Although I had seen the reports of low inventory and purchase restrictions online, I was still hopeful I would be able to get some Ippodo and Marukyu Koyamaen when I was in Kyoto last week 11/22-11/30…but after hitting a few dead ends, I decided to divert my attention to trying other brands instead, especially ones that I haven’t seen a ton on social media.

I got to the MK outpost in the basement of the Takashiyama dept store (on the street Shijo) around 3PM and the matcha fridge was completely cleared. The clerk said they open at 10AM and by 11AM it’s all sold out…so if you want to come to this location, come early! As a result I didn’t end up trying to go to the main store, bc my trip wasn’t an entirely matcha focused trip and we had other things we wanted to do.

In the same dept store, I stumbled upon a Nakamura Tokichi cafe! I had seen this brand a ton on Tiktok and IG, but thought it was just an aesthetic brand, but after doing more research realized that it has a 200 year history so decided to try it. They only had the Senun no shiro at this location for around 1600¥ for a 30g can. Pro tip - they have tax free so if you spend over 5000¥ you will get ~8-9% back (the tax is 10% but then there’s always a small fee that the dept store charges to give you the cash back). I also got a gyokuro tea leaf tin for my parents called Kagyoku bc it has the kanji character of my Chinese name in it!

Fukujuen was close by so we walked over there to try our luck. The street level store is all loose leaf teas, bowls etc but go down the stairs (outside) to the basement for their matcha. You can also enjoy their cafe and reserve tea making classes at this flagship store. They were only out of 1 type of matcha, but otherwise all their top matchas were available! I got their top two kinds banjo no mukashi and zuien. I think they were in the 2000-3000¥ range.

Also on Shijo was a random souvenir store displaying Ippodo matcha. Only one kind was available and otherwise there was a sign that said there was a shortage and they weren’t selling matcha. So I got 2 cans of Horai, so I could give one to my sister. I believe this was also in the 2000-3000¥ range. Their whisks and bowls are very expensive though so do not get them from Ippodo!

We had to ditch our hiking plans due to my leg hurting, so we replaced that day with a day trip to Uji instead! Since we hadn’t really planned this out, we did pretty minimal research and knew that Tsuen was one of the oldest brands there, Nakamura Tokichi also had a big presence, along with Fukujuen. When we got there, we went into 3 stores all called Kanbayashi and they claim to be the oldest tea store in Uji. We couldn’t really figure out if they were just different branches of the same company or completely different, but ultimately went to the Kanbayashi Shunsho bc they had the purple tin matchas that people reviewed online.

Not many of the tea shops offered tax free, so Itoh Kyuemon was packedddd with tourists. When I saw their packaging, I realized that I had randomly gotten this matcha a year ago on my last trip and liked it! When I showed the staff a picture, they said it was all sold out 😱 so what was everyone buying? All their cookies, desserts etc. 🤣 This was the only brand that I noticed with inventory challenges, as their other branch near the Uji JR station didn’t even have any matcha tins on display. Side note: the small shop outside the Nakamura Byodoin cafe didn’t carry matcha, but not sure if the main store did…so they may be another one hit with the inventory challenges.

We stopped at Fukujuen factory across the river because they had a matcha museum, which was informative if you watch the video. We only got loose leaf tea for family this time, specially the gyokoru which is the best quality type of tea.

Our final stop was at a really lovely tea shop called Takumi-no Yakata (pictured) that was very educational and fun. We randomly stopped in because it wasn’t full and had a nice view of the river. The ladies there were so nice and we got a whole lesson (in English) on how to prepare and drink gyokuro tea! Highly recommend starting here and at Fukujuen so you can learn more about the tea harvesting process before exploring the rest of Uji.

And that’s a wrap on my matcha report!

Hello! I need some help!

Ive been trying to perfect my matcha latte recipe. I finally got to a point where the matcha flavor is coming in instead of getting drowned out by the milk, but the problem is now there's a strange sort of powdery texture.

My ratios are:

8 grams of matcha 8oz of water (tried 175 and 180 degrees) 8oz of milk

I sift the matcha first then pour in some water and use an electric milk frother. Pour more water, froth again. Pour more water, froth again. I make sure everything is dissolved and there's no residue left on the bottom. Then I pour this mixture over the milk.

I know a chasen would be ideal but I do prefer something I can throw in the dishwasher.

Any ideas for what I should do? Is the amount of matcha simply too high for the amount of milk and water?

Hello!

I recently visited the Matcha Tokyo in Japan and fell in love with their matcha lattes. I was wondering if any one had tried it before and knew of any brands that carried a product that tastes similar to the one they use? My guess is that they use their "Premium" match powder. It's sold out everywhere so I was hoping to purchase something similar. They describe it as being "high umami".

I’ve been drinking matcha for about 4 months everyday and only recently found out that it’s best to refrigerate the container with matcha for a better shelf life. I tried it for 2 days and to my surprise when I take matcha out of the refrigerator, strain it and make how I usually make it with chasen and with water at 80 degrees Celcius it suddenly tastes disgusting. Bitter in a way, but also the powder itself just smells way different, less earthy and creamy and just more sour? Could someone explain why is that? Am I doing something wrong here? The container the matcha is in is air tight and this particular bag I have bought about a month ago. Up until refrigerating it its taste was absolutely normal.

This chasen is only 5 months old. I’ve been using my chasen to whisk other things like chai and tonight, I used it to whisk hot chocolate.

