MatchaDB

Research

The Global Matcha Research Library

641 papers, trials, theses and preprints that study matcha, gathered from PubMed, OpenAlex and Europe PMC, tagged by study type and topic, and linked back to every source. We keep abstracts and citations; the full text stays with its publisher.

Tip: use "quotes" for an exact phrase, OR between alternatives, and a minus to leave a word out, for example fluoride OR pesticide. Related words are matched too, so “EGCG” also finds “epigallocatechin.”

4 studies match for “theanine biosynthesis”

2025Journal articleFree to read

A Shading-Responsive bHLH Transcription Factor (CsPIF7) Promotes Theanine Biosynthesis in Tea Plants (Camellia sinensis).

Li L, Ye S, Chen F, et al. — Plant, cell & environment

Shading is a widely applied strategy to increase theanine and chlorophyll levels in tea leaves during matcha production. However, the regulatory mechanism of theanine accumulation under shading conditions remains elusive. Through …

Agronomy / cultivationL-theanine and caffeineCultivation and shadingProcessing, milling and qualityCited 10×
2022Journal articleFree to read

Effect of Shading on the Morphological, Physiological, and Biochemical Characteristics as Well as the Transcriptome of Matcha Green Tea.

Chen X, Ye K, Xu Y, et al. — International journal of molecular sciences

… followed by the S95 and control treatments. Moreover, shading increased the theanine and caffeine contents, while decreasing the polyphenol (epicatechin and epigallocatechin) contents, thereby optimizing matcha tea flavors. A total of …

Agronomy / cultivationAntioxidants and polyphenolsL-theanine and caffeineCultivation and shadingCited 42×
2025Journal article

Gene expression regulation of the effect of shading on chlorophyll content in Fuding white tea (Camellia sinensis L.).

Li G, Chen X, Zhao Y, et al. — Tree physiology

… quality of green tea. Previous research of our group found that because the biosynthesis and distribution of theanine in tea plants were affected by down regulation of gene encoding amino acid permeases, theanine content in tea leaves …

Agronomy / cultivationMetabolism and weightL-theanine and caffeineCultivation and shadingCited 7×
2026Journal article

Field-Aged Shade Nets Residues Disrupt Rhizosphere Microbiota and Nitrogen Metabolism in Tea (Camellia sinensis).

Wang K, Tong Z, Shen Y, et al. — Environmental science & technology

… tea plant nitrogen metabolism, which in turn suppressed glutamate and theanine biosynthesis, reallocating metabolism toward bitter ester-type catechins, and ultimately reduced tea flavor and quality. Our findings show that aged …

Agronomy / cultivationMetabolism and weightL-theanine and caffeineGut and microbiome

How this library is built

Every record comes from three open scholarly indexes — PubMed, OpenAlex and Europe PMC — searched for the word “matcha.” Records are merged by DOI and PubMed ID so each study appears once. A paper is kept only if matcha appears in its title, abstract, author keywords or subject terms and the text is about tea or food, which filters out the surname Matcha, software called Matcha, and the Scandinavian verb “matcha” (to match).

Study type and topic tags are assigned automatically from each paper's own title, abstract and subject terms using fixed keyword rules — no guesses, and papers without an abstract are marked as unclassified. Automatic tagging is imperfect, so treat tags as a way to narrow a search, not as a verdict on a paper's quality. A study being listed here is not an endorsement of its findings.

Coverage: this is every indexed paper that names matcha, not every study of green tea or its compounds (those are far more numerous). Papers that mention matcha only in passing are hidden by default. Work that never uses the word “matcha,” and publications outside these indexes, are not included. The library was last rebuilt October 20, 2026.

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