A beautiful da hong pao (big red robe) tea powder from Wuyishan (Wuyi Mountain), Fujian, China

This imperial grade da hong pao tea powder makes an incredible milk tea or latte and can be used all your fine dining-style desserts. This will probably be on a Michelin-starred menu one day

It has a more of a bitter aftertaste compared to the other tea powders as there needed to be a tradeoff between:

1. cultivars
2. quality
3. cost (da hong pao is super expensive)

This is definitely a New Zealand first and almost certainly firsts in most countries around the world. I can't tell you how much work went into this

This was the mystery tea powder - may 2026 🎁

An incredible earl grey tea powder from Sri Lanka, predominantly from the Nuwara Eliya, Sabaragamuwa and Uva regions (නුවරඑළිය, සබරගමුව සහ නුවර)

This imperial grade earl grey tea powder from Sri Lanka blended with an extremely high quality, cold-pressed bergamot oil and it makes an incredible milk tea or latte and can be used all your fine dining-style desserts. This will probably be on a Michelin-starred menu one day as it has so much depth to it

Just a note: the bergamot oil reduces the surface tension and microfoam stability (throwback to high school physics). Something to keep in mind if you want to make a nice looking microfoam for the 'gram - you gotta to take those photos quickly 📸

It's the first earl grey tea powder that you can get in New Zealand and also probably some of the highest quality earl grey powder in the world

This was the mystery tea powder - april 2026 🎁

I spent way too much money buying way too many of these (with a customised laser logo  ̶𝖠̶𝖭̶𝖣̶ ̶𝖨̶𝖳̶ ̶𝖶̶𝖠̶𝖲̶ ̶𝖥̶𝖫̶𝖮̶𝖶̶𝖭̶ ̶𝖨̶𝖭̶ ̶𝖠̶𝖲̶ ̶𝖶̶𝖤̶𝖫̶𝖫̶!̶ ✈️) as gifts for ~15 very loyal, early customers

Edit

• 18 April 2026 - jokes turns out I paid for sea freight and not air freight 😂
• 1 May 2026 - it finally arrived!
  

Anyway ... I present my matcha/powdered tea sifter (with three complimentary stainless steel rings) for all your tea powder sifting needs!

This baby sifts a standard serving (2-4 g) in literally seconds and doubles as a tea canister too - a first of its kind in New Zealand; you saw it here first 😎

Dishwasher safe (but you should probably wash the detachable sifter and rings by hand)

Is it perfect? No. There's a bit of manual labour involved with the production so there are imperfections from time to time, but to be honest I'm okay with that (as someone overcoming perfectionism)

There's a subtle n2 matcha logo lasered on the lid so you can me remember forever even if I disappear 🍵 🫥

For now I'll be bubble wrapping this and chucking them in larger postage bags when sending them out as the upgrade to a postage box would add $4-5 to the shipping cost, so please forgive me for the packaging! It's made of 304 stainless steel anyway so it won't get damaged easily - I promise! 🌈

This was the mystery tea accessory - april 2026

Give the perfect gift for those tea lovers out there 🍵

My gift cards and store credit never expire cos otherwise that's pretty scammy

I'll probably force people to use them anyway lol

A beautiful award-winning okumidori blend matcha from Shizuoka, Japan

This heritage grade matcha makes a great usucha or fantastic matcha latte and is what you get if you want to rival mid-tier offerings from many Japanese brands (plus it's better than the quality you get at most Japanese cafes)

The okumidori blend has a naturally darker green hue than the tsuyuhikari blend due to the relatively higher growing altitude

From time to time, batches of this matcha may have a very slightly "grainier" texture compared to some of my premium powdered teas (ball-mill vs stone-milled), but I still choose it due to its fantastic flavour, accessibility, and being able to offer this at a relatively lower price point as this was more important to me than the grind size

In terms of flavour alone, this some people prefer the freshness of the tsuyuhikari blend and others prefer the stronger flavour of this okumidori blend. Either one is better than most others on the market in New Zealand

An incredible okumidori x saemidori blend matcha from Shiga, Japan

This imperial grade matcha makes an incredible usucha or matcha latte

I'm certain this would definitely be an award-winning product for its tier if the manufacturer entered it in competitions, but they hold themselves to a higher standard and only like to compete with their even higher grade matcha lines

There is essentially no relative bitterness or astringency when made into a matcha latte. This tier of matcha is where you can start to use 70-80°C water and not worry about bitterness or astringency

You may think it has a weak matcha flavour compared to other matcha powders, but this is actually a testament to the high quality of this product

This is some top tier stuff; it's better than basically all matchas you can get in New Zealand (with the exception of some of my other higher grade matchas 😏)

