Journal
Why does my matcha taste powdery?
Bitter is a flavor and fishy is a smell. Powdery is neither, and it is the one complaint that is almost never about the tea itself.
Why does my matcha taste powdery?
Bitter is a flavor and fishy is a smell. Powdery is neither, and it is the one complaint that is almost never about the tea itself.
Matcha prices in 2026: what a tin costs now
I priced 40 g tins from six Kyoto houses this month and wrote down the purchase limits. Here is what matcha costs now, and why buying a year's supply is...
Matcha prices in 2026: what a tin costs now
I priced 40 g tins from six Kyoto houses this month and wrote down the purchase limits. Here is what matcha costs now, and why buying a year's supply is...
Why are matcha bowls so expensive?
The same object costs $30 in one shop and $3,000 in another. What separates the bands is authorship, kiln losses and a signed box, not how the bowl performs.
Why are matcha bowls so expensive?
The same object costs $30 in one shop and $3,000 in another. What separates the bands is authorship, kiln losses and a signed box, not how the bowl performs.
What is a chakin?
Nearly every shop sells the little white cloth without saying what it does. It is used wet, not dry, and that single detail is the whole point of it.
What is a chakin?
Nearly every shop sells the little white cloth without saying what it does. It is used wet, not dry, and that single detail is the whole point of it.
Should matcha be foamy?
Foam changes the texture of a bowl, not its flavor, and in some schools of tea the surface is deliberately left partly open. What it does and does not tell...
Should matcha be foamy?
Foam changes the texture of a bowl, not its flavor, and in some schools of tea the surface is deliberately left partly open. What it does and does not tell...
How long does wagashi last?
From a single afternoon to more than a year. The stated shelf life of a dozen real Japanese sweets, the two kinds of date on the packet, and why the...
How long does wagashi last?
From a single afternoon to more than a year. The stated shelf life of a dozen real Japanese sweets, the two kinds of date on the packet, and why the...
Tomari (とまり) is an old word for a mooring — the place a boat ties up for the night. A bowl of tea is meant to be the same: a few minutes to put the day down. You do not need to know the rules to begin.
Who chose this
I choose everything here by hand, in Japan. I practice tea rather than simply selling the tools for it — I am not a tea master and I do not claim to be. I am a practitioner, which mostly means I have ruined enough bad whisks to know what a good one feels like in the first second of holding it.
Nothing is drop-shipped and nothing passes through a third warehouse. I pack each order in Tokyo and post it from Japan, ceramics double-boxed by hand. If something arrives broken, write within 7 days with photographs of the piece and the box, and I send a replacement or a refund; there is nothing to post back unless I ask. Who writes and chooses all this, and the longer version of why this shop exists.