Jesse's Teahouse
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Jesse’s Premium Guizhou High-Altitude Matcha
What is Matcha?
Known as Mo Cha (抹茶）in Chinese, Matcha is a tea powder made from ground-up whole leaf green tea. Traditionally drunk straight by dissolving the powder in a bowl and whisking, it can also be mixed with milk, coconut water, or other drinks.
To make matcha, green tea farmers hang specialized shades over huge areas of their farms to keep the trees from absorbing too much direct sunlight. By shading specific cultivars of tea trees, the resulting leaves and matcha are rich in antioxidants, with more amino acids and less bitterness than un-shaded tea.
The leaves are then ground repeatedly until reaching just the right grain size so that they dissolve easily and smoothly. Matcha is graded by color, flavor, and quality of grind.
About This Tea:
1 x 30g tin (15-20 sessions)
This is our premium matcha! It has a light, creamy and sweet taste, while still packed full of umami flavor and grassy, fresh notes.
When we visited the matcha farmers, we asked for the best matcha they had, and this is it. In fact, they told us, somewhat embarrassed, that they only made this high-grade matcha as a promotional material and for enjoyment in-house, since the leaves are so expensive and no Western company had been interested in exporting premium Chinese matcha so far.
We waited a whole year to secure a new, larger crop, which enabled us to get enough of the matcha
While this matcha was selected specifically for ceremonial-style drinking, we did blind taste-tests and every single person at the Teahouse agreed that this matcha also made the best mixed drinks of any we tried.
At only a few extra cents per session, don’t feel bad if you use this mixed with milk or other ingredients, as it works surprisingly well.
Compared to the premium matcha, it has a stronger, bolder flavor and a slightly darker color. If you just want quality, single-sourced matcha at a good price, this is the one!
Pick up Jesse’s Matcha Sampler to get 1x30g tin of both the Everyday and Premium matchas, and save!
Japanese Matcha vs. Chinese Matcha
Mo Cha (Matcha) originated in China in the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), and spread from China to Japan. While it was long popular amongst courtiers in both countries, the tradition of making matcha lapsed in China, though it continued in Japan, and eventually reached the West through Japan.
Modern Chinese matcha is made with the same growing and grinding techniques as Japanese matcha, but uses Chinese-grown leaves. Our Matcha people in Guizhou use machines imported from Japan for grinding, and workflows and quality-checks designed by Japanese matcha grinding experts, adapted for the special varietals of green teas grown in Guizhou.
Japanese and Chinese matcha are more similar to each other in taste than Japanese and Chinese green teas. The main difference is terroir (growing conditions) but otherwise they are produced with the same processes and techniques.
Flavor-wise, our Guizhou matcha tends to be a bit milder than Japanese counterparts, since it is grown at high altitude and has a more delicate flavor and sweetness because of the growing conditions.
In loose-leaf tea, high altitude is generally a desired trait, but because there is not a single matcha plantation in Japan that grows at these altitudes, it makes it difficult to say one is “better” than the other. They are different.
Similarly, Japanese matcha tends to be grown in rockier soil and closer to the ocean, which creates more mineral and umami flavors. Sometimes, fish bones are used in fertilizer in Japan, lending it a “seaweed” flavor.
Our Guizhou matcha is still rich and has lots of umami, but that “seaweed” tasting note is not as intense.
In the end, the differences are there, but not so large. I think only experienced matcha drinkers would be able to tell a large difference between Chinese and Japanese matcha. More important than country is quality: better leaves and a more even grind makes a smoother, cleaner matcha, regardless of where it was produced.
I personally think comparing Japanese matcha and Chinese matcha is like comparing Japanese and Chinese teas: you could do it, but it’s worth trying both, weighing the value and quality, and seeing what you like best.
Jesse Says:
The journey to bringing Matcha to the teahouse has taken several years.
For the first few years of the Teahouse, even though I knew Chinese matcha was available and being sold in the West as “fake” Japanese Matcha, I still did not sell it.
