The London-based specialty tea supplier offers a wide variety of premium quality loose leaf teas and tea bags. And matcha is an increasingly important part of its portfolio.
The company was an early champion of matcha: introducing it at its Clerkenwell tea bar in 2015. A decade later, it’s now one of the fastest-growing parts of the business: accounting for 15% of revenue and doubling sales year-on-year.
It’s just relaunched its House Matcha, a product that was more than a year in the making, proudly presenting it at the London Coffee Festival earlier this year.
The new House Matcha is made with the now-classic matcha latte in mind: chosen to pair perfectly with milk with a rich flavor and vibrant color tailored specifically with baristas in mind.
The focus, says founder Emilie Holmes, is about going ‘back to basics’.
That means investing in a quality product for the long term, helping baristas create the ultimate match which makes the most of the tea, not the sugary syrups that accompany others.
The new House Matcha is a vibrant blend, crafted in Kyoto by one of Japan’s most respected tea masters, Hiroshi Kobayashi.
Kobayashi-san selects the finest shade-grown leaves from the spring harvest, then blends them, batch by batch, to craft the exclusive matcha that is ‘creamy, smooth and with a delicate umami finish’.
And that’s extremely important, says Holmes, in a category that now sees products of varying quality jumping on the bandwagon.
“The quality of matcha on the market varies massively,” she told us.
“We see the consumption of matcha in the UK most frequently presented in latte format: either iced or hot. However, less good quality matcha will be much more vegetal and bitter in taste and required to pair with a sweetener. That’s why we see lots of matcha being drowned out by syrups to make them palatable.
“For our new House Matcha, we have worked incredibly hard to source really fantastic quality tea, picked during the spring harvest (first flush of the season), working with well-renowned Tea Master Hiroshi Kobayashi. We have created a specific blend designed to pair with milk.
“Our matcha is smooth, vibrant and delicately sweet, with a clean umami finish. It doesn’t need heaps of sweetener.”
Now available in food service and D2C, the new House Matcha launch is just the beginning, says Holmes.
The brand is poised to expand its offer further with premium matcha options, including a Signature Matcha and single-cultivar ‘Guest Matchas’ giving cafés, retail and consumers new opportunities to explore the potential of matcha.
