Matcha Oishii About Us
Matcha Oishii…from a small town in Mexico, to a boarding school in Switzerland, to a roommate from Japan in highschool…
Matcha Oishii put down roots decades ago, when a Japanese girl in a Swiss boarding school introduced her Mexican roommate (me!) to the Japanese culture. Little I knew that she was going to be the one person who planted the very first seed of Matcha Oishii.
I studied Japanese, moved to Japan, and fell in love – with the people, the food, but most of all with Japan’s culture, including the traditional Japanese tea ceremony, which has been treasured in Japan for more than a thousand years.
Since school, I’ve worked for an Embassy and a University in Tokyo, startups in Mexico and the Netherlands, HP in Barcelona…but had trouble getting genuine matcha tea outside Japan, especially the pure matcha ceremonial grade. Cheaper versions from China and Korea, or even Japanese teas not shade-grown or stone-milled, yes. But the taste, the color, the texture nor the health benefits were the same, these matchas were very bitter and brown with a coarse texture.
Once I experienced authentic matcha in Uji, Japan, learned directly from the tea farmers how is matcha tea cultivated, and developed a talent to recognize matcha quality…I was caught for life. I found after drinking matcha that my mood improved, I had more clarity and ability to concentrate, I had long lasting sustained energy, and (side benefit!) my skin was utterly radiant (I mean it).
Now I’ve left corporate life to work with a Japanese friend who've I have met for more than 15 years, and not just her, but her family, with whom I took roadtrips, spent new years and several other special celebrations.
This family has been cultivating matcha for 6 generations! They own an exclusive tea farm that has the highest quality of organic matcha in Uji, Japan (a region known for cultivating the best teas in the world), and to introduce this experience straight from the farm to you! The freshest and best matcha from Japan!
Uji, a region near Kyoto, is the true birthplace of matcha, and farmers have been cultivating matcha here for around 800 years! Uji is said to be the perfect territory for growing the green tea plant, Camellia sinensis, where matcha comes from. Uji has an exceptional soil, and geographic conditions that make it the perfect spot for matcha cultivation. Its milder climate and evaporation from the Uji River allows the tea leaves to get mist, making it ideal for the very best tea leaves in Japan.
Japanese farmers that grow matcha in Uji are a very small number, just 60 families, producing the highest-quality form of tea in Japan. However, it is difficult to reach these farmers, because they often do not sell outside of Japan. It really is only thanks to my personal history, and being close friends with the farmers that I get to have the privilege to bring this absolute jewel to you, Uji Matcha from the very best farm in Japan!
We know our single supplier intimately. We’ve known the family, and their tradition of cultivating and producing pesticide-free, radiation-free, non-gmo, heavy metal, and preservative-free, premium quality teas for decades.
Until now, they have only allowed their exceptional JAS-organic certified premium quality matcha from the Ogura region in Uji, Japan (a region known for cultivating the best teas in the world), to be sold inside Japan. They were the only family who would actually present Japanese tea to the imperial house and Edo shogunates. So believe us when we say Matcha Oishii is truly imperial!
Matcha's growing demand has resulted in farms popping up in various Japanese regions, like Kagoshima and Shizuoka. However, while they could follow the same technique for matcha cultivation, the soil is not the same, and this Matcha will not taste as real Uji matcha.
Oishii means “delicious” or “tasty” in Japanese. That’s because our matcha tea from Uji, Japan is single region, single ingredient, and always shade grown and first harvest; so pure and so high grade it is used in the Japanese tea ceremony throughout Japan. Our quest is to bring truly pure and tasty matcha green tea to you.
Matcha Oishii isn’t just focused on taste. Matcha Oishii wants to spread not only this taste…but this quality…this 1000-year culture of tradition and ceremony…the health and mental benefits of pure Uji matcha…to the world outside Japan.
We can’t tell you how excited we are to help introduce the benefits, the tradition, of this exceptional matcha to Europe and the Americas. To be an ambassador for matcha (to people who haven’t even heard of it, or people who have tasted only the bitter, brown versions)…but also, for the culture surrounding matcha…the Japanese tea ceremony, Japanese culture, matcha culture!
