#1 Award Competition Grade Matcha

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This item is limited edition of 250 packages available at this time only. It is unknown how many years it may be before we could sell #1 Award Competition Grade again.

This Competition Grade Matcha finished in the first place at the 2012 National Tea Fair of Japan, winning the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Award. This is the highest award and most prestigious honor that a tea farmer and his tea can receive in Japan.

Several hundred of the best teas available in Japan are contributed to the competition and prizes are awarded in each category: Matcha, Gyokuro, and Sencha, so that it is extremely difficult to be ranked first place at the Tea Fair. Our Competition Grade Matcha was grown by a farmer in our tea farm cooperative. Our Competition Grade Matcha Pinnacle, which finishes in an upper level position every year, is also grown by him. It is the third time for him to win the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Award. He was born in 1969, and shows great promise. To consider his age and award-winning history, he is the extreme brilliant and ardent practical tea farmer in Japan.

Teas contributed to the National Tea Competition usually have a full and generous flavor that is smooth, mellow, and deep, along with the fresh aroma of young sprouts. Because upper level competition teas are all of premier quality, the margin between the first place tea and other upper level teas is minimal. However, this Competition Grade Matcha is remarkably smoother, mellower, and deeper taste than other high level competition teas.
One of the pictures in our photo gallery on the left side of this page is a tasting scene of this Competition Grade Matcha and other upper level competition teas in the form of Tencha. Left side is this Matcha. You can see that the left side water color looks like the mellowest and deepest taste, and the Tencha tea leaves look most bright.
It may also be a great pleasure to compare this with regular Matcha Pinnacle and Competition Grade Matcha Pinnacle.

Needless to say, this is a rare opportunity for tea connoisseurs to try this tea which has been awarded first place in the competition. It would be a rare opportunity even for tea merchants in Japan, something that would happen once in a lifetime. We think that it is ICHIGO ICHIE to be able to stumble across the awarded competition tea. ICHIGO ICHIE, which was first said by tea ceremony inventor Rikyu Sen (1522-1591), means “treasure each encounter, for it will never reoccur” in Japanese. We think that this Matcha is worth drinking once in your life and the experience would be treasured for a lifetime.

Growing competition grade tea requires a surprising amount of money and effort ( for more info: http://www.hibiki-an.com/contents.php/cnID/1#45 ). In fact, farmers lose money on the pursuit. The reward is the satisfaction of producing something so superlative that it surpasses tea and becomes art. It is the inspired pursuit of excellence. So, we will give the farmer a portion of the sales revenue of this Matcha as a handsel. Our set price is actual production cost with minimum shipping charges, in order for many customers to enjoy this as easily as possible.

You can prepare approximately 6 bowls of Matcha with this Competition Grade Matcha. To be deducted 30% as handsel for the farmer, the cost would be about US$8 each bowl of this Matcha. We are certain this Matcha will be the ICHIGO ICHIE precious experience of your life

Note
Competition Grade Matcha is prepared using 176F (80C) temperature water, the same as regular Matcha.