This year’s MATCHA WAZUKA is a designer bead-milled matcha from Uejima-san, Hugo Tea's newest producing partner in the region. Uejima has been producing tencha since the late 80’s—an early adopter of modern tencha making in Uji. Like most farms in the region, the vast majority of his crop goes to Japanese wholesalers, who then blend and finish his material to be marketed as “Uji” matcha. This is standard process for Uji farmers, and something that makes it difficult to track down tea makers willing to produce matcha to Hugo Tea'ss specs and from a single plot of land that, when whisked, showcases the character of the land and the mastery of its producers. Uejima-san, in MATCHA WAZUKA, has this year brought them just this rarity.

Hugo Tea's specific blend of samidori/yabukita material comes from a small field he inherited from a neighbor, but had remained half-wild and unused until they met him and expressed their interest in that particular leaf. Because Hugo Tea pays a higher price for this specific tencha directly, this “extra” field, mostly unsuitable for sale to wholesalers, is newly economically viable for Uejima to manage properly. This matcha is born of ultra-healthy, deep rooted and mountain-grown samidori material, blended with a precise measure of his gold-standard yabukita crop for balance.

Expect exceptionally low bitterness, medium-high sweetness, big umami, and a rich green hue to the powder that makes for a highly attractive and deeply aromatic tea once whisked.

Sold in 80 gram tins.

Notes — honeydew | white rice | silken

Vintage — harvested may '25 | milled june '25

Style — shaded 21 days, processed to tencha, milled to 10-12 microns

Cultivar — samidori/yabukita

Region — Wazuka, Kyoto, Japan

Locale — Uejima tea farm

Producer — Uejima-san