Well since there wasn't much response to my cry for help on this years Japanese greens, I'm guessing there isn't a whole lot of interest in these parts, but in my own searching I've come across some new vendors beyond the standard choices mentioned here.
I have had a strong desire to get back to my personal tea "roots" and Japanese greens as well as matcha. I had gotten away from it initially because it was frustrating to find quality, fresh, Japanese teas in America that were fresh and not over-hyped and under-delivering. But I have to admit, at the time the Internet was still fairly new and I've never really begun to explore what is available online recently beyond the standard few that get mentioned the most often. So I thought it was time to dive back in and see if anything has changed. Hopefully in a week or two I'll know.
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- ultimately who I ordered from due to their fair prices for tea, accessories, and shipping. The owner seems to be a straight-forward person so I'm looking forward to the product and to see how it stacks up. Anyone ever used this vendor before?
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- seemed to have some very nice matchas, they are next on my list to try.
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- had been in the running and I'll eventually order from them to see how they are, but their shipping rates were a bit high. They did have good communication though.
Upton tea - surprisingly they had some matcha and what seemed to be decent sencha and a couple gyokuros... has anyone ever tried any of them from Upton's?
Any other Japanese tea vendors that you may know about would be appreciated, it can be hard uncovering new vendors in this realm.
Some years ago my son lived in Kyoto, and he send me tea he purchased from the Tsuen tea shop in Uji
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the oldest tea shop in Japan. I am very fond of their teas -- excellent quality and packaged in nitrogen to retain freshness (tea packaged in nitrogen will remain fresh for a year or longer if unopened). I have had their gyokoros, senchas, karigane-senchas, houjicha and genmaicha. Tsuen does not sell on-line, but they have worked out an arrangement with O- cha.com which has a "Tsuen Store" which carries some, but not all of the Tsuen line. My favorite Tsuen tea available from O-cha.com is Otsuuoson -- a karigane-sencha blend I really enjoy, and the price is very good. The Tsuen senchas are all in the Uji style, which makes them "crisper" than the more deeply steamed senchas produced elsewhere in Japan
Customer service from O-Cha has been excellent -- shipping is prompt and the product arrives from Japan in a week to 10 days, and the owner answers questions promptly. In fact, the owner recently special ordered one of the Tsuen teas for me, one which is not otherwise available on O-Cha. Shipping is not inexpensive, however.
O-cha also sells Japanese teas from other sources and from time to time I have tried those teas also, with good succes.
For more about Tusen tea, check out
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O-cha is at
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I have also ordered tea from Hibiki-an, a tea producer in Uji, Japan. They have a full line of teas, all of which are grown on Hibiki-an farms. I have bought senchas, houjichas and matcha coated genmaicha (really good) from them, and I have enjoyed them all. I recently purchased a karigane houjicha from them which was really interesting
-- it is made entirely from stems, which imparts a sweet taste to the houjicha roasted flavor. Every year I purchase a shincha sencha from Hibiki-an (first pick of the season) which is minimally processed, called their Farmer's blend. It is a great way to celebrate spring. I once purchased a hand picked sencha from Hibiki-an. The price was high and although the taste was very good, it was not appreciably better than the machine picked teas, but the leaves were absolutely beatiful and it was a nice aesthetic experience. Check them out at
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Hibiki-an has a good deal on shipping -- for orders over a certain size ($30?) shipping is free. Shipping is prompt and the Hibiki-an teas are packaged in nitrogen to preserve freshness. I have never had an occasion to test their customer service, but their e-mails confirming the order are informative. They also have an e-mail newsletter that I enjoy -- during tea season they send an update every few days about the progress of the tea leaves, tea picking and tea processing which I enjoy (its good marketing for them, but it is fun to read).
Ahh, so there are some green tea lovers after all! O-cha and Hibiki-an are two vendors often mentioned online, as well as Itoen, and while they are all great vendors I personally find some faults here and there with each of them for different reasons... nothing that wouldn't make me order from them, but enough that I wanted to search and see what, if any, alternatives were available. The few I listed in my original post and some of these mentioned here are mostly new to me, and hopefully will help spread the options for people out a bit instead of just the same couple vendors.
