Rating current matcha and finding good cost/oz matcha (recs requested)

[teabooksart]

Hey all! As the title says, I'm looking for recs for good matcha but also that isn't super expensive price/gram. I was gifted or got as a promo some teas from a few locations so I will list the current costs here. What I'd like to know is if these matchas are worth the cost and if there is something similar to their quality but at a lower cost or something better but still within a reasonable cost that I could purchase!

• Adagio Teas Uji Matcha, $39/60g $0.65/gram

• Tenzo Tea matcha, $45/60g $0.75/g

• Arteao Culinary Matcha, $22.95/30g $0.77/g

• Areao Ceremonial Matcha, $37/30g $1.23/g

I have enjoyed all of these and find them acceptable. I am open to trying more expensive, high-quality matcha but I like to have something for daily drinking. If you think these prices sound reasonable for the quality though, please let me know! I am still relatively new to matcha!

*I do prefer matcha on the sweeter end of the scale

And as tea-tax, here is the arteao culinary grade foam with some beautiful rainbow bubbles.

[Victoria]

Wow, Beautiful rainbow matcha bubbles scene! Matcha aficionado members @debunix and @Elise might have some recommendations for you. Ippodo-USA has good matcha, O-Cha, Thes du Japon, Maiko...

[Baisao]

I’m a proper fan of the various matcha carried by Thés du Japon. They are not too expensive in my opinion and have both wonderful flavor and body feel.

[debunix]

I've just opened my 3rd tin of matcha since returning from Japan in 2017, when I finally realized I did like it after all. Aside from my early and very unsatisfying experiences with several random matchas from rather random sources, my expertise now is based on two bowls of do-it-yourself matcha in Japan, and the two tins of tea I bought there, which finally ran out a few weeks back--one from Fukujuen and Manten matcha from Tsuen. And I've just opened up my first tin of Taiko-San matcha from Tsuen via O-Cha.

So that's pretty limited experience, and I can't remember the price of the Fukujuen (I paid cash, and have no idea what grade it was).

So all I can say about price & value is that the Tsuen Uji Manten & Taiko-San matchas, both close to $1.50/gram, and I have loved them both. They're way better than the teas that cost $.50 or $1.00/gram from local groceries, but they're my only points of comparison. I figured I liked all the teas I bought at the Tsuen store in Uji, so I have bought some more from O-Cha.

And those iridescent bubbles look great.

[teabooksart]

Thank you all so much! I'll take a look at these places and probably order from a few of them over time and make the decision on what I like best!

[Baisao]

@debunix, your comment about trying it multiple times before liking it reminded me of my experience though perhaps for different reasons. The matcha I was able to get twenty years ago was pretty disappointing. It was beautiful but lacked complexity. In retrospect I think this was medium quality matcha or Japanese department store matcha. It wasn’t until I had good matcha that I came to love it. I’m using around 2 grams for 70 ml of water and it gives me a yummy matcha with the body of hot chocolate.

[lUKAV28]

I love Yunomi Uji Imperial Cerimonial grade matcha. It is a house matcha by yunomi.life shop. Bought it out of curiosity and it became my regular. Very sweet and creamy. I can only recommend.

https://yunomi.life/products/yunomi-mat ... nial-grade

[Elise]

Tsuen Uji Manten & Taiko-San from Tsuen tea shop in Uji (available online from O-cha.com) are very good.
Ippodo high end matchas are usually very good too.
I will add another shop name to your list: Sazentea. I highly recommend Narino and Choan matchas (one is recommended for koicha and one for usucha) especially if you like the sweetness, but Narino's price is a little bit higher I think.

[jaredell]

Hi,

New to the forum and first time posting. Had to pitch in on my favorite type of tea, matcha!

We drink a lot of matcha in my household (over 200 g per month) so I also needed to find some good price/oz stuff. I've probably tried 50 or so from lots of different vendors. I've come to find that once you get above about $30 or so per 30 g you have serious diminishing returns. Currently my go-to daily drinkers are either of Mei Leaf's matcha. Their ceremonial goes on sale from time to time, which makes it an even better deal, roughly $19 per 30 g. As someone else mentioned, Yunomi's house brand imperial ceremonial matcha, especially when ordering the 300g pack AND on subscription, gets you some pretty good matcha at $18 per 30 g. Another is Material Matcha Uji's #2 or #3 blends in the 60 g refill pack at $20 per 30 g. I like to have a variety of good matcha on hand and grab the one with the flavor profile I'm in the mood for that morning.

I've tried all of Kettl, Thes du Japon (visited their awesome shop in Yanaka and picked up some beautiful kyusu) and most of O-cha's matcha. I just don't find that price is any indication of how much you'll actually like the matcha. Some single cultivars can have very unique tastes that you may or may not care for, but can cost $70 per 30 g or more. Definitely do some tasting flights (blind is fun too) to do honest comparisons.

Happy drinking.