MOQ
1kg / 3kg
FAQ
Straight answers to the questions wholesale buyers, distributors, and cafe owners ask most before reaching out.
MOQ
1kg / 3kg
Organic
Available on request
Shipping
EMS, DHL, FedEx
Incoterms
FOB, EXW
Sample sizes
15g or custom
Lead time
7–14 days (barring unforeseen issues)
Culinary matcha is grown and processed to hold its color and flavor when mixed with milk, sugar, or batter, which makes it the right choice for lattes, baking, and other blended drinks. Ceremonial grades, usucha (thin tea) and koicha (thick tea), are meant to be drunk on their own: usucha uses less powder for a lighter, everyday bowl, while koicha uses roughly double the matcha with less water for a dense preparation from the youngest shaded leaves. For a cafe building a drink menu, culinary grade is usually the better fit: it's more affordable and more stable under heat and milk. Tell us your menu and we'll match you with the right grade.
More: matcha grade guide
Our minimum order for wholesale matcha is 1kg for most lots, and 3kg for certain single-cultivar or limited harvests. Most buyers start smaller than that: a 15g paid sample, or a custom size on request, lets you test a lot on your own menu or equipment before committing to a full order. There's no separate pricing tier or higher minimum for smaller businesses; the same minimums apply whether you're a single cafe or a multi-location distributor. If 1kg is still more than you need to start, tell us your volume and we'll help you find a workable path in.
FOB (Free on Board) means we deliver the tea onto the vessel or aircraft at the port of export and cover costs up to that point, while EXW (Ex Works) means you take responsibility for the goods starting at the producer's own door, including pickup, export clearance, and transport. We quote FOB by default because it's the more common structure for international tea buyers and keeps origin-side logistics, which we already manage, off your plate. EXW is available on request for buyers who run their own freight forwarding and prefer to control the shipment from pickup onward. Either way, Incoterms are confirmed in writing before you place an order.
More: FOB vs EXW explained
Importing Japanese tea into the EU or US generally requires a commercial invoice, packing list, certificate of origin, and phytosanitary certificate, plus, for organic lots, an organic certificate of inspection recognized in that market. We prepare and provide these documents as standard with every export order, and our team has handled customs clearance into both regions many times, so we can flag anything your specific product or country needs beyond the basics. Pesticide residue testing against destination-market limits, not just Japanese limits, is also available on request, and several of our producers already test to US and EU standards as a matter of course.
Yes: several of our producer partners hold JAS organic certification, and select lots are also certified to EU organic equivalence standards. Organic-certified tea is available on request rather than across our full catalog, since not every producer farms organically, so let us know upfront if organic certification is a requirement and we'll route you to the right lots and producers. We can supply the certificate of inspection alongside your order for customs and retail-labeling purposes. If you need a certification we haven't mentioned here, tell us the requirement and we'll confirm whether one of our producers already meets it.
A paid sample is 15g of a single tea, or a custom size on request, priced to cover the tea and shipping rather than to generate margin, and it's the standard first step before any wholesale order. Most buyers request two or three lots at once to compare side by side rather than ordering one sample at a time. Samples ship the same way your eventual order would, by EMS, DHL, or FedEx, so you can also use them to check real-world transit time to your country. There's no fixed sample-kit assortment; every sample is built around the specific producers and cultivars you tell us you're interested in.
Want more detail on MOQ, grades, cultivars, and pricing? Read the full wholesale sourcing guide →
Farm visits are reviewed individually based on producer availability and trust, since each visit takes a producer's time away from an active harvest or processing schedule. Tell us your purpose (sourcing, media, research, and so on) and a preferred date, and our team will confirm within about 72 hours whether a visit can be arranged and which producer fits. Once a visit is confirmed, our team follows up by email to work out remaining details like transportation and any specific fields or facilities you'd like to see.
Our team's working language is Japanese, and we're not able to arrange or cover the cost of an interpreter. If you don't speak Japanese, please plan to bring your own interpreter. We'll confirm this and other logistics with you by email once your visit request is reviewed.
We look for an existing sales network already active in your target market — retailers, foodservice accounts, or importers you already supply — rather than distribution built from scratch. Distributor applications are reviewed against current producer capacity, since we work with a limited number of verified producers rather than an unlimited supply chain, and our team follows up within about 48 hours.
Yes — the distributor form lets you flag which products you're interested in representing (matcha, tencha, hojicha, wakocha, genmaicha, sencha, or other Japanese teas), along with your estimated annual volume and target market, so we can match you with producers who fit.
Still have a question we haven't answered here? Ask it directly when you request a sample.
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