Cool Matcha Gingerbread

Brew & Taste

After whisking in matcha, the water will gain a strong, green color and the typical aroma of fresh tea leaves. If you do it correctly, you can also look forward to a mild foam. The first sip is smooth, refreshing, and slightly grassy. Shortly after, you'll notice the mildly sweet gingerbread aroma and a slightly spiced flavor. The finishing notes go back to the full impression of matcha with a gentle note of vegetation. If you add milk, the taste will be rounder and the gingerbread flavor more pronounced.

Origins

The history of matcha tea dates back to the Chinese Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). You might be interested to know that during those times, people steamed and shaped tea leaves into tea bricks for easier storage and trade. If you then wanted to prepare this tea, you had to roast the brick, grind it into powder and then mix with hot water and salt.

The whisking of a very fine tea leaf powder in hot water itself likely originated in the Sung Dynasty (960-1279 AD). It's said that the ritual was adopted by Zen Buddhist monks and brought to Japan around 1191. And while ‘powdered tea’ slowly grew out of popularity in China, matcha became an integral part of Japanese Zen monasteries as well as the upper social class leisure.

From there, matcha got more and more attention from tea gardens across the whole nation. One of them is in the Kagoshima region in southern Japan, which is now the second largest tea producer in the country, after Shizuoka. Kagoshima is riddled with active volcanoes that keep the soil fertile with volcanic ash. The subtropical climate with mild temperatures and high rainfall makes it a place literally destined for tea growers. A significant part of the tea plantations operate under organic farming and produce high-quality matcha valued for its rich flavor and aroma.

Organic Matcha Hana from this region is a blend of leaves from different organic tea gardens, giving it a specific character and a layered, varied flavor. It was harvested in the autumn, when the tea leaves are at their most aromatic. Thanks to the careful selection and traditional processing, organic Matcha Hana offers subtle sweetness, balanced notes of umami, and a light grassy note that will be appreciated by any lover of high-quality Japanese matcha.

Tea packaging preview

We pack our teas in a strong, zip-lock aluminum packet which allows you to easily re-seal its contents. This container protects the quality of the tea against humidity, light or foreign odors, all of which could noticeably affect the quality of the brew.