Teafy matcha comes from one family farm in Shizuoka, Japan, with one exception: our top tier Kyoto Uji Matcha, which comes from the Uji region of Kyoto, the prefecture historically considered the birthplace of Japanese matcha. The Shizuoka farm is the same family operation we've worked with from the start, and it's where most of our matcha and loose leaf range is grown.

This is unusual in the matcha world. Most matcha brands source from multiple farms, multiple regions, or unnamed bulk suppliers. The reason we work with one family farm is consistency: same soil, same growing methods, same processing team, same quality, batch after batch, year after year.

The family farm in Shizuoka

The farm has been in the same family since the 1800s. The current patriarch is the sixth generation to work this land. His family has been farming green tea on the same hills for over a century, through every change in the Japanese tea industry, and they still process every harvest by the same methods that earned them their reputation.

Founder Chris Pillai works directly with the family, and Teafy holds an ownership stake in the directly-farmed portion of the land. This isn't a wholesale agreement or a one-off contract, it's a long-term partnership built on multiple visits to the farm, conversations with the patriarch, and a shared commitment to growing tea the way it's always been grown there.

The family also owns wider land they rent to other local farmers, but Teafy matcha doesn't come from those rented parcels. When we say "our farm", we mean the directly-farmed portion the family works themselves.

Why Shizuoka

Shizuoka is Japan's largest tea growing prefecture, accounting for around 40% of the country's tea production. The combination of mild coastal climate, mountain mist, volcanic soil, and abundant rainfall produces tea with depth, sweetness, and a balanced umami body. The region is particularly well known for sencha and, in the right conditions, for matcha of real quality.

The Kyoto Uji exception

Our top tier Kyoto Uji Matcha is single cultivar Okimidori grown in Uji, Kyoto. Uji is the historical heart of Japanese matcha, the region where the tea ceremony tradition was refined, and where the most prized cultivars are still grown today. Single cultivar matcha from Uji is rare and complex, with the kind of flavour depth a tea ceremony master would recognise.

The same growing standards apply: organic, shaded, hand picked, bead milled cool. The difference is the cultivar and the prefecture, both of which contribute to a different flavour profile and a higher price point.

How it gets to Australia

Once milled, the matcha is held cold in Japan, shipped under temperature controlled conditions, and stored at 0 to 4 degrees Celsius in our Melbourne cold room until your order ships. Cold storage matters because matcha is a fresh product and exposure to heat during transit or storage degrades the flavour fast. Most brands don't do this. We do, because it's the only way to deliver the matcha at the quality the family intended when they milled it.

Teafy's Ceremonial Grade Matcha Powder is the Shizuoka farm's matcha and is what most of our customers drink daily. Kyoto Uji Matcha is the Uji single cultivar and is for buyers who want the rarest, most complex cup we sell.

‍

You might also like:

• What is ceremonial grade matcha?
• Is Teafy matcha certified organic?
• What's the difference between Shizuoka and Uji matcha?

‍