An incredible single cultivar saemidori matcha from Shiga, Japan

This imperial grade matcha makes an incredible usucha or matcha latte

I'm certain this would definitely be an award-winning product for its tier if the manufacturer entered it in competitions, but they hold themselves to a higher standard and only like to compete with their even higher grade matcha lines

There is essentially no relative bitterness or astringency when made into a matcha latte. This tier of matcha is where you can start to use 70-80°C water and not worry about bitterness or astringency

You may think it has a weak matcha flavour compared to other matcha powders, but this is actually a testament to the high quality of this product

This is some top tier stuff; it's better than basically all matchas you can get in New Zealand (with the exception of some of my other higher grade matchas 😏)

A beautiful batch of multiple award-winning single origin, single cultivar saemidori sencha (fukamushi kabusecha process) from Soo, Kagoshima, Japan

This world class grade sencha makes some of the finest sencha tea in the world. This is from the some of the best pickings from this farm's first harvest

This particular sencha exhibits a controlled marine/briney flavour ans pairs incredibly well with seafood

First infusion:

• 4 g tea
• 100 mLs water at 70-75°C for 55-60 seconds

Second infusion:

• 100 mLs water at around 80°C for 45-50 seconds

Cold Brew

• After 3-4 infusions, use 100 mLs water at any temperature and let it steep in the fridge overnight

The slightly higher temperature in the second infusion deliberately introduces some bitterness and astringency to balance out the sweetness and umami. This also brings out a subtle sweet and toasty aroma which enhances the depth and allows for a more structured long-lasting finish

A beautiful award-winning tsuyuhikari blend matcha from Shizuoka, Japan

This signature grade matcha makes a great usucha or fantastic matcha latte and is what you get if you want to rival mid-tier offerings from many Japanese brands (plus it's better than the quality you get at most Japanese cafes)

This tsuyuhikari blend has a naturally brighter green hue than the okumidori blend due to the relatively lower growing altitude

From time to time, batches of this matcha may have a very slightly "grainier" texture compared to some of my premium powdered teas (ball-mill vs stone-milled), but I still choose it due to its fantastic flavour, accessibility, and being able to offer this at a relatively lower price point as this was more important to me than the grind size

It's extremely difficult to find a finely ground tea that meets my flavour standards and isn't double/triple the price of this

In terms of flavour alone, the tsuyuhikari blend (my "lowest grade" matcha) is better than most other matcha on the market in New Zealand

A beautiful batch of multiple award-winning, very lightly roasted, single origin yabukita blend green hojicha from Soo, Kagoshima, Japan

This world class grade green hojicha makes some of the finest green hojicha tea in the world. This is from the some of the best pickings from this farm's first harvest

This particular hojicha is very unique in that it's been processed somewhat like sencha and then very lightly roasted. It's a very different product to the standard loose leaf hojicha you are probably used to - just imagine a blend of sencha and hojicha

First infusion:

• 4 g tea
• 100 mLs water at 75-80°C for 55-60 seconds

Second infusion:

• 100 mLs water at 75-80°C for 55-60 seconds

Cold Brew

• After 3-4 infusions, use 100 mLs water at any temperature and let it steep in the fridge overnight

I recommend brewing this green hojicha at a slightly lower temperature than usual at 75-80°C which is closer to what you would steep a sencha at. This allows for an enhanced roasted aroma alongside a balanced expression of subtle sweetness and astringency

A very rare and beautiful award-winning dark roast, single cultivar yabukita hojicha from Shizuoka, Japan

This imperial grade dark roast hojicha makes an incredible hojicha oat milk latte

It took me over a year to find a dark roast hojicha that met my standards, so here it is 😌

If you like coffee but not matcha, I would start here!

This is some top tier stuff, plus it's not gritty like other brands 😏

A very rare and beautiful award-winning light roast yabukita blend hojicha from Shizuoka, Japan

This imperial grade light roast hojicha makes an incredible hojicha oat milk latte

Strongly reminiscent of floral honey flavours like those found in Mi Lan Xiang and Oriental Beauty teas, especially when a bit of sweetener is added

I collaborated with Bear Gelato to make their light roast yabukita blend hojicha oat milk gelato using this 🍨

This is some top tier stuff, plus it's not gritty like other brands 😏

A beautiful award-winning single origin yabukita blend matcha from Uji, Japan

This imperial grade matcha great usucha or fantastic matcha latte, and is closer to that "classic matcha flavour" most people know and love

If you've already tried the tsuyuhikari or okumidori blend matchas, I don't need to explain the product; this is a big step up