There is no substitute for sourcing leaves from the most respected, small crop tencha growers in Japan's Kyoto Prefecture. Our supplier has lived there for years, cultivating the close relationships essential to sourcing the best tea leaves.

Milling matcha is part art and part ... well, actually, it's all art, beginning with ensuring that the tencha is free of stems and other material, which can ruin flavor and texture, before we start milling. We do it all by hand, and sift everything several times to be sure that only leaves make it into the mill.

As soon as our mills and hand-carved mill stones arrived from Japan we became students of matcha milling and blending. It's a slow process that yields 40-50 grams per hour and requires constant attention. Running the mills too fast will generate unwanted heat, which degrades the flavor.