Unjonotomo Ceremonial Matcha (Extra Thick Grade)
Shade-grown ceremonial green tea
Unjonotomo Ceremonial Matcha (Extra Thick Grade)
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Description
This is the cream of the crop. It is a ceremonial matcha reserved for special ceremonies. This tea is grown along the banks of the Uji River, where the soil is rich. The tea plants are deeply shaded. The leaves are hand-picked while still young. Since it's only harvested once a season, the tea plant has the rest of the year to build up and make the best matcha next season. This cycle creates maximum umami levels. The tea is air-dried and ground by traditional stone mills.
Mike's Rating
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Ingredients
Make Your Matcha
Measure
Measure 2 grams, about a teaspoon, into a bowl or wide cup. For ideal results, sift through a strainer to prevent clumping.
Add water
Pour 120 ml (4 oz.) of 175ºF water over the matcha powder.
Whisk
Whisk briskly until smooth and frothy. A bamboo whisk is traditional, a small frother or a lidded jar also works.
Enjoy
Drink your matcha while it's still foamy and warm.
Where it grows
Grown in Uji, Japan
- RegionUji, Japan
Chosen at the Tasting Table
Fine matcha comes from Japan's traditional growing regions, but origin alone doesn't earn a place in this collection. Every tea is whisked and tasted at the Harney table, and tasted again, until it proves itself bowl after bowl. The grades run from everyday to ceremonial, and the standard holds for all of them. Sourced from a family who has been making Matcha for nearly 400 years.
Shaded Fields in Uji
Grown in the Uji area, Japan's oldest matcha region, and shaded before harvest for a deep green color and a rounded, mellow cup.
Stone-milled
The shaded leaves are ground between granite stones turning slow enough to stay cool, which is what keeps the powder this fine and this green.
Chosen to Harney Standards
Sourced and tasted to the same standards as all of our teas, as we've done since 1983.
The Cultivars in This Blend
Every Harney matcha is a decision made at the tasting table. The cultivars below are the plants behind this blend, each chosen for what it brings to the bowl.
See the cultivars (4)
Asahi
- Region grown
- Uji
- Harvest
- Handpicked
- Grade
- CeremonialMade to be whisked and sipped straight.
The highest theanine of the ceremonial cultivars, and the backbone of Unjonotomo. Deep, sweet, full-bodied umami that defines koicha character.
In this blend: Ceremonial depth, concentrated sweetness, and the long umami finish that defines thick tea. Without it, a koicha blend loses its gravitas.
Ujihikari
- Region grown
- Uji
- Harvest
- Handpicked
- Grade
- PremiumHigh-grade leaf that builds the body of a ceremonial blend.
High theanine with a distinctive mineral clarity that brings structural definition and precision to ceremonial blends.
In this blend: Uji mineral clarity and structural precision, the frame around Asahi's depth. Definition without bitterness.
Samidori
- Region grown
- Uji
- Grade
- PremiumHigh-grade leaf that builds the body of a ceremonial blend.
High theanine, smooth and rounded, and the dominant cultivar in Senjunomukashi. Distinct from Saemidori, deeper and richer, a true Uji cultivar.
In this blend: Smooth premium depth and rounded sweetness. Where it leads a blend, everything else is refinement.
Saemidori
- Region grown
- Uji / Kagoshima
- Grade
- PremiumHigh-grade leaf that builds the body of a ceremonial blend.
A cross of Asatsuyu and Yabukita, with the brightest green liquor of any cultivar. High theanine, and a fresh, marine character that develops during steaming.
In this blend: Vivid color and fresh brightness. A small amount transforms the visual character of a blend.
Chosen with Tsuyoshi Sugimoto, whose family has blended Uji tea for eight generations.
Common questions
Everything you might be wondering before your first brew.
Yes. Matcha is green tea, made from the same plant, Camellia sinensis, as the rest of the tea we sell. The difference is how it is grown and prepared: the leaves are shaded for weeks before harvest, then dried and stone-ground into a fine powder. Instead of steeping leaves and removing them, you whisk the whole leaf into water and drink it.
Most green tea is steamed or pan-fired, rolled, and dried, and you steep it. Matcha starts from leaves grown under shade for several weeks, which changes their color and flavor, then dried flat and ground into powder. That flat, de-veined leaf has its own name, Tencha. Because you drink the whole leaf instead of an infusion, the taste is fuller and the color is brighter.
Unjonotomo is our extra thick grade, blended for koicha, the dense preparation at the heart of the Japanese tea ceremony. It is the richest bowl we offer, and it rewards drinking straight, whisked with a little less water than usual. If you are newer to matcha, or mostly make lattes, Supreme or Jobetsugi is the easier place to start; this is the grade to grow into.
No. A bamboo whisk gives great froth, but a small electric frother or a lidded jar, or cocktail shaker all work.
About 80 milligrams in a standard 2 gram bowl, a little less than a typical cup of coffee. Because you are drinking the whole leaf rather than an infusion, matcha carries more caffeine than the same amount of steeped green tea.
Matcha is ground leaf, so it has far more surface area than whole-leaf tea and it fades faster once it meets air. Keep it sealed, cool, and away from light, and refrigerate it after opening.