Standard Experience

You hold a pouch of organic matcha.

Inside is a tea meant to be reached for often.

Two Regions

The tea was blended from two of Japan's tea regions — Kagoshima and Shizuoka.

Kagoshima, at the southern tip of Kyushu, has volcanic soils and long, warm springs. Its tea has body — a deep, saturated green.

Shizuoka, along the Pacific coast at the foot of Mt Fuji, is Japan's oldest tea region. Its tea has structure — clarity, cleanness, restraint.

Body and structure. The two are not the same. The blend at Matsudacha was decided so that neither dominates.

Second Flush

This is a June picking, grown under cover for about a week before harvest.

Shading is what separates matcha from other green teas — block the light and the leaf holds back its bitterness and builds the amino acids that read as umami. Seven days is a short cover. It leaves more of the leaf's briskness intact, which is why this tea holds its shape in milk where a softer matcha would disappear.

Our ceremonial grade is a first flush under three weeks of shade. Different tea, different purpose. We tell you which is which.

Organic

Certified organic through OMIC under JAS No. 1617.

Organic matcha requires more of everything. More attention to soil. More restraint at every point where a synthetic could shortcut the work. More years of transition before a farm qualifies.

The certification is a boundary, drawn around what does not enter the leaf.

Matsudacha

An artisan producer in Yuki-gun, Ibaraki, working continuously since 1898.

They do not grow this tea. Tencha — the shaded, steamed leaf that becomes matcha — comes from growers in Kagoshima and Shizuoka, and is sorted, blended and milled at Matsudacha. We say so plainly because the alternative is to let you assume otherwise.

Each production run is measured in kilograms, not tonnes. The current head, Matsuda Koichi, handles final blending himself.

Preparing

Suited to a latte, an usucha, a cold matcha, or a base for cooking.

For a latte:

Sift one level teaspoon (about 2 g) into a cup.

Add 30 ml of hot water, at 70–80 °C, and whisk until smooth.

Pour in 200 ml of steamed milk of your choice.

For usucha, koicha, and other preparations, see our preparation guide.

After

The pouch holds 100 g. At one bowl a day, it will last about seven weeks.

When it is empty, you will have a sense of what this tea does for you. Some will reach for the same again. Others will be ready to try the ceremonial grade — a smaller amount, from a different blend, prepared differently.

Both are the same idea, drawn to a different edge.

Draw your Kekkai.