Tea Plucking

Tea plucking, called tekisai in Japanese, is the harvesting step in which tea buds and leaves are picked. For matcha, it is the bridge between field cultivation—such as shading—and the later tea-making processes of steaming, drying, sorting, and milling.

How it differs from first harvest

Tekisai refers to the act of harvesting. First harvest, by contrast, refers to the first seasonal crop of spring tea leaves. First-harvest tea is plucked, but plucking also takes place in later harvests. The timing is judged by the condition of the field, weather, cultivar, and growth of the new shoots—not by date alone.

In matcha production, the plucked leaves are typically steamed without rolling, dried, and refined into tencha by removing stems and leaf veins. The tencha is then milled into powder according to its intended use. Within how matcha is made, plucking is best understood as the key step connecting cultivation and processing.

Hand plucking and machine plucking

Tea may be plucked by hand, selecting individual shoots, or harvested by machine across a managed surface of the tea hedge. Hand plucking offers fine selection but requires more labor. Machine plucking can secure a steadier harvest volume, while cutting height and field management remain important.

When you see the term “tea plucking,” read it first as a harvesting term. For flavor, it is more useful to consider plucking together with shading, steaming, drying, sorting, milling, and storage. After opening matcha, keeping it away from moisture, light, and heat helps preserve its aroma and clarity.