Syuppin Matcha
This is our thick-tea flagship: 2025 Kuwari Syuppin Samidori matcha from a tiny valley in southern Kyoto where spring mist and long shade give leaves that rare, sweet depth needed for koicha. Selected from first-flush tencha and milled slowly on granite, it pours glossy and dense yet tastes composed — clean umami, low bitterness, and a green after-aroma that lingers. Two clear purchase drivers set it apart: an exhibition-level make tailored for thick tea, and a hyper-specific origin tied to one riverside district whose leaves are refined and blended in small lots for consistency year after year. We source directly from a husband-and-wife team: Takashi Nishide (a nationally ranked sixth-dan tea taster) and Atsuko Nishide (Certified Japanese tea instructor), whose family workshop has operated since the 1860s. Supply this season is genuinely tight as Japan’s matcha shortage squeezes top tencha from Kyoto; allocations were cut and we cannot promise when the next batch will land. If you’ve wanted to experience koicha as it should be — vivid, sweet, and tranquil — this is the moment.
Koicha defined
Koicha is “thick tea,” a deliberately concentrated preparation where powder far outweighs water and texture becomes syrupy. Because concentration magnifies every edge, only exceptional, exhibition-level lots are suitable. Leaves must be shaded long enough to push amino acids (which read as savory sweetness) while restraining bitter catechins; the tencha must be meticulously refined; and the millstones must turn slowly and coolly so aroma molecules survive. In practice, true koicha tastes sweet-savory and satin-thick without chalkiness or sting. Reliable, school-style guidance for one serving is about 4 g powder to 30 ml water at 80 °C — a ratio used by respected Uji houses and consistent with Urasenke-aligned teachings — whereas everyday powders made for light bowls turn harsh at this density. That is why only top-tier matcha belongs in koicha.
Uji roots
Kuwari is linked to the Zenjoji district of Ujitawara, a small valley along the Tawara River southeast of Kyoto. Tea here grows on gentle slopes around 160–250 m — low enough for warmth, high enough for cool dawns and frequent mist — conditions that keep spring leaves tender and naturally rich in amino acids, the compounds behind matcha’s soft sweetness. The place name itself reaches back to the Heian period, when “Kuwari” referred to the area around the temple that gives Zenjoji its name; today, the district remains a pocket of classic Uji terrain shaped by rivers and folds in the hills. That terroir explains the style in the cup: poised and green-grain sweet rather than briny, with the clarity that thick tea demands.
Exhibition craft
“Syuppin” signals exhibition-level making. Here, first-flush leaves are canopy-shaded roughly forty days to build concentrated umami, then refined and blended before slow stone-milling in Kyoto — an approach that preserves color and aroma so the powder thickens willingly without bitterness. This line is explicitly tied to Zenjoji gardens and has earned external validation: “Uji Matcha Kuwari” received a Prix d’Argent (Silver) at the Japanese Tea Selection Paris competition — a useful, independent quality marker for buyers comparing elite matcha. As with top Uji houses, tencha is cold-stored and milled fresh to protect flavor; fine matcha oxidizes quickly once ground, so keeping leaves chilled before milling preserves sweetness and color.
Family & awards
The workshop we partner with was founded in the 1860s and is run by master taster Takashi Nishide (全国茶審査技術六段 — sixth-dan, a high professional rank in Japan’s tea-tasting examinations) and his wife, instructor Atsuko Nishide. He buys aracha — unrefined green leaf — directly from farmers in Ujitawara and neighboring Kyoto districts, then undertakes the crucial “shiage” refining to calibrate flavor, leaf shape, and aroma year to year; she leads education and quality culture inside the factory. That direct buying and in-house refining explain why the flavor is consistent across seasons despite weather swings. For context on recognition, the family’s Kuwari matcha has been awarded in Paris, spotlighting both the micro-origin and the craft behind it. Meanwhile, demand spikes and heat-stressed tencha yields in Kyoto mean we secured only a small allocation this year and cannot predict the next arrival.
Brewing
Koicha (thick tea): 4 g powder to 30 ml water at 80 °C. Sift, add water in one or two pours, then knead and whisk until the flow turns glossy and slow. If you pause and return, add a splash only if needed; over-dilution breaks the texture. This specific ratio is the standard used by leading Kyoto houses for thick tea and will show this lot’s sweetness without harshness. Usucha (light bowl): 2 g powder to 60 ml water at 80 °C. Sift, whisk about 30 s to a fine, even foam; if you top up, whisk ~10 s to re-suspend.
Important. Due to our producer’s heavy workload and the ongoing matcha supply crunch, we were unable to secure tins for this lot. This matcha comes in a factory-sealed 30 g bag; we do not repackage — oxidation harms freshness and quality. We place the sealed bag inside our zip pouch, and it ships to you exactly that way.