Matcha "Kotobuki" Shincha

We tasted this matcha – the highest grade that Arita Sansuien offers – after tasting several from their profile. Having enjoyed them all so much, we had to see what their top grade was like. After tasting it, we felt we had no choice but to include this tea in our collection.

Even dry this matcha smells complex, like toasted nori and white soya sauce. It whisks into a lime green, luminous froth that tastes sweet like green peas and vanilla.

On the palate it has noticeable structure, while still feeling slick and soft. This mouth coating effect gives it an incredibly long finish making this a wonderful matcha to sit with, or to use for meditation, as it leaves such a lasting and evolving impression.

Arita Sansuien was founded in 1949 in Uji, Kyoto by Ippei Arita. In the 75 years since their founding, they have formed deep relationships with the best tea farmers in the core producing regions of Uji. These areas – namely, Joyo City, Kyotanabe and Uji City – are some of the top regions for tencha and matcha production in all of Japan, growing the best varietals of tea trees for matcha, like Samidori, Asahi, and Ujihikari.

Working with tea farmers who have been cultivating tencha for a long time, they only source tencha that is hand picked: a labour intensive, and increasingly rare, way to harvest tea, even in Kyoto.

They uniquely finish their matcha with a drying process called "neri" that uses white charcoal, or "kishu binchotan." This costly and tedious method is rarely seen, and is a signature of Arita Sansuien's commitment to the skillful traditional craftsmanship of matcha. Matcha made this way has a natural and more gentle taste.

They blend, mill, and charcoal fire all their matcha in house. They have 11 stone mills: running constantly, each mill will produce up to 40 grams of matcha per hour.