Japan — Finest Izu Matcha Loose Leaf Green Tea

🍵 The Leaf — A luxury-grade Japanese matcha made from shade-grown tencha and gyokuro leaves, stone-ground to a fine powder with an intense, vivid emerald colour

🍵 The Bowl — A rich, full-bodied cup with a smooth, almost jammy sweetness and a clean, light astringency in the finish from the gyokuro, whisked to a creamy foam

🍵 The Character — Deeply umami, silky, and satisfying, with none of the sharpness of everyday matcha — the kind of bowl that asks to be savoured rather than rushed

🍵 The Moment — Ideal as a mindful morning ritual, a focused mid-morning cup, or prepared as a matcha latte for a sustained, gentle lift throughout the day

Matcha's origins trace back over a thousand years to the Buddhist monk Eisai, who returned from China in the late 12th century carrying tea seeds and the knowledge of powdered tea preparation. He passed seeds to a fellow monk who cultivated them near Uji in Japan — a region that remains synonymous with the finest shade-grown green tea to this day. This Japan Finest Izu Matcha takes that extraordinary lineage and brings it to the cup with a distinctive character all of its own.

Izu is part of the greater Shizuoka Prefecture — Japan's single largest tea-producing region, responsible for more than forty per cent of the country's total tea output, its gardens stretching across misty mountain slopes that naturally shelter the young leaves from the harshest direct sunlight. Where standard matcha relies on tencha alone, this luxury grade blends tencha with gyokuro — Japan's most prized loose-leaf green tea. Both are shade-grown for three to five weeks before harvest, a process that concentrates chlorophyll, boosts amino acids, and produces the smooth, umami-rich sweetness that defines the very finest Japanese green tea. 

The result is a cup of remarkable depth. The matcha base contributes that signature vivid green colour and creamy body; the gyokuro brings a delicate, sweet taste with a rich umami flavour and a silky mouthfeel, with the light astringent finish the client's own tasting notes describe so well. Together they create something that sits clearly in luxury-grade territory: full, smooth, and deeply satisfying, with a softly jammy sweetness that lingers after each sip. The leaves are stone-ground in traditional granite mills — a slow, deliberate process that produces an ultra-fine, silky powder without any graininess or harshness. 

Many people find that the natural L-theanine content in shade-grown Japanese teas provides a calm, steady sense of focus — Buddhist monks have valued matcha for centuries as an aid to sustained concentration through long hours of meditation. It makes this an especially rewarding morning cup or a thoughtful alternative to coffee at any point in the day.

Since 2008, High Teas London has been one of the country's leading independent tea specialists. With one of the largest collections anywhere in the UK — over 350 teas and infusions — our aim has always been to find genuinely exceptional tea and put it in front of people who will appreciate it. This Izu matcha is precisely that kind of tea.

Ingredients: Japanese matcha (tencha), gyokuro green tea.

Brewing Note: For the best results, sift around two grams of matcha into a warmed bowl or cup — sifting prevents lumps and makes a real difference to the smoothness of the finished drink. Add around seventy millilitres of water at 75–80°C (never boiling, which can bring out bitterness) and whisk briskly in a zigzag motion using a bamboo chasen until the surface becomes creamy and lightly foamy. If you do not have a chasen, a small hand whisk works well. For a matcha latte, whisk the matcha with a splash of hot water first to form a smooth paste, then top with steamed or cold milk of your choice. This matcha also performs beautifully as a cold brew: whisk with a small amount of room-temperature water, then add cold water or pour over ice for a refreshing, full-flavoured cup.