First of all, I didn’t want to sell “fake” anything; but mostly I hesitated because I didn’t know as much about matcha as loose leaf tea, and I didn’t want to jump on a bandwagon without doing the same due diligence I do on all my other teas.
Over the years, two trips and their learnings made me change my mind and decide to start the matcha line.
The first was my trip to Guizhou in 2025, where I got to meet the farmers, see their farms and shading operations, and learn about the grinding and packing process. I saw how they separated the matcha into various grades based on the quality of the end product, and how their matcha production line looked on par with the best in Japan.
The second was my trip to Uji, Japan, in 2026 where I met Tanaka Sensei, a 16th Generation matcha shop owner. Through my Chinese-Japanese translator, when I asked him how he faced the challenge of balancing new trends (like matcha suddenly being so popular) with the tradition that brought him here, he showed me two characters of calligraphy: 守道: “Michi o mamoru” - “Defend the Path.”
Tanaka Sensei said that he keeps his focus on protecting the customs, quality control, and techniques that have allowed his shop to last from the times of the Shogun to now.
This made me think: What is the Jesse's Teahouse Path? What am I defending?
I felt that it was a combination of sourcing in person - going straight to the mountains - and providing transparency, quality, value, and education.
Basically, I should source the matcha to the same standards as my tea, share the culture, our tea farmers, and teamaking techniques. If I follow the path that has brought me here, I then just have to hope tea drinkers embrace the transparency and my attempt to do something new in the matcha space by doing transparently-sourced Chinese matcha.
If you’ve got more time, take a look at my matcha videos! A lot of thinking has gone into this new matcha line, and I hope it will grow and expand.
Jesse’s Chinese Matcha Bowl Sets
Part of our Path at Jesse’s Teahouse has been to match great tea with great tea equipment.
Since most matcha sellers re-package Chinese matcha and either sell it as “fake” Japanese matcha or simply don’t share where it comes from, we found nobody had Chinese-themed matcha sets anywhere online.
Working with our porcelain guy in Dehua, we designed two original sets with classic Chinese themes, which we hope will serve as fantastic tea-making sets that complement, and not compete with or copy classic Japanese sets.
Both of these are unique - if you see anything similar, they’re copying us!
Set 1: Blue-White Porcelain Matcha Set
Nothing is so classic as Chinese blue-white porcelain. In the spirit of avoiding AI art, we searched museum archives for traditional Chinese painting of the region our tea is from, and discovered a piece from an album called "Landscape Gazing at Me." Painted in 1743 by Zou Yigui, the "East Mountain" depicted in this painting is the East Mountain in Guiyang.
This set is made of Dehua white porcelain, and features the character “Cha 茶“ for tea. This character is Jesse’s own personal calligraphy, digitized and added to each bowl through an ink-transfer technique.
The whole set comes in a gorgeous gift box, which includes:
- One blue-white porcelain matcha bowl
- One purple bamboo high-quality Chasen (whisk)
- One porcelain whisk-holder
- A wooden matcha scoop, for measuring how much matcha to use
- A scoop-holder, so the scoop doesn't get tired and fall over-
- A small sieve for smoothing the matcha powder, for a smooth finish
Set 2: Jianzhan Glaze Matcha Set
Jianzhan glaze style, and its myriad of metallic colors, is one of the most visually captivating styles of Chinese traditional glaze. Our jianzhan cups have been a popular item for years, but since nobody was selling Chinese matcha as “Chinese”, similarly nobody had thought to use this glaze style in a matcha set.
After some trial and error, we managed to get the glaze consistency just right and enrobe a large earthenware matcha bowl and chasen-holder. The resulting Jianzhan bowl is in itself a work of art worthy of display, and it will make great matcha too!
