About River & Stone Tea
Milling Fresh Matcha
We operate one of a handful of authentic matcha mills in the country, and mill fresh, ceremonial grade matcha daily. This makes our matcha incredibly smooth and creamy, free of the bitterness and astringency of lower quality or older matcha. Beyond that, there is a certain indescribable quality and fragrance to matcha just off the mill that just needs to be experienced to be understood! Our base tea leaves (tencha) come from early spring pickings in Uji, known to be the high quality tencha-growing region in Japan.
Our TenchaUji - and Wazuka Town in particular - is the birthplace of modern tencha farming and the historical center of Matcha. Realizing that fog-shrouded tea plants in the mountains were extraordinarily tasty, it was a collection of Uji farmers who tried to replicate those conditions through developing the shading practices we know today.
Our tencha, sourced by our partner in Wazuka, is all grown with natural farming methods. That is to say, no artificial fertilizers or sprays of any kind. The result is a more complex tea than conventionally grown matcha - full of delicate floral and fruity aromatics that can only be fully appreciated when the matcha is freshly ground. Needless to say, these farming practices are also more sustainable, and produce a tea that is more expressive of its point of origin.
About Single Cultivar MatchaMost matcha available in both Japan and the West is a blend of cultivars; Tea Masters work hard to create consistent blends from year to year, which means changing ratios of various cultivars. While we love blended matcha, and offer several of our own, we are also fascinated by single cultivar matchas. Drinking single cultivar matcha is a fun way to appreciate the subtle differences not only of each cultivar, but of terroir. Even the same cultivar from the same farmer will taste slightly different each year, which for us helps keep matcha perpetually exciting!
