The global love affair with matcha has wreaked havoc on Japanese supply. By now the widely publicised matcha shortage has become more evident amongst hospo and civillians alike. On the daily, baristas jockey for pole position for their supplier's re-ups and in many cases, pressed to trawl through a roster of new and varied purveyors to increase their chances of securing stock. Those at home scouring the internet get click-baited into tapping on an appetising reel of green, viscous foam only to be let down by the now ubiquitous out of stock message on the landing page.

Over here at TCHQ, we've been working at this issue for over two years now. The writing was on the wall back in 2022-23, when we noticed a pattern of incommunicado with our Japanese producers. We decided then we'd have to begin deepening our bench, that is if we can even convince new players to join the team. It wasn't until the recent month or so that we finally got some success with scoring new batches of organic Japanese matcha from new producers, albeit in some cases four times the price of last year's prices.

After months of working with Japanese government trade departments and having them play match-maker we were able to meet some interesting and interested new producers face-to-face. Whether it's the reknowned Kagoshima and Kyoto tea regions or lesser known pockets like Saga, whether it is direct from farm, via a co-op or an in-area distributor we were considering all available options so long as it meets our two basic criteria- that it tastes good, that it is ORGANIC. Health before wealth - as tea is susceptible to contaminant absorption, consuming whole leaf is no joke, we gotta know it's good for you too.

Anyway, long story short we did it. You'll find a greener, fresher organic matcha latte (wholesale/retail) in our arsenal. We've also staggered the price increase to allow everyone time to adjust. Oh, and we also got new organic ceremonial matcha too, sweet first flush saemidori back in stock!

Still, everything in moderation but maximum enjoyment. Thank you for your patience and love.

Yours,

Arthur & Lynn