The whole set comes in a gorgeous gift box, which includes:
- One jianzhan-style earthenware matcha bowl
- One purple bamboo high-quality Chasen (whisk)
- One jianzhan-style earthenware whisk-holder
- A wooden matcha scoop, for measuring how much matcha to use
- A scoop-holder, so the scoop doesn't get tired and fall over
- A small sieve for smoothing the matcha powder, for a smooth finish
The matcha bowls are available here, and also come with discounts on matcha samplers.
Want Quality Matcha Wholesale?
We just launched this new matcha line, so we aren’t set up for wholesale yet, but if you run a cafe, teahouse, or boba place and need wholesale sized matcha, please email teafriendsupport@jessesteahouse.com re: Wholesale Matcha and ask for our wholesale info, and let’s see what we can do!
This item is NOT OUT OF STOCK! It launches in a few days - click the "Notify Me" button below to get an email when it launches and get first dibs!
Jesse’s Premium Guizhou High-Altitude Matcha
What is Matcha?
Known as Mo Cha (抹茶）in Chinese, Matcha is a tea powder made from ground-up whole leaf green tea. Traditionally drunk straight by dissolving the powder in a bowl and whisking, it can also be mixed with milk, coconut water, or other drinks.
To make matcha, green tea farmers hang specialized shades over huge areas of their farms to keep the trees from absorbing too much direct sunlight. By shading specific cultivars of tea trees, the resulting leaves and matcha are rich in antioxidants, with more amino acids and less bitterness than un-shaded tea.
The leaves are then ground repeatedly until reaching just the right grain size so that they dissolve easily and smoothly. Matcha is graded by color, flavor, and quality of grind.
About This Tea:
1 x 30g tin (15-20 sessions)
This is our premium matcha! It has a light, creamy and sweet taste, while still packed full of umami flavor and grassy, fresh notes.
When we visited the matcha farmers, we asked for the best matcha they had, and this is it. In fact, they told us, somewhat embarrassed, that they only made this high-grade matcha as a promotional material and for enjoyment in-house, since the leaves are so expensive and no Western company had been interested in exporting premium Chinese matcha so far.
We waited a whole year to secure a new, larger crop, which enabled us to get enough of the matcha
While this matcha was selected specifically for ceremonial-style drinking, we did blind taste-tests and every single person at the Teahouse agreed that this matcha also made the best mixed drinks of any we tried.
At only a few extra cents per session, don’t feel bad if you use this mixed with milk or other ingredients, as it works surprisingly well.
Compared to the premium matcha, it has a stronger, bolder flavor and a slightly darker color. If you just want quality, single-sourced matcha at a good price, this is the one!
Pick up Jesse’s Matcha Sampler to get 1x30g tin of both the Everyday and Premium matchas, and save!
Japanese Matcha vs. Chinese Matcha
Mo Cha (Matcha) originated in China in the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), and spread from China to Japan. While it was long popular amongst courtiers in both countries, the tradition of making matcha lapsed in China, though it continued in Japan, and eventually reached the West through Japan.
Modern Chinese matcha is made with the same growing and grinding techniques as Japanese matcha, but uses Chinese-grown leaves. Our Matcha people in Guizhou use machines imported from Japan for grinding, and workflows and quality-checks designed by Japanese matcha grinding experts, adapted for the special varietals of green teas grown in Guizhou.
Japanese and Chinese matcha are more similar to each other in taste than Japanese and Chinese green teas. The main difference is terroir (growing conditions) but otherwise they are produced with the same processes and techniques.
Flavor-wise, our Guizhou matcha tends to be a bit milder than Japanese counterparts, since it is grown at high altitude and has a more delicate flavor and sweetness because of the growing conditions.
In loose-leaf tea, high altitude is generally a desired trait, but because there is not a single matcha plantation in Japan that grows at these altitudes, it makes it difficult to say one is “better” than the other. They are different.
Similarly, Japanese matcha tends to be grown in rockier soil and closer to the ocean, which creates more mineral and umami flavors. Sometimes, fish bones are used in fertilizer in Japan, lending it a “seaweed” flavor.
Our Guizhou matcha is still rich and has lots of umami, but that “seaweed” tasting note is not as intense.
