Matcha Starter — Ceremonial + Everyday, 2 tins
Matcha Starter — Ceremonial + Everyday, 2 tins
Everything you need to start drinking matcha, in one box. One grade for whisking, one for lattes. 50g total, about 25 servings.
One matcha cannot do both jobs. What is sold as ceremonial grade is grown in shade, stone-milled, and made to be tasted on its own — put it in a latte and the milk hides everything you paid for. Everyday grade is chosen to cut through milk and ice, and it tastes harsh whisked plain.
Buy them separately and you spend $60–80 and wait for two deliveries. This box is both, for $45.
What you can make from day one:
- A proper bowl of thin tea — 2g, 60ml water at 80°C, whisk 15 seconds
- An iced matcha latte that actually tastes like matcha
- Matcha in baking, without wasting the good tin
Why Uji. Uji, south of Kyoto, is where shading was invented and where the highest grades still come from. Ours is sourced there and packed in Tokyo to order, so it is not a tin that has sat in a warehouse for a year. Matcha fades once it meets air and light — there is a date on every tin.
About the term. “Ceremonial grade” is the American name for it, not a Japanese standard — no official grade exists in Japan. I use the phrase because it is the one you searched for, and because it does describe a real difference: shade-grown, stone-milled, made to be drunk on its own rather than through milk. What the label actually means.
What’s inside
- Ceremonial-grade Uji matcha, 30g tin (~15 bowls)
- Everyday-grade matcha, 20g pouch (~10 lattes)
- Brewing card with ratios and water temperature
- Hand-packed in washi, Tokyo
Add the sifter — $26
Matcha clumps in the tin, and those clumps never whisk out. Sifting takes two seconds and it changes more than it looks like it should. The least glamorous thing here and quietly the most useful. Add the sifter.
Shipping & duties
Flat $9.90 to anywhere in the US. Packed to order in Tokyo and dispatched within 3–5 business days, then 2–3 weeks in transit. US import duties are prepaid — there is nothing to pay when it arrives, and no broker will call you.
Monthly Matcha Club — the season, delivered
One tin and a seasonal sweet each month, chosen to the old Japanese calendar of twenty-four seasons. It is not open yet. Leave your email and you will hear before anyone else.
Specifications
| Contents | Matcha for whisking, 30 g tin. Everyday matcha for milk and ice, 20 g pouch. A card with the method |
|---|---|
| Matcha | 50 g in total |
| Servings | About 15 bowls from the tin, about 10 lattes from the pouch |
| Origin | Uji, Kyoto Prefecture |
| Tools | None in this box. A frother will do for lattes; a bowl of thin tea needs a real whisk |
| Keeping it | Sealed, 7–8 months. Once opened, 4–6 weeks for best flavour; keep it cold and closed |
| Packing | Packed by hand in Tokyo, in washi paper |
| Ships from | Tokyo, Japan |
Add this too
Matcha Sifter (Furui) $26.00
Matcha clumps in the tin. Sift it first and it whisks smooth in fewer strokes.
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Which box is yours
The four boxes differ in one thing only: how much of the equipment you already own. The matcha is the same in all of them.
| What is included | Two Matchas$45 | Whisk & Matcha$65 | The Whole Setting$95 | Matcha & Sweets$65 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matcha to whisk, 30 g tin | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Everyday matcha for milk and ice, 20 g | Yes | — | — | — |
| Takayama whisk and bamboo scoop | — | Yes | Yes | — |
| Mino-yaki bowl | — | — | Yes | — |
| Seasonal sweets and kaishi paper | — | — | — | Yes |
| You will still need | A whisk and a bowl | A bowl | Nothing | A whisk and a bowl |
| Best if | You already have the tools and want the tea | You have a bowl at home you like | You are starting from nothing | You want the pairing, not the equipment |
A bowl is the one piece you can improvise — any wide cup will do to begin. A whisk is the one you cannot: a fork drags and a milk frother beats in air, and the powder stays at the bottom either way.
Before you buy
Do I need a whisk?
For lattes, no — a frother works. For a plain bowl, yes. Add the Whisk & Matcha set if you are starting from zero.
How long does it keep?
Sealed, 7–8 months. Once opened, 4–6 weeks for best flavour — keep it cold and closed.
Is it bitter?
The tin should not be. Bitterness almost always means water that was too hot rather than a fault in the tea — use water at about 80°C, not boiling. The everyday pouch is stronger by design and will taste sharper whisked plain, which is why it is meant for milk and ice.
Monthly Matcha Club
One tin, and the sweet that belongs to the month
I am putting together a monthly box: matcha for whisking, and a seasonal Japanese sweet that changes as the year does. It is not open yet. Leave your email and you will hear first, before it goes to anyone else.
No newsletter. One message when it opens, and you can leave at any time.
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 practise 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, send me a photograph and post the piece back — I cover the return postage — and I replace it. Who writes and chooses all this, and the longer version of why this shop exists.