into a fine powder. Unlike ordinary steeped tea, matcha is whisked into water, so the powdered leaf is consumed.
Uji is famous rather than Japan’s only matcha-producing location. Nishio in Aichi Prefecture is also a major traditional production center, while Kyoto, Aichi, and Shizuoka are important matcha-producing areas. Kyoto City is the nearby better-known metropolis, but Uji is the canonical answer for the tea-producing city.