In the end, the differences are there, but not so large. I think only experienced matcha drinkers would be able to tell a large difference between Chinese and Japanese matcha. More important than country is quality: better leaves and a more even grind makes a smoother, cleaner matcha, regardless of where it was produced.
I personally think comparing Japanese matcha and Chinese matcha is like comparing Japanese and Chinese teas: you could do it, but it’s worth trying both, weighing the value and quality, and seeing what you like best.
Jesse Says:
The journey to bringing Matcha to the teahouse has taken several years.
For the first few years of the Teahouse, even though I knew Chinese matcha was available and being sold in the West as “fake” Japanese Matcha, I still did not sell it.
First of all, I didn’t want to sell “fake” anything; but mostly I hesitated because I didn’t know as much about matcha as loose leaf tea, and I didn’t want to jump on a bandwagon without doing the same due diligence I do on all my other teas.
Over the years, two trips and their learnings made me change my mind and decide to start the matcha line.
The first was my trip to Guizhou in 2025, where I got to meet the farmers, see their farms and shading operations, and learn about the grinding and packing process. I saw how they separated the matcha into various grades based on the quality of the end product, and how their matcha production line looked on par with the best in Japan.
The second was my trip to Uji, Japan, in 2026 where I met Tanaka Sensei, a 16th Generation matcha shop owner. Through my Chinese-Japanese translator, when I asked him how he faced the challenge of balancing new trends (like matcha suddenly being so popular) with the tradition that brought him here, he showed me two characters of calligraphy: 守道: “Michi o mamoru” - “Defend the Path.”
Tanaka Sensei said that he keeps his focus on protecting the customs, quality control, and techniques that have allowed his shop to last from the times of the Shogun to now.
This made me think: What is the Jesse's Teahouse Path? What am I defending?
I felt that it was a combination of sourcing in person - going straight to the mountains - and providing transparency, quality, value, and education.
Basically, I should source the matcha to the same standards as my tea, share the culture, our tea farmers, and teamaking techniques. If I follow the path that has brought me here, I then just have to hope tea drinkers embrace the transparency and my attempt to do something new in the matcha space by doing transparently-sourced Chinese matcha.
If you’ve got more time, take a look at my matcha videos! A lot of thinking has gone into this new matcha line, and I hope it will grow and expand.
Jesse’s Chinese Matcha Bowl Sets
Part of our Path at Jesse’s Teahouse has been to match great tea with great tea equipment.
Since most matcha sellers re-package Chinese matcha and either sell it as “fake” Japanese matcha or simply don’t share where it comes from, we found nobody had Chinese-themed matcha sets anywhere online.
Working with our porcelain guy in Dehua, we designed two original sets with classic Chinese themes, which we hope will serve as fantastic tea-making sets that complement, and not compete with or copy classic Japanese sets.
Both of these are unique - if you see anything similar, they’re copying us!
Set 1: Blue-White Porcelain Matcha Set
Nothing is so classic as Chinese blue-white porcelain. In the spirit of avoiding AI art, we searched museum archives for traditional Chinese painting of the region our tea is from, and discovered a piece from an album called "Landscape Gazing at Me." Painted in 1743 by Zou Yigui, the "East Mountain" depicted in this painting is the East Mountain in Guiyang.
This set is made of Dehua white porcelain, and features the character “Cha 茶“ for tea. This character is Jesse’s own personal calligraphy, digitized and added to each bowl through an ink-transfer technique.
The whole set comes in a gorgeous gift box, which includes:
- One blue-white porcelain matcha bowl
- One purple bamboo high-quality Chasen (whisk)
- One porcelain whisk-holder
- A wooden matcha scoop, for measuring how much matcha to use
- A scoop-holder, so the scoop doesn't get tired and fall over-
- A small sieve for smoothing the matcha powder, for a smooth finish
Set 2: Jianzhan Glaze Matcha Set
Jianzhan glaze style, and its myriad of metallic colors, is one of the most visually captivating styles of Chinese traditional glaze. Our jianzhan cups have been a popular item for years, but since nobody was selling Chinese matcha as “Chinese”, similarly nobody had thought to use this glaze style in a matcha set.
