Tencha (碾茶) is a shaded Japanese green tea that is mostly used to make matcha but it's sometime also used for cooking. Tencha is grown like gyokuro. That means the tea leaves are shaded for about three weeks. That is the reason why matcha got such a vivid green color. After harvest the leaves are briefly steamed and dried but in contrast to most other Japanese teas not rolled. Finally all stems are removed so that only the pure leaves are left.