What makes matcha even more fascinating, is how its grown. During the final weeks of springtime harvesting, the tea plants are covered by bamboo mats to limit their exposure to sunlight, explains Mariza Snyder, a functional wellness practitioner in her book, The Matcha Miracle, The reduced sunlight reduces the plants chlorophyll content, contributing to the dark green colour of the leaves and the green of the matcha green tea powder. However, while increasing the plants potency, covering them also weakens them, so they need more time to recover before being harvested again.