Tasting Notes
Intensely vegetal and deep with uniquely sweet umami notes.
Quantity
Use 2g (2 scoops with a traditional bamboo Chashaku spoon) of matcha per 125ml of hot milk.
Temperature
For the optimum infusion use milk below 83°C (181°F). Using milk above the scalding point will affect the "foaminess" of the product.
Time
Make a fine paste with 10ml of milk. Add the remaining milk and whisk vigorously in a M or W shape until a fine foam is created.
Cost Per Cup
£1.20 per cup based on 2g of tea per 150ml of water and 1 infusion.
Single garden blend
Like our Single Estate Lost Malawi English Breakfast (or a fine wine), this is single garden blend that expresses the whole unique terroir in a single tea. It is carefully composed to balance milk proteins without being overpowered. It makes a beautiful matcha latte and can be used to make extremely good matcha ice cream, matcha soft serve or matcha cakes.
The garden is on the southern tip of Japan’s most southerly Kyushu island. The farm is around 100 hectares and run by Yasuhisa Horiguchi - a great innovator and lover of the soil. Like all our farmers he believes that best soil produces the best tea that is best for us.
However the use of pesticides and herbicides in the growing of tea for matcha is extremely common practice. The shading of the leaf that takes place before harvesting to increase the amino acids, including theanine, enhances the flavour inestimably - but also increases the prevalence of pests.
He began using natural pests to counter the leaf eaters. Then in 2014 Horiguchi-san witnessed a hurricane pass over the tea and found that it removed all the pests and their eggs. He was so inspired that he created his very own machine, using high pressure air and water – to remove pests without chemicals. He calls it “the Hurricane King”.
He checks the tea every day to assess the amount of bugs that eat the pests that eat the leaf, against the amounts of pests that eat the leaves.
If the bugs that eat the pest out number the pests, then he just lets the ecosystem do its thing.
When the number of pests that eat the leaves is higher he uses the Hurricane King to clear the leaf.
The result is natural, sustainable and delicious tea.
