When most people think of matcha, they think of Japan.

The vivid green powder, the ritualistic whisking, the choreographed tea ceremony — all of it is deeply tied to Japanese tea culture. For centuries, Japan refined the techniques that define matcha today.

But matcha is not defined by geography alone.

In Vietnam’s Central Highlands, tea farmers are applying the core principles of matcha production — shading the plants, steaming the leaves, and milling them into ultra-fine powder — to world-class oolong cultivars long grown in the region.

The result is something both familiar and new: Vietnamese matcha.

Still rare, but increasingly explored by innovative tea producers, Vietnamese highland matcha represents a distinctive new expression of matcha. The form is unmistakable — a vivid green powder that whisks into a smooth bowl.

But the flavor tells a slightly different story: matcha made from highland oolong cultivars often feels creamier, softer in bitterness, and more fragrant than traditional matcha, shaped by the region’s misty, volcanic terroir.

Tea in Vietnam: Ancient Roots, Highland Transformation

Tea has been part of Vietnamese culture for thousands of years, particularly in the northern mountains where ancient tea trees still grow wild and produce traditional Shan Tuyết (snow mountain) teas.

Photo: Hmong (Mông) tea harvesters gathering leaves from ancient Shan Tuyết tea trees in Vietnam’s northern mountains.

The story of tea in Vietnam’s Central Highlands, however, is much more recent.

In the early 20th century, French colonial administrators conducted agricultural surveys across the region and quickly recognized that the highlands — with their cool climate, high elevation, and mineral-rich volcanic soil — were ideal for tea cultivation.

By the 1920s, plantations were established across the highlands to produce black tea for export to Europe.

Photo: Inside the historic 1927 Tea Factory in Vietnam’s Central Highlands — where French-era machinery once processed the Central Highlands’ first export teas.

At the time, the British Empire had already built vast tea industries in India and Sri Lanka, supplying black tea to markets throughout Europe.

Vietnam’s Central Highlands offered similar growing conditions and soon became part of this global tea economy.

For decades, the region focused largely on black tea and other export-oriented styles.

But the highlands were only beginning their transformation.

The Rise of World-Class Oolong Tea in Vietnam

Photos:  The Misty Lava team with a tea master in Vietnam’s Central Highlands, where generations of old and new tea growers cultivate the region’s renowned oolong and green teas.

Beginning in the late 1980s, as Vietnam opened its economy, the country’s tea industry entered a new phase.

Producers introduced oolong cultivars, often with technical guidance from Taiwanese tea specialists. 

Many of these cultivars originate from Taiwanese oolong lineages, adapted over decades to Vietnam’s highland conditions.

These cultivars proved exceptionally well suited to the Central Highlands.

The region’s misty climate, high elevation, and volcanic soil allow tea plants to grow slowly — concentrating aroma and developing depth.

Over time, the highlands built a quiet reputation among tea professionals for producing beautifully aromatic oolong teas: floral, naturally sweet, and often creamy in body.

Vietnamese farmers adapted quickly. Cultivars evolved, processing improved, and a new generation of growers began pushing quality further.

Photo: The Misty Lava team meeting with a young tea producer in Vietnam’s Central Highlands — part of a new generation of Gen Z farmers helping redefine Vietnamese tea through innovation in oolong cultivars, floral infusions, and matcha production.

Where Oolong Becomes Matcha

As farmers in Vietnam’s Central Highlands worked more closely with oolong cultivars, they noticed something unexpected.

The same plants that produced aromatic oolong could also create remarkably smooth, expressive green tea — and even matcha.

What began as experimentation became a deliberate shift.

What if matcha wasn’t limited to traditional green tea cultivars?

Turning that idea into reality required precision. As demand for matcha grew, producers invested in specialized equipment from Japan — including steaming, drying, and ultra-fine milling systems.

Photo: The Misty Lava team touring a tea factory in Vietnam’s Central Highlands and studying the specialized steaming and processing equipment used in modern matcha production.  

The process follows the same core principles:

• shade-grown before harvest (up to 21 days)
• steamed to preserve color
• refined into delicate tencha
• stone-milled into fine powder

The technique is familiar.

But the leaf is different.

Instead of cultivars bred for Japanese green tea, these matchas begin with premium oolong cultivars — known for floral aromatics, creaminess, and layered fragrance.

That difference fundamentally changes the character of the final tea.

Some producers are also exploring techniques rooted in Vietnam’s tea traditions — including floral scenting — adding subtle new dimensions without changing the foundation of matcha.

Photo: Misty Lava Jasmine Oolong Matcha — an example of Vietnamese floral scenting techniques applied to matcha.

Why Premium High Mountain Oolong Cultivars Create a Different Kind of Matcha

Traditional Japanese matcha cultivars were developed for deep umami, vibrant color, and a distinctly vegetal character — often expressed as grassy or marine-like notes.

Oolong cultivars were developed for something else entirely — aroma, softness, and complexity.

Although both come from the same plant (Camellia sinensis), they were developed for different characteristics.

With oolong matcha, oxidation is kept extremely low, similar to traditional matcha processing, and the leaves are steamed and processed using traditional matcha techniques.

This helps preserve:

• vivid green color
• umami and L-theanine
• antioxidant content

But it also allows the natural aromatic character of the oolong cultivars to emerge.

The result feels both familiar and distinct.

Matcha made from oolong cultivars often shows:

• creamier texture
• softer bitterness
• greater aromatic complexity

Instead of sharp vegetal intensity, the profile is rounder — sometimes revealing floral notes or a subtle honeyed sweetness.

Misty Lava: Sourcing from Vietnam’s Central Highlands

At Misty Lava, our goal is to highlight the unique character of Vietnam’s highland tea.

We source directly from small-scale farmers in the Central Highlands, without intermediaries, allowing us to work closely with the growers who cultivate these remarkable leaves.

Photos: The Misty Lava team in Vietnam’s Central Highlands, standing among the tea gardens we source from and the farmers who cultivate these leaves.

Here, cool mountain air, drifting mist, and ancient volcanic basalt soils shape the character of the tea.

These iron-rich red soils — formed from ancient lava flows — nourish the oolong cultivars used to create our matcha. At high elevation, tea plants grow slowly, allowing each leaf to develop deeper aroma, natural sweetness, and a smooth, rounded body.

Photo: Iron-rich basalt soil from Vietnam’s Central Highlands — formed from ancient lava flows and nourishing the oolong leaves used to create Vietnamese matcha.

Morning mist often blankets the hills, creating a natural shade that protects delicate buds. Combined with cool mountain temperatures and pristine air, this environment produces tea with remarkable clarity and balance.

Working directly with our partner farms, we hand-harvest only the top bud and two tender leaves — the most delicate and sweetest part of the tea plant — during the first flush of the season.

Hand harvesting helps prevent damage and keeps the leaves intact.

We then shade the plants for 21 days using traditional Japanese techniques to build sweetness and richness.

The leaves are then carefully steamed, dried, and stone-milled into a smooth, finely textured powder.

The result reflects both tradition and place — matcha techniques applied to tea shaped by the misty volcanic landscape of Vietnam’s Central Highlands.

A New Expression of Matcha

Japan and China will always remain the cultural home of matcha.

The traditions developed there define the craft.

But tea has always evolved through the movement of plants, people, and ideas.

Today, Vietnam’s highlands are showing what happens when those traditions meet a new terroir.

Matcha made from oolong cultivars is not a replacement.

It’s another expression of the same plant — shaped by a different landscape, and a different idea of what matcha can be.

And in the misty, volcanic landscape of Vietnam’s Central Highlands, that expression is only just beginning.