In the midst of a matcha shortage, we set out to secure our supply of high-quality tencha. This led to us looking into Chinese-grown tencha. Little did we expect to find something comparable in quality to Japanese-grown tencha, and much less something that excites us as much as some of our more rare matcha varieties - but here we are.

Yabukita is the most famous Japanese cultivar, and this matcha hits all the right notes - creamy, brothy, mellow, and slightly fruity on the finish. Read below about the origin of this tencha to learn why it's so dang cool!

The tencha for this matcha has been grown organically in an ecological preserve in Zhejiang Province, China. The preserve centers around a mountain and temple called Jingshan. This isn't just any temple, however. This is the temple the first Japanese Zen monks visited when they traveled to China to study Buddhism. It is where they would have first encountered tea, and as such is seen as the birthplace of the Japanese tea ceremony.

When the monks returned to Japan, they brought Chinese tea with them. Now, there is something poetic in the fact that Japanese-style tea is being grown here.

Lastly, China is way more mountainous than Japan, and this region is no exception. This tea is grown at an elevation of 700 meters, making it the highest-elevation matcha we offer by a wide (tall?) margin.

As with all of our matcha, our Jingshan Yabukita is milled-to-order by us in Minneapolis. This guarantees the highest percentage of aromatic compounds and antioxidants, as well as a smoother matcha.