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CULTIVAR

Similar to coffee cupping, tea evaluation would be carried out when tealeaves
are primarily treated. High-grade matcha can be as expensive as over 10,000 RMB per
kilogram. Evaluation process may cover the following steps:

· OBSERVING more yellow the tea infusion is, lower grade the tea is; greener the tea infusion
is, higher grade the tea is;
· TOUCHING lighter the tea is, higher quality it is; softer the tea feels when pinched,

better it is;
· SMELLING fresher and cleaner the fragrance is, better the tea is;
· TASTING sweeter the tea infusion is, better quality the tea is, and it might come with
creamy and fresh mouthfeel. Another criteria is chewing tea leaves.

All tealeaves will be processed with the unique Kitagawa fine techniques.
After the sense evaluation by experienced judges, tea will be further produced in
integrated technology based on its characteristics, and, thus, the distinct Kitagawa
flavor matcha is created.
GRINDING AND FINISH

At last, tencha is stone-ground into a fine powder through the use of specially
designed granite stone mills. The mill rotates 60 times/minute and grinds tencha into
powder with a diameter of 13 microns, the finest grind that can be achieved in the world.
Compared with high-yield traditional tea, stone ground matcha is just the opposite- “slow
work yields fine products”. Usually, high-grade tea should be preserved at -5℃. Therefore,
Kitagawa Hanbee only starts grinding when a customer’s order is confirmed to be sure
of the freshness.

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