Organic tea production is done on a limited scale in Japan, and, sadly, the quality of organic Japanese green tea, including matcha, is inferior to that of conventionally grown tea. The good news is that Japanese consumer demand for organic foods is increasing and that tea producers are devoting more time and energy to improving the quality of organic tea and growing more of it.

They have many challenges, among them, finding suitable locations for cultivation not contaminated by wind-borne pollution from China. Most organic matcha now comes from the pristine area around Kagoshima on the southwestern tip of Kyushu, the most southwesterly of the four main islands of Japan. Another problem is that the more concentrated fertilizers used to grow conventional tea increase the content of nutrients and flavor compounds in the leaves, especially in the shade-grown tea designated for matcha. High levels of those compounds account for matcha’s deep and complex flavor, as well as many of its health benefits.

MatchaKari offers an organic matcha that is the best we have been able to find. To our taste, it does not compare to the conventional products we import. You have our assurance that as strong proponents of organic agriculture, we will continue to search for organic matcha that meets our standards and that we will pressure our suppliers to produce more of it.