Uji-no-Matcha: The inconvenient truth about Japan's most mythologized tea label
About this episode
This episode explores the misconceptions surrounding Uji Matcha and reveals that most of it is not actually grown in Uji.
https://open.substack.com/pub/sankomatcha/p/uji-no-matcha-the-inconvenient-truth?r=3mxquk&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web It started with the disturbing realization that almost all Uji Matcha sold is not grown or processed in Uji at all. We kept hearing different definitions from different people: is it a city? Region? Blending style? Four-prefecture trademark? When we crunched the math from official Japanese sources, the percentage of tencha that’s actually grown in Uji that can be sold as “Uji Matcha” or an “Uji Matcha Blend” is probably less than 1-2% of Uji Matcha sold. This series details: -Hard numbers / Production statistics -Was “Uji Matcha” ever single origin? -The context and creation of the “Uji Matcha” trademark -Does terroir actually matter for matcha? -Who the current system helps and hurts
People in this episode
Host: Sanko Matcha Products
Topics covered
- Uji Matcha
- tea production
- matcha trademark
- terroir
- production statistics
Keywords
- Uji Matcha
- matcha
- tea
- production
- terroir
- statistics
- trademark
Mentioned in this episode
Places: Uji
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