It hardly seems like a year! The time has rushed by, but it’s true. It has now one year since we opened the Keiko Uchida store in Notting Hill. It’s been a fantastic journey, and I’m so pleased we’re starting on another year. I want to say a huge thank you to all our customers and clients and all those who have been supporting us, many of you right from our early days in the Ladbroke Grove studio. It’s such an honour and a delight to be able to connect with such a wonderful range of people, both online and in the store. It’s especially good to have the store now so we can meet people in person! Life is short and is an ‘Ichigo-ichie’ thing - which means that each and every meeting is a once in a life-time event. So we should value each connection enormously.
There is so much we like to communicate to our customers. One thing is that many new Matcha drinkers misunderstand about ceremonial Matcha being the best grade. In fact, in Japan there is no such category as ceremonial grade, and ‘ceremonial’ is simply 100% marketing language. So that any tea seller can decide for themselves whether they want to call their Matcha ceremonial or not, whatever its quality. Unfortunately, unlike Champagne for example, there isn’t any legal definition of Matcha. Also, outside of Japan, there is an awful lot of basic green tea powder, some of it low grade, sold as ‘Matcha’. That is why I think it is incredibly important to obtain your Matcha from a trusted speciality tea shop. I also believe you can make the best Matcha tea at home rather than going to a café. If you are buying a tin of Matcha from a trusted tea merchant, you know where the tea comes from, and you can also control the amount of Matcha you use (as well as milk if you are using that).
Here in the Notting Hill store, we are running Matcha Tasting Workshops in August. Many customers have talked to us about how difficult it is to choose the best Matcha for them. We sometimes think that we are similar to a fine wine shop. Here at the moment there are 20 different very best grades of Matcha tea in the store to choose from. Do come and join us at one of the workshops. We will be serving 4 different types of Matcha tea, a wide selection drawn from different farmers and different makers. Each Matcha farmer and maker develops their ideas and tastes in different directions. So it will be a great opportunity for you to try different Matchas, test out your palate and to find your favourite one. You can book your place here.