HOT ! SAKATA MATABEI Single Origin Samidori Matcha

A rare single-cultivar matcha from one of Japan’s most historic and decorated estates. This is what 350 years of craft tastes like.

Why you will love it

• Single-cultivar Samidori, one of Kyoto’s most prized tea varieties, grown on the same land for over 350 years.


• Hand-plucked first harvest only. Every leaf selected at peak freshness, once a year, without exception.


• Six months of stone-milling.  Most producers rush this. Sakata Matabei does not. The result is exceptional aroma, umami, and colour that cannot be achieved any other way.


• One of only a dozen farms in Kyoto still producing tencha using fully traditional methods, what you are tasting is increasingly rare.


• Structured enough for koicha, refined enough for usucha. A matcha that rewards however you choose to prepare it.


• If this is not among the finest matcha you have ever tasted, we will refund you without question.

About the Estate

The Sakata Matabei estate sits in Hamadai, Kumiyama. A historic tea-growing area along the banks of the Kizu River in southern Kyoto Prefecture, where cultivation has continued without interruption since the early Edo period. Over 350 years ago, this land was first recognised as exceptional for tencha production. That recognition has been proven correct, generation after generation.

The Sakata family has won First Place at Japan’s National Tea Competition. They have received the Minister of Agriculture Award at national, regional, and prefecture level. They are one of only a dozen farms in Kyoto still producing tencha by fully traditional methods,  including the two-layer shelf shading system that has defined Kyoto tea for centuries, and six months of careful stone-milling that most producers no longer have the patience to maintain.

A note on quality

“Ceremonial grade” is not a defined standard in Japan. Anyone can use it. We don’t.

What we can tell you is that the Sakata Matabei Samidori is produced by one of Japan’s most decorated tencha estates. First Place at the National Tea Competition, multiple Minister of Agriculture Awards, and a production philosophy that has remained rooted in tradition for over 350 years.

One of only a dozen farms in Kyoto still doing this properly. In your cup, that difference is unmistakable.