Uji, Kyoto
A source, a gesture, a requirement.
Our matchas come from a single region and a single harvest, and go through eight handmade steps. Here's what they are, and why they matter.
Uji's shaded tea bushes, thirty days before harvest.
800
years of culture in Uji
1
harvest per year
30
shading days
Uji, and nothing else.
Uji is a small region south of Kyoto. Tea has been cultivated there since the 13th century, and it's where the shading technique was developed. Morning mists, clay soils, and significant temperature differences between day and night: these conditions give Uji matcha its aromatic density and color.
We do not mix origins. Our three matchas come from the same family farm, the same terroir, and the same spring harvest. What changes from one grade to another is the selection of leaves, not the origin.
from leaf to cup
Eight steps, no shortcuts.
Four weeks before harvest, the tea plants are covered with dark screens. Deprived of light, the leaves produce more chlorophyll and L-theanine, and fewer tannins. It is this step that gives the color and suppresses bitterness.
At the end of May, by hand, only once a year. Only the young top buds are picked, one by one. This is called ichibancha, the first harvest.
The leaves are sorted to remove stems, veins, and impurities. This selection determines the final grade: the stricter the sorting, the finer and smoother the powder will be.
Steaming for a few seconds immediately stops oxidation. The leaf retains its color, nutrients, and freshness. A few seconds too long and all is lost.
The leaves are air-dried in large nets. This produces tencha, the raw material for matcha, which can be stored for several months without deteriorating.
The tencha is ground between two hand-carved granite millstones. The process is intentionally slow to avoid heating the powder. One hour for thirty grams.
Each batch is tasted and checked before packaging: color, fineness, absence of bitterness. A batch that doesn't pass doesn't ship.
Matcha is ground only a few weeks before shipment, then weighed and sealed. There are no intermediaries between the Uji farm and you.
An hour of grinding for thirty grams.
Milling is the slowest and least profitable step in the entire chain. Two hand-carved granite millstones rotate slowly to avoid heating the leaf. It takes about an hour to produce thirty grams of powder.
An industrial grinder would produce the same volume in a few seconds. The degraded heat would destroy the aromas and dull the color. This is precisely why we don't do it.
One producer, one origin, one harvest. The rest follows naturally.
what we believe in
Our commitments.
A fair price
We import directly from Japan, without a distributor or wholesaler. Every margin removed goes back into the product's quality or your price.
A single origin
One farm, one region, one annual harvest. We never blend origins, even when demand exceeds our volumes.
JAS Certified
Our matchas are certified according to the Japanese Organic Standard JAS, recognized by the European Union. Cultivated without pesticides or synthetic fertilizers, controlled by an independent body.
A human response
Every message receives a written response from a real person within twenty-four business hours. No automatic replies, no unanswered forms.
Three ranks, one origin.
From ceremonial bowl to pastry, the same Uji matcha, differently selected.
