Yuri Matcha

Kikusuian is the retail tea and confectionery brand of Ocha no Igeta, a Sendai tea company founded in 1920. The official shop presents it as a long-established Sendai tea house selling Japanese tea alongside wagashi such as the signature matcha sweet Kikufuku.

Shimodozono is a Kagoshima tea company founded in 1954 that presents itself as a bridge from local tea production to customers across Japan and overseas.

Kane7 Hatakeyama Seicha (株式会社カネ七畠山製茶, カネシチ) is a Uji tea manufacturing and wholesale company established in the first year of Horeki (宝暦元年, 1751) in the Edo period, based in Mukojima, Fushimi Ward, Kyoto. Now led by the 20th-generation proprietor Hatakeyama Tomoharu (畠山友晴), the company began as a merchant household supplying Uji tea, transitioned to tea farming in the 7th generation, incorporated in the 18th generation, and expanded exports under the 19th generation. Today, Kane7 is one of Japan's premier certified organic Uji matcha producers, holding simultaneous JAS Organic, EU Organic (HOAS), USDA National Organic Program, Canadian Organic Regime (COR), and FDA certifications — enabling direct export to over 60 countries. Their consumer brand KANESHICHI ORGANIC TEA features a curated line of four matcha grades under elegant single-character Japanese names: 響 (Hibiki, resonance), 霞 (Kasumi, haze), 詩 (Uta, poem), and 恵 (Megumi, blessing). The 響 matcha — hand-picked Goko cultivar — won Gold at the Japanese Tea Selection Paris 2019. The company operates KANE7 Matcha Lab, an experience café and consultation space at its Fushimi headquarters. Address: 〒612-8111 京都市伏見区向島橋詰町786. Contact: via 7noshin.com (general enquiries). Hours: Mon–Fri 8:00–18:00. Note: consumer matcha products periodically sell out due to high global demand.

Horii Shichimeien (堀井七茗園) is one of Uji's most historically significant tea houses, founded in 1879 (Meiji 12). The shop stewards the Okunoyama tea garden (奥ノ山茶園), the sole surviving estate from the legendary Uji Shichimeien — seven elite tea gardens designated by Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu during the Muromachi period. This unbroken custodianship of over 600 years places Horii Shichimeien in a category of its own among Japanese matcha producers. The brand's historical contribution to tea manufacturing is equally remarkable: in 1924, third-generation owner Horii Chojiro invented the Horii-style tencha manufacturing machine (堀井式碾茶製造機), the archetype from which all modern tencha processing equipment in Japan descends. The shop operates fully vertically — cultivating, processing, finishing, stone-grinding, and retailing its teas entirely in-house. Under sixth-generation owner Horii Chotaro, the house has accumulated 12 first-place Agricultural Minister's Awards (農林水産大臣賞) at national tea competitions, and holds certification as a Premium Gyokuro Certified Shop (プレミアム玉露認証店).