Kyoto

Ippodo Tea

A Kyoto tea merchant founded in 1717, offering premium matcha for drinking straight.

overall: —
reviews: 0
Products: 6

Our Take

If you want matcha that tastes like matcha — not sugar with green food coloring — Ippodo is a safe, if not cheap, place to start.

Pros

Ikuyo-no-mukashi (their entry ceremonial grade) is genuinely drinkable straight — high umami, floral notes, not the grassy sharpness that turns people off matcha
Wide range from everyday usucha to Unmon-no-mukashi, a proper koicha grade for thick-style prep
Consistent sourcing out of Uji, Kyoto — no vague "Japan blend" labeling

Cons

Priced like a specialty tea, not a smoothie ingredient — Unmon-no-mukashi runs well above what a latte drinker needs to spend
The higher-umami profile that ceremonial-grade fans love can read as "too intense" if you're used to sweetened cafe matcha
Limited guidance for matcha lattes — you're on your own figuring out ratios

Ikuyo-no-mukashi is the one to start with: umami-forward, floral, with just enough bitterness to keep it from tasting flat. Whisked straight (usucha) it's smooth, not chalky — no gritty aftertaste. Unmon-no-mukashi is a different animal: recommended prep is koicha (thick paste), and it drinks more like concentrated broth than tea — not for beginners, but if you've had good koicha before, it's the real thing. Neither product is optimized for a matcha latte; if matcha lattes are your main use case, look at the matcha latte picks on our rankings page instead.

Ippodo Tea