The "Kyoto" Masquerade:
A Scandal in the Tea Industry.
The world knows "Uji Matcha." Because of this, massive international brands exploit the name. We discovered European shops selling Shizuoka tea as "Kyoto Kakegawa Tea"—a geographical impossibility.
Even worse, we discovered that premium Yame matcha from our partner farms was being exported, repackaged, and sold under the label of "Uji Matcha." Its natural sweetness and lack of bitterness are so supreme that it was easily used to masquerade as Kyoto's most expensive teas.
We chose to stop the game. We bypass the middlemen, export directly from Yame, and honor the true artisan families who grow this miracle tea.