I think there are a couple here that offer some new and unique sides to Japanese tea availability online, and hopefully helps someone besides myself.
Itoen is pretty convenient-- call their New York office, and their matcha shows up fast! :)
I, too, realized that Japanese greens were on-line from Japan, and I have used Hibiki-an and O-cha. Also like:
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There is a German guy who works with this company, Ralph Faerber. He speaks great English, and it is because of him that the Maiko website has elaborate *English* (and German) explanations going. I went to Uji about a year ago, and he gave me a personal tour of the tea fields, and took me to a restaurant that specializes in serving food that uses tea as a vegetable :) I believe if you ever had questions about the tea you were buying, he would be able to give very grounded and intelligent answers.
This place is especially proud of their gyokuro, but their sencha is good too, and I'm quite fond of their matcha. I also buy shin-cha from them every May.
As I recall, you place the order, then they contact you by e-mail with the shipping price, which you then pay separately. I think the prices (even after shipping) are quite reasonable for the quality. Shipping also seems fast.
Again, very cool, never knew about that one. Another I had forgot that I came upon during my search was:
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which is another I have no direct personal knowledge of but seemed very good as well.
I'd be interested if anyone has had the matcha or the gyokuro/sencha from Upton tea, as I normally bypass them for almost everything due to some issues I've had with quality and freshness in previous orders, but since many of these are packaged and sealed at the producer, they may be decent. I'll probably just jump in and make an order at some point to test my theory, but if anyone has experience I'd love to know.
I've bought everything Japanese that Upton sells at one time or another. I considered it all a complete waste of money, I hate to say. (I order from them a lot!) It wasn't very high-grade stuff, and compared to the prices we get from the direct dealers in Japan, wildly over-priced, I'd say.
BTW, looking at prices for koi-cha (thick tea) from MatchaandMore, I suspect that there is a lot of price-hiking done by importers. The matcha that I like from Maiko is their best one, but it's only about $40 (before shipping) for 40 grams-- and it is *very* nice koi-cha!
Dominic, I just realized you had Ippodo listed in your original post. I went to the Ipppodo retail store when I was in Kyoto, but unfortunately they were closed that day. They were highly recommended to me and I am sorry I did not get a chance to see the store. I have spent some time wandering through their web site, and I am very intrigued -- they are on my "one of these days I have to order some sencha from them" list. If you order, please let us know if you like what you get. You might want to order quickly -- their web site says they are closing their on-line shop on Friday October 30, 2009 at 6pm JST and reopening at 10am JST Sunday, November 1. There is a blurb about "recent steep increases in the costs of raw materials, packaging and shipping" so I expect they are going to raise prices -- so now would be a good time to order!
There are a couple teas that caught my eye on Ippodo and good catch about the site maintenance, probably will be a rise in prices... but the truth is that the prices this year were actually pretty low so I'd take that explanation with a grain of matcha. The order I have coming will keep me busy for probably a month or two so I'll have to take my chances. My next order will probably be with Yuuki-cha, followed by Ippodo unless their pricing remains reasonably stable with what it is now then I'll make them next again. After those two I plan on exploring some of the new ones listed in this thread. I will definitely be posting pictures and thoughts/notes/reviews as I go on my blog and the text copied here.
I'm just happy that some new blood/lurkers have come out and posted lately!
Of the vendors you list, Ippodo is my favorite for Japanese tea. When friends travel in Japan, they send me Ippodo tea. I often purchase from the Ippodo website, and I have never been disappointed. Each spring, I make it a point to purchase the shincha. I am a devotee of Ippodo's matcha, particularly of the Seiun. My first Ippodo order was in February of '06. Ippodo's prices seem to be in line with the competition's, and Ippodo's quality is--overall--better, IMHO, than most others'.
I have used Upton's matcha and been very happy with it, though I have been using it only for cooking since I don't much like brewed matcha.
I have also used their lower grade powdered tea, the one that comes in little plastic straws, and it's not anywhere near as good as the regular matcha. Their regular grade is nice and flowery and the other powdered teas have none of those flowery overtones.
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