2024 harvest - the last of it - for collection or postage from around 20th June.

First Harvest / Stone Ground (on the 6th June) / Light usucha or Americano grade

Single cultivar Okumidori

Kuma san is a 3rd generation tea famer/producer in Jouyoumachi in Yame, Fukuoka prefecture. This matcha comes from the 2024 spring harvest (picked in mid May 2024), processed into tencha (leaf form), and a rather long jukusei (aging) period, which rounds out some sharper tasting notes.

There is a lot to love about the flavour profile of this matcha whether prepared hot or iced. There is nuttiness and sweetness, and a complex fresh vegetal profile that almost tastes like eating raw tea leaves! The flavour of the tea itself really shines through. Despite that, when prepared hot, there is a level of astringency and sharpness that might put matcha beginners off, which is why we mainly recommend to prepare it iced. Nevertheless, if you are not put off by some astringency, the extra aromatics from hot preparation really add to the experience and complexity of this tea. We recommend a ratio of 2g to 90-120ml water which we are currently describing as in between a light usucha (2g : 90ml) and a matcha americano (2g : 120ml). We have prepared this matcha as koicha, and if you can look past the sharpness there is a really enjoyable rich and complex aftertaste that lingers extra long, but we wouldn’t recommend this preparation method for most. Please experiment to find your preference and let us know your thoughts and findings! We only release teas that we are confident in the quality of!

About Matcha Freshness:

Kuma san suggests to enjoy his matcha within 6 months from being stone ground. Other quality tea producers suggest 7 months, some suggest 8 months. In our opinion, any use by date longer than 9 months is a sign that the seller doesn’t care much about freshness of matcha - a non oxidised tea with particle sizes of 6-8 microns. As we push towards increasing the transparency from the origin of the tea all the way to the final consumer, we are adding the stone grind date to all matcha purchased from us along with a suggested use by date (unopened). We challenge everyone looking to buy matcha to enquire about the grind date for the matcha you are buying, and we challenge all matcha sellers to provide this date as it is the only date that matters concerning the freshness of the tea before it is opened.

Once opened, high quality matcha’s freshness is best enjoyed within 4 weeks. Again, some tea producers suggest less, and others are more lenient. We want the final consumer of the tea to have the essential information (stone grind date and open date) to be able to keep track of when the matcha was ground and when it was opened, to decide for themselves how strict/lenient to be. To encourage this, there will also be a small space on the matcha pack/can for you to write the date you open the matcha. We want you to see if you notice the flavour change over time, and come to your own conclusions about how important freshness is!

We know that while the tea is safe to consume for much longer than 6-8 months after grinding, it is a target to set that allows the bright vivid flavours to still be enjoyed. The longer the matcha sits unopened the more dull the flavours will become. Fridge storage will help to delay the flavour degradation, and for room temperature storage we would recommend to use within 3-6 months. We don’t have much experience with freezing matcha but if you would like to, it is a good idea to refrigerate for one day before freezing and again after removing from the freezer (and then place in room temperature for a few hours before opening) to slow the temperature changes.