As I was washing things up, I noticed what looks like the water line of the damp bristles is actually notched down, as if those parts of those bristles melted or disintegrated. I also noticed a couple splinters popping out.

Is this normal? Is it a chemical reaction perhaps with chocolate (I did notice it thickened up noticeably later on as I had left the chasen in the pot/hot chocolate mix for <a minute as I washing up)? Is this quality issue or a potential health issue?

Im going to purchase matcha of a known brands and i found some at a Chinese vendor and the price is seems to be ok but im worried if there are fake/replicas matcha out there? or there is not such thing?
would like to know

i wish i was really articulate with my words. i wanna recommend some culinary grade matcha from marukyu koyamaen since it seems like most of their stocks are finished due to high demand. and if there's anyone who are lookign for a bit cheaper matcha just to try out or for everyday drinking without breaking your bank . so far from the culinary side of marukyu koyamaen i have tried:

-marukyu koyamaen ayame (not recommended as a drinking option)

-marukyu koyamaen wakatake (recommended)

-marukyu koyamaen byakuren (recommended)

so ayama i tried making an oat milk latte with it but its extremely bitter didnt mix well with oat milk. so its better to just try it in baking instead.

waketake has a little astringency aftertaste little bitter also little smooth but doesnt have that matcha aroma or umami taste. and it does mix well as an oat milk latte, i haven't tried with other dairy options. i use 2.5g of matcha powder and add vanilla syrup with it.

byakuren, not sure why i havent seen any review of this anywhere yet maybe cos its a culinary matcha. the taste i would like to say have a very long astringency aftertaste which lingers for a long time. doesnt have much matcha flavour if you add your usual amount of milk. gotta do the matcha to oat milk ratio almost 2:3 to be able to taste matcha with 3g matcha powder. idk if i make any sense, ask me any questions you got instead. :)))

The community threads are a place where you can:

• Ask for recommendations.
• Introduce yourself to the community.
• Share your favorite latte/blended-drink recipe of the moment.
• Find other matcha people in your city or country.
• Tell us what's in your chawan.

I'm quite new into making matcha at home (not new into consuming it though via quality vendors). And as I’m chasing that perfect foam and learning about whisking techniques, I just had a random realization: chawan shape and material matters for the foam creation.

I was preparing my second bowl for the day, got lazy and instead of doing the full ceremony with my regular chawan I whisked powder in my drinking cup which is wider, more round and has smooth glazing comparing to my chawan.

The foam shaped incredibly easy and ended up being puffy and thick, however, it has way more bubbles than with my regular chawan.

Would like to as knowledgable folks if chawan shape and glazing matters in their experience?

Just thinking along the lines of olive oil where generally the more bitter/peppery is correlating to the potency/number of polyphenols. I realize some or probably most here aren’t drinking matcha specifically for this reason but again, curious if this is a known fact with matcha, where a similar correlation applies?

I got matcha as a gift, and it appeared to be a lower grade (kind of a yellowish green) and I expected it to taste awful but it still tasted good, just like a green tea almost. Are people being dramatic or is mine not actually low grade matcha.

Hi!

I have a can of aoarashi that has been in a fridge overseas (family) for almost two years. I could not bring it home last time due to space in luggage. It still smells pretty decent and the colour is still bright. It has been open for the entire time since i drank it last time i was here. What do you guys think? Is it still safe to drink? (Or use for baking)

Kind regards, L

The community threads are a place where you can:

• Ask for recommendations.
• Introduce yourself to the community.
• Share your favorite latte/blended-drink recipe of the moment.
• Find other matcha people in your city or country.
• Tell us what's in your chawan.

Vegan Matcha Coconut Pie: Oat, cashew, date crust and coconut matcha filling (coconut milk and yoghurt with sweetener and maple syrup and of course matcha)

The community threads are a place where you can:

• Ask for recommendations.
• Introduce yourself to the community.
• Share your favorite latte/blended-drink recipe of the moment.
• Find other matcha people in your city or country.
• Tell us what's in your chawan.

I've been doing some reading on this subreddit and I noticed some advice saying matcha pricr doesn't necessarily correspond to quality. Do just because you see a $20 30g tin that doesn't necessarily mean it's better than a $10 30g one.

How does that work? And what is driving the dofference in price then?

I recently bought the toga no shiro matcha from sazen tea, and opened the can to find the foil bag with matcha already open. Included in the can (but separate from the tea) was a small package of keep fresh pellets. This implies that the bag was left open on purpose, but I’ve bought matcha from other places and this has never been the case. The actual can itself was sealed properly. Is it safe to drink?

I checked my other order from sazen and this was not the case, the foil bag was sealed which is what I’m used to. Has anyone else had matcha packaged this way?

Often times, when people compare between matcha and coffee, matcha is often favored while coffee is downplayed. Whether or not their points are truly practical and applicable to everyone, I'm yet to see a comparison that's actually balanced or favors coffee. Is there a particular reason why that's the consensus?

Don't get me wrong, I drink and enjoy both for no particular purpose without issues or silly whateverness. In my eyes, they are both very good and enjoyable drinks with some variations and have different characteristics and nature. I just don't see an actual reason or room for bias. So why?

I’ve heard a lot of people talk about color and bitterness as the only indicators of quality, but tea is supposed to have some bitterness, so wondering what other things people look for in their matcha.