Guizhou county spins matcha green into gold

Workers process matcha noodles at a factory in Jiangkou county of Tongren, Guizhou province. [Photo by Li He/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Jiangkou, a county in Guizhou province's Tongren, has spun matcha's distinctive green tone into a green of another type – increasing the powder's value by developing new products from it.

Matcha is made from fresh and tender tea leaves that have been cut and dried. With its unique flavor and medicinal properties, matcha and its derivatives have been widely applied in food, health care and cosmetics.

Workers process matcha noodles at a factory in Jiangkou county of Tongren, Guizhou province. [Photo by Li He/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

"We began processing matcha noodles in late 2019 and they were launched in the market on May 1, 2020. Current sales per month are up to 20,000 yuan ($2871)," said Zhang Jun, a worker at a matcha manufacturing factory.

According to a white paper released by the China Center for Information Industry Development, China has become the world's largest producer of matcha and the largest consumer of matcha products.

Since 2018, Tongren has held the Fanjingdan Matcha Culture Festival for three consecutive years and been named China's "matcha capital".

Gui Tea Industrial Park, known as the "Super Matcha Factory". [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

In the Gui Tea Industrial Park, a matcha refining workshop puts out an annual yield of more than 4,000 tons. It has become the world's largest matcha production center. More than 20 products are processed there, including matcha noodles, matcha chocolate and matcha ice cream.

At present, the annual output of tea in Jiangkou county has reached 106 thousand tons, and helped 15,200 residents increase their per-capita income by more than 4,330 yuan.

Wang Jin contributed to this story.