Ceremonial matcha from Uji, Kyoto. Buy premium Japanese matcha online, delivered across Switzerland.

Matcha is finely ground green tea in the Japanese tradition. The tea plants are shaded before the harvest; the leaves are then steamed, dried and ground to powder on stone mills. You drink the whole leaf, whisked with water.

In Switzerland, good matcha is best bought online, directly from a seller who discloses origin and harvest. At Niyu Matcha you get ceremonial matcha from Uji, first harvest, with free shipping across Switzerland from CHF 20. With any seller, look at origin, harvest and freshness: a vivid green, a fine texture, umami rather than harsh bitterness.

From Uji near Kyoto, for centuries one of Japan's most important tea regions and home of the matcha of the tea ceremony. Our Signature matcha is 100 % Uji, from the first harvest, Okumidori cultivar.

You order the sample online. With the order you get your customer account and a confirmation by email. 7 days after your order, your matcha subscription starts. Two days before, we remind you by email: if you would rather not continue, cancel free of charge until then with one click in your account. After that, the minimum term is three deliveries; then you can cancel any time.

You receive fresh ceremonial matcha in a 30 g pouch, at the rhythm you choose: every 2 weeks or every month. You pay CHF 32 instead of CHF 48 per delivery, 33 % less, and shipping is free. With every delivery your matcha credit grows: after three deliveries it covers an extra 30 g of Signature Ceremonial Matcha, free: one more pouch with a delivery, the subscription price stays the same. The minimum term is three deliveries; after that, cancel any time in your account. Change the rhythm any time.

Then cancel before it starts, with one click in your account. The subscription begins 7 days after your order, and we remind you by email two days before. Until then cancelling is free of charge, and nothing further is sent.

30 g make about 15 matcha shots or matcha lattes at 2 g each. If you drink it daily, choose delivery every 2 weeks in the subscription; if now and then, every month. Unopened, matcha keeps for several months; once opened it tastes best within four weeks.

Good ceremonial matcha does not. It tastes fresh, green and round, with plenty of umami and a fine bitterness at the finish. Harsh bitterness usually comes from water that is too hot (above 80 °C), too much powder, or a simpler grade from later harvests.

Because we are convinced of our matcha. One bowl says more than any description. 7 days after your order your subscription begins unless you cancel before. We remind you by email in good time.

The first harvest (ichibancha) is the year's first picking in spring: the youngest, most tender leaves with the most sweetness and umami. Okumidori is a Japanese tea cultivar valued for its deep green and its round, mild taste. Our matcha is a single cultivar: it comes from Okumidori alone, never blended with other cultivars.

Depending on the tea, a bowl of usucha made with about 2 g of matcha contains roughly 40 to 70 mg of caffeine, about as much as an espresso. Many people find the effect calmer and longer, because matcha also contains the amino acid L-theanine.

Usucha is the light tea: about 2 g of matcha to 70 ml of water, whisked until frothy. Koicha is the thick tea of the tea ceremony: about twice the matcha, half the water, kneaded slowly into a velvety paste. Only the finest grades are suited to koicha.

The term is not protected. It usually means matcha from young leaves of the first harvest, intended to be drunk pure with water. Trust colour, fineness and taste: a vivid, deep green, a silky texture, sweetness and umami rather than bitterness.

Ceremonial matcha comes from the first harvest of shaded tea gardens and is slowly stone-ground. It is a vivid deep green, tastes round with plenty of umami and is meant to be drunk pure or in a fine matcha latte. Culinary matcha usually comes from later harvests, is more yellowish and harsher, and is used for baking and cooking. Our Signature matcha is ceremonial grade, single cultivar Okumidori, 100 % from Uji.

Best with the paste method: sift 2 g of matcha into a warmed bowl, stir it with 10 ml of water at 75 °C into a thick paste, add 20 ml of water at 75 °C and whisk with the bamboo whisk (chasen) in W-shaped strokes until frothy. The result is a matcha shot without lumps, to drink pure or as the base of a latte. Boiling water makes matcha bitter.

Prepare a matcha shot (2 g of matcha, 30 ml of water at 75 °C, first stirred into a paste, then whisked until frothy) and pour it onto 125 ml of milk, warm and frothed or cold over ice. For a milder cup, add more milk. Oat and almond drink work too.

Cool, dark and airtight. Unopened, ideally in the fridge; let it come to room temperature before opening so no condensation forms. Once opened, use it within about four weeks. Light, heat and air take away its colour and aroma.

With the matcha subscription you get a personal link in your account. When friends subscribe through it, each of their paid subscription deliveries fills your matcha credit at half the rate of your own: six deliveries of your friends give you 30 g of our Signature Ceremonial Matcha, free. The free sample does not count, it is not paid. The credit is redeemed as an extra pouch with a delivery of your running subscription, never as a reduction of the subscription price.

Both follow the same attitude: few things, carefully chosen, with time for what matters. Niyu Design is a private circle in Zurich for interiors and the art of living. Anyone who orders from Niyu Matcha automatically becomes a Gold member. For everyone else, membership is by invitation.