Today’s cup
Shincha spring — waiting for this year's first flushCold-brew summer — the way to a cold cupHojicha autumn — the season of toastinessGyokuro winter — brew slowly, gift gently
A quiet, accurate reference to Japanese tea — matcha, sencha, gyokuro, hojicha and the teaware around them — written from Japanese primary sources, with a brew timer for the tea in front of you.
Tin and bag sizes differ, so we print the vendor’s own per-gram figure beside the price — never one we divided out ourselves.
Where more than one vendor sells a tea, we link to more than one. How we review →
We describe what’s in the cup, not what it might do for you. Read the disclaimer →
The reference
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Japanese tea subscriptions earn their cost mainly through discovery — trying named teas you wouldn't have chosen — not through price. Once you've identified a specific tea and vendor you like, buying that tea directly, sized to what you'll finish before it stales, is usually cheaper than staying subscribed.
Chasen tine count (usually 60–120, hand-split by the maker) is hand-counted, so treat the printed number as a rough guide: fewer, thicker tines suit koicha's kneading; more, finer tines build usucha's foam. Bamboo colour marks tea-school tradition, not performance. Rinse in warm water only and dry tines-up on a stand.
Three real paths exist for buying matcha directly from Japan: established Kyoto/Uji merchants with their own English international shipping (Ippodo, Marukyu Koyamaen), farm-direct marketplaces that ship on behalf of small producers (Yunomi), and parcel-forwarding proxy services for shops that don't ship abroad. Compare total shipping cost and check your destination country's current customs rules before ordering — thresholds change, as the EU's 2026 update shows.
Okumidori is a Japanese tea cultivar registered in 1974 (Yabukita × Shizuoka Zairai No. 16), picked about a week after Yabukita. Known for deep green color and low bitterness, it's grown mainly in Kagoshima and Kyoto and used across sencha, kabusecha, gyokuro and tencha, often as a matcha blending component.
Shincha (新茶) is Japan's first-flush tea: the earliest picking of ichibancha, the year's first harvest. Leaf picked before extended spring sun exposure is described by growers as having a higher theanine-to-catechin ratio, giving it a rounder, less astringent character than later flushes. Picking begins in Kagoshima in early April and moves north into May, with exact dates shifting yearly by weather.
Yame (southern Fukuoka Prefecture, Kyushu) is Japan's most competition-decorated gyokuro region: it has won the National Tea Competition's gyokuro regional award every year since 2001, 25 consecutive years as of the 79th competition in 2025. Its straw-shaded hon-gyokuro style, GI-registered since 2015, and river fog over mountain fields define the region.
Around the tea room
