Matchaful, the New York matcha company founded by Hannah Habes, sources its single cultivar Kiwami from Hattori Tea Farm in Shizuoka, where Hattori-san, a fourth-generation farmer, shades the tea for its final three to four weeks under solar panels that generate power for nearby towns.
Kiwami is an Okumidori matcha, now USDA Certified Organic, stone-milled to order at low temperatures, and Matchaful tests its tea with third parties for radiation, heavy metals and over 700 pesticides and herbicides.
Every matcha garden has to block the sun for weeks before the spring picking, and most do it with black cloth or reed screens. Hattori Tea Farm in Shizuoka does it with solar panels. Matchaful, the New York matcha company that buys from the farm, says on its Kiwami page that the tea is shaded by solar panels using Hattori-san's patented technique, and that the panels generate power for nearby towns. The shade the tea needs becomes electricity for the valley.
Who is behind it
Matchaful was founded by Hannah Habes in New York City, and its about page describes it as a female-founded matcha brand. It calls its sourcing philosophy Farm-to-Whisk™, and it says its matcha reaches customers within three months of grinding. The farmer is Hattori-san, a fourth-generation grower in Shizuoka, Japan's largest tea prefecture. Matchaful also runs nine cafés across Manhattan and Brooklyn, listed on its cafés page, from SoHo to Tribeca and Williamsburg.
Why shade matters, and why solar works
Shading is the step that makes matcha taste like matcha. The Global Japanese Tea Association explains that in direct sun the leaf's theanine, the amino acid behind umami and sweetness, breaks down into bitter catechins. Cut the light and more theanine stays, and the leaf builds extra chlorophyll and turns a deeper green. Hattori-san shades for the final three to four weeks of growth. Solar panels raised above the rows do what a tana canopy does, and they keep doing useful work the rest of the year.
| Matcha | Origin | 30 g | Matchaful's notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Organic Kiwami Single Cultivar | Hattori Tea Farm, Shizuoka. Okumidori, now USDA Certified Organic | $49 | Florals, honey and cream |
| Organic Tsuyuhikari Limited Reserve | Hattori Tea Farm, Shizuoka. Tsuyuhikari | $55 | Snap pea, cashew and grapefruit |
| Hikari Single Origin | First harvest, grown without pesticides | $42 | Walnut, lemon and butter, for lattes |
Kiwami
Kiwami is a single cultivar matcha made only from Okumidori, the late-flushing cultivar prized for its deep colour. Matchaful says it is stone-milled to order at low temperatures, and that it is now USDA Certified Organic. Hattori-san feeds the fields with organic compost from the local community in what Matchaful calls a closed-loop system. Organic matcha is harder to make rich, because organic feeding gives the leaf less nitrogen to build theanine, so a certified organic Okumidori described as florals, honey and cream is a matcha worth tasting plain.
Testing
Matchaful publishes more about testing than most brands. Its quality page says it sends its tea for third-party testing for radiation, heavy metals and over 700 pesticides and herbicides. A later round of lab results, benchmarked against California's Prop 65, found no pesticides in any sample, according to Matchaful.
Making it
Matchaful's own method is to sift a teaspoon of matcha, add 2 ounces of water at 180°F and whisk in a Z-shaped pattern. For a plain bowl of Kiwami, our usual 2 grams to 60 ml, a little cooler, is a good place to start, and our piece on why matcha is grown in the shade has more on what Hattori-san's panels are doing.
Questions
Where does Matchaful's matcha come from?
Kiwami and the Tsuyuhikari Limited Reserve come from Hattori Tea Farm in Shizuoka, run by Hattori-san, a fourth-generation farmer. Matchaful calls its approach Farm-to-Whisk.
How can solar panels shade tea?
Matcha needs most of the sun blocked for weeks before picking. Hattori-san uses solar panels, with what Matchaful calls a patented technique, as the shade, so the canopy also makes electricity for nearby towns.
What cultivar is Matchaful Kiwami?
Okumidori. Matchaful describes its taste as florals, honey and cream, and sells it in a 30 g tin.
How does Matchaful test its matcha?
With third-party labs for radiation, heavy metals and over 700 pesticides and herbicides. A later round benchmarked against California's Prop 65 found no pesticides in any sample, according to Matchaful.
