How to Serve Hojicha Latte at a Café More and more people are finding out about hojicha. Considering its steadily increasing popularity, it’s very likely that it will soon achieve the stature of matcha. When it comes to green tea, we are pretty much aware that matcha has cemented its place in popular culture. It’s not merely a fad; it has already taken on the timeless identity of flavors like chocolate or vanilla. Other kinds of green tea are popular among tea aficionados. Matcha, however, has transcended the niche and become quite the household name. Matcha has gone beyond the traditional ..read more

How to Serve Matcha Latte at a Café It has been a while since matcha started dominating pop culture. Clearly, it has maintained its peak position there. It remains a favorite among many, as evidenced by the number of its features on social media. On Instagram alone, posts with #matcha are now more than seven million, and most of them show pictures of beautifully-staged matcha drinks served at cafés. If you own such an establishment, you’d certainly be remiss if your store didn’t offer anything matcha-oriented. A Little Background on Matcha Most people know that “matcha” is the name of gree ..read more

Tea Packaging Requirements from the FDA Coming up with an excellent product is the most obvious hurdle to running a business. You can most certainly expect to have a plethora of other details to contend with, government regulations being one of them. When it comes to tea sold and marketed in the United States, it’s absolutely imperative that you strictly abide by the edicts of the Food and Drug Administration. The agency is tasked with protecting public health by controlling and supervising food, drugs, and other related items. One way to ensure that people are safe from food and drugs tha ..read more

Reseller’s Certificate for Importation and Tax Exemption You are on for another exciting adventure. You decided that a good tea you just recently quenched in is the best there but still off the market in your country. Now, you are convinced that it should be imported and you want to sell it. However, there are documents that need to be complied with other than importation duties, such as getting a reseller’s certificate. Let’s learn about resale certificate, what it does, why you need it, and how you obtain it, among others. What is a reseller’s certificate? A reseller’s certificate, somet ..read more

Everything You Need to Know about Tencha Have you heard of the Japanese green tea called Tencha? Its name literally means “mortar tea” or “tea for grinding.” “Ten”(碾) translates to “mortar” or “grind,” and cha(茶), as you probably already know, means “tea.” Why was Tencha given this name? It’s simply because it is the whole leaf form of Matcha. It has been processed and dried but not yet ground. So, in turn, Matcha’s name translates to “ground tea.” One of the most popular kinds of green tea worldwide, it is known as powdered green tea. This means that those who drink it are consuming the a ..read more

Food Safety Registration for Importing Tea into the United States Since the U.S. imports around 15 percent of its food supply, it needs a safety system in place. This gives Americans security in the food they can access, not only in terms of diversity and abundance but in quality as well. So if you want to import something like green tea from Japan, you must be well-versed in American safety and quality standards. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is a regulatory agency under the U.S. Department of Health. It is mandated to ensure the quality, saf ..read more

We would like to announce something we have never done before and the biggest project we have ever done in our company’s history. We have been working on this since the middle of last year and are finally ready to share this with you today. It is… Japanese Knife Co. Since we are known for “the best of the best” from Japan, we were very particular in discovering the products and worked very hard to find the best knife craftsmanship to partner in Japan, and we did. We carry two legendary knife makers with deep history rooted in the Samurai sword-making tradition, and we are prou ..read more

What is ECOCERT for Tea Importing? Starting a tea business in a country is quite promising, no doubt, but in order for that business to flourish, you’ll need a vast variety of tea in your store. Tea importing is the ultimate solution to expand your tea business. You can import myriads of high-quality tea varieties and leave your customers wanting more. However, there are certain certifications that you need to get before starting your tea business and one such certification is ECOCERT. In this article, we are going to unleash everything you need to know about ECOCERT and why it is mandator ..read more

CA278 – The sensational new tea from Kagoshima CA278. It sounds like someone’s impossibly difficult password, right? Well, believe it or not, CA278 is the name of a Japanese tea that is creating buzz in the tea world. Today, I would like to introduce this new tea to you and tell you all about it – where it comes from, the unique characteristics that make it so special, and why you should waste no time trying it out if you haven’t yet. What is CA278? CA278 is a tea cultivar. You might be wondering, ‘Oh no, another tea expert term again!’ but not to worry, tea cultivar is a ‘type’ of tea in ..read more

Matcha vs Sencha While the two most popular types of green tea, Sencha and Matcha, come from the same plant known as Camellia Sinensis, they have different growing conditions and processing methods, which makes them stand apart. History Green tea has been in Japan for centuries and was brought by Eisai in 1191. He brought the tea seeds along with the Zen Buddhists’ method of preparing green tea. He planted these seeds in the Kyoto temple and produced the highest quality green tea at that time. It was regarded as a luxury symbol in his time. These green tea leaves are grown in shades to avo ..read more