Kinpaku Competition Asahi Matcha 2023 - Tsujiさん Shirakawa Uji

About this Matcha

In the spirit of the upcoming Year of the Snake, Ooika is thrilled to announce perhaps the world’s most luxurious Matcha ever made.

The Asahi cultivar, from the hands of the legendary Tsujiさん of Shirakawa, Uji, Kyoto, Japan. Asahi is regarded as one of the finer cultivars of Japanese tea. It’s deep, rich, and decadent—though notoriously challenging to cultivate.

Ooika commissioned the Tencha (unground Matcha) to go through the painstaking process of hand-sorting every individual leaf with chopsticks. This produces “Hinpyōkai ひんぴょうかい,” or “competition” worthy material.

This process takes days to weeks to execute and is typically engaged in to submit entries into Japan's Annual National Tea Competition (全国茶品評会).

Some tea companies in Japan celebrate the New Year by including 24K gold leaf, known as Kinpaku, in the actual Matcha powder. When whisked, bright gold flakes disperse along the surface of the tea, creating an exuberant Matcha.

As if this wasn’t enough, the Matcha is ground fresh in-house by Ooika using authentic stone mills. It is without hesitation or exaggeration to say this is Matcha: perfected. Indeed, an once-a-year, if not once-in-a-lifetime, experience to partake in.

To better make this Matcha affordable, Ooika is producing (for the first time) 4-gram sample bags, which will make two bowls of Usucha or one spectacular bowl of Koicha.