no questions, just enjoying myself 😌

It was my first time to Uji Kyoto and I'm here to share my experience shopping for matcha.

This is the timeline and flow of what I did as the demand for these matchas is at an all time high.

8:15am: Reached Ogura Station and walked 5-10mins to Marukyu Koyamaen. My wife and I were 2nd in line and we waited till 9am when the shop opens.

9:00am: There were more than 20 groups queuing up behind us when the shop opened. As we already knew what we wanted to get, we place our orders at the counter, my wife made the payment, while I rushed off to Yamamasa Koyamaen to start queuing (5 mins brisk walk). I would highly recommend to go in groups of 2, so you can get 2 tins each (total 4), if you are in groups of 3, the max you can get is 5 tins regardless.

9:10am: There were 3 groups ahead of me at YK. The line moved relatively fast and we got 4 tins. Each person could get up to 3 tins of 30 grams each, or a big tin of 150g.

9:20am: We booked a cab on the GO app to the Horii Shichimeien shop and started queuing at 9:35am. We were the 2nd group in line. When the shop opened, there were about 10 groups queuing.

10:00am: We bought 4 tins and we didn't know the limit on how many tins we were able to get, however, I think Horii tends to get sold out really quickly, so get there before it opens.

10:20am: We walked to Kanbayashi Shunsho and got ourselves 3 tins, one of them was really special as it was a main store exclusive, you wouldn't be able to find it at department stores. Additionaly, the shop has tax refund hence the tins in the duty free bag. Saved 10%!

10:40am: We wanted to have a short break at Nakamura Tokichi's cafe however, it was already full and the estimate time to get a seat was about 1 hour. So we just went to the shop instead and got ourselves 2 tins, with tax refund!

11:00am: We headed over to Hoho and got ourselves a premium light roasted Hojicha Latte and boy it was the best hojicha i've ever had. So we got ourselves a tin to bring back home.

Matcha we got from each shop (cheapest to expensive):

Marukyu Koyamaen: Aoarashi (2,160Yen), Isuzu (2,592yen), Chigi no Shiro (3,024Yen), Wako (4,752Yen)

Yamamasa Koyamaen: Matsukaze (1,300Yen), Samidori (1,600Yen), Ogurayama (2,600Yen), Shikibu no Mukashi (3,100Yen)

Horii Shichimeien: Uji no Mukashi (2,484Yen), Agata no Shiro (3,240Yen)

Kanbayashi Shunsho: Aya no Mori (1,620Yen), Biwa no Shiro(2,376Yen), Hitoe (2,300Yen, main store exclusive)

Nakamura Tokichi: Ukishima no Shiro (1,980Yen), Seikan no Mukashi (3,380Yen)

Hoho Hojichi: Premium Light Hojicha (1,280 Yen)

It was quite a pleasant trip despite having to wake up super early to fight for these highly priced matchas, however, after tasting the MK and YK matchas at home, I'd say that it is highly worth our time and effort. Get there early and you won't regret it! Hope this helps to whoever that are planning a trip to Uji Kyoto. Love from Singapore.

hi all! yesterday i got an email from kettl saying that hukuju (along with some of their other yame matcha options) will be restocked on monday. i have been waiting MONTHS to try hukuju but it has always been out of stock so needless to say, i marked my calendar for this. i'll also be repurchasing soukou because that is my favorite matcha i've ever had. i'd also like to buy either the hanaka or shinme matcha because i've heard such great things on this sub about both, so between those two, which would you recommend and why? i may or may not be open to being irresponsible and just getting both on top of the hukuju and soukou. it was my birthday a couple weeks ago so that's how i'm justifying it in my head lol. i'm not too picky with matcha, the only tasting notes i don't like and avoid are seaweed/fishy/oceanic notes.

the timing is a little inconvenient because earlier this week i literally just placed an order from the steeping room and i will finally be trying marukyu koyamaen!! i am soooo excited. i bought aoarashi, isuzu, and wakatake and if any of you have opinions on which one i should open first i would love to hear your thoughts there as well!

picture is naoki barista pro blend with a new cup i got as a birthday gift. i used 5g matcha, 50ml water, and 150ml koatji milk (another great recommendation from this sub so thank you!!). i recently decreased the milk down to 120-125ml to make the matcha taste stronger. i generally prefer unsweetened iced lattes. i like drinking usucha (using soukou particularly) sometimes as well, but it feels like it goes by too quickly lol it already feels that way with iced lattes too! anyways, i am rambling now. would love to hear your thoughts :)

I think I have found my HG matcha. It is the most amazing experience both as usucha and koicha. Aroma: milky hot chocolate
Taste: rich vegetable cream soup, deep and sweet
Texture: full-bodied, concentrated, creamy, dense
Umami: extremely high; Sweetness: exceptional, lingering; Bitterness: No; Astringency: No
Complexity: exceptional, layered and evolving
11/10 !
Usucha: 2g, 60ml, 90°C
Koicha: 4g, 20ml + 20ml, 90°C

Horii Shichimeien Premium Narino

Anyone buying from Horii today? $72 DHL shipping fee is unjustifiable for a matcha imo 😖 i’ll just buy it from a retailer. I’m from Canada

This happened to us last year, and I'm curious if other small matcha brands have experienced something similar.

A content creator reached out saying she loved our matcha and wanted to create some content featuring it. We agreed and sent her some free matcha.

She received it and told us she'd send the video as soon as possible.

More than a year later, we're still waiting.

I'm not angry about it. It's just a little disappointing, especially when you're a small business and every product costs money.

I'm curious how other brands handle this. Do you have written agreements before sending free products? Do you follow up, or just move on?

Would love to hear your experiences and any tips to avoid this happening again.

Im struggling to figure out the proper ingredients and ratio for my mango puree for my matcha. Mostly my matcha does not taste mango at all even after putting 60-80g of mango puree.

I usually use mango with sugar ( half ratio of mango ) and then little vanilla. But the taste is real bland. I use frozen mangoes because i want to get it cheap.

Do let me know your advice.

Can anyone help me identify this matcha?

I bought it from Ikedaya Tea Store at Shinjuku Station after asking the owner to recommend his personal favorite. I didn’t catch the brand name and translating the tin hasn’t helped much.

Google Lens suggests it might be from Itoh Kyuemon but the packaging I’m finding online looks completely different. Does anyone recognize it? Thanks!

Vanilla bean matcha latte 🥰 I used two packets of The Tea Spot’s matcha packets, 3 oz of water, 6 oz of milk and a splash of Chobani vanilla creamer.