After some trial and error, we managed to get the glaze consistency just right and enrobe a large earthenware matcha bowl and chasen-holder. The resulting Jianzhan bowl is in itself a work of art worthy of display, and it will make great matcha too!
The whole set comes in a gorgeous gift box, which includes:
- One jianzhan-style earthenware matcha bowl
- One purple bamboo high-quality Chasen (whisk)
- One jianzhan-style earthenware whisk-holder
- A wooden matcha scoop, for measuring how much matcha to use
- A scoop-holder, so the scoop doesn't get tired and fall over
- A small sieve for smoothing the matcha powder, for a smooth finish
The matcha bowls are available here, and also come with discounts on matcha samplers.
Want Quality Matcha Wholesale?
We just launched this new matcha line, so we aren’t set up for wholesale yet, but if you run a cafe, teahouse, or boba place and need wholesale sized matcha, please email teafriendsupport@jessesteahouse.com re: Wholesale Matcha and ask for our wholesale info, and let’s see what we can do!
This item is NOT OUT OF STOCK! It launches in a few days - click the "Notify Me" button below to get an email when it launches and get first dibs!
Jesse’s Premium Guizhou High-Altitude Matcha
What is Matcha?
Known as Mo Cha (抹茶）in Chinese, Matcha is a tea powder made from ground-up whole leaf green tea. Traditionally drunk straight by dissolving the powder in a bowl and whisking, it can also be mixed with milk, coconut water, or other drinks.
To make matcha, green tea farmers hang specialized shades over huge areas of their farms to keep the trees from absorbing too much direct sunlight. By shading specific cultivars of tea trees, the resulting leaves and matcha are rich in antioxidants, with more amino acids and less bitterness than un-shaded tea.
The leaves are then ground repeatedly until reaching just the right grain size so that they dissolve easily and smoothly. Matcha is graded by color, flavor, and quality of grind.
About This Tea:
1 x 30g tin (15-20 sessions)
This is our premium matcha! It has a light, creamy and sweet taste, while still packed full of umami flavor and grassy, fresh notes.
When we visited the matcha farmers, we asked for the best matcha they had, and this is it. In fact, they told us, somewhat embarrassed, that they only made this high-grade matcha as a promotional material and for enjoyment in-house, since the leaves are so expensive and no Western company had been interested in exporting premium Chinese matcha so far.
We waited a whole year to secure a new, larger crop, which enabled us to get enough of the matcha
While this matcha was selected specifically for ceremonial-style drinking, we did blind taste-tests and every single person at the Teahouse agreed that this matcha also made the best mixed drinks of any we tried.
At only a few extra cents per session, don’t feel bad if you use this mixed with milk or other ingredients, as it works surprisingly well.
Compared to the premium matcha, it has a stronger, bolder flavor and a slightly darker color. If you just want quality, single-sourced matcha at a good price, this is the one!
Pick up Jesse’s Matcha Sampler to get 1x30g tin of both the Everyday and Premium matchas, and save!
Japanese Matcha vs. Chinese Matcha
Mo Cha (Matcha) originated in China in the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), and spread from China to Japan. While it was long popular amongst courtiers in both countries, the tradition of making matcha lapsed in China, though it continued in Japan, and eventually reached the West through Japan.
Modern Chinese matcha is made with the same growing and grinding techniques as Japanese matcha, but uses Chinese-grown leaves. Our Matcha people in Guizhou use machines imported from Japan for grinding, and workflows and quality-checks designed by Japanese matcha grinding experts, adapted for the special varietals of green teas grown in Guizhou.
Japanese and Chinese matcha are more similar to each other in taste than Japanese and Chinese green teas. The main difference is terroir (growing conditions) but otherwise they are produced with the same processes and techniques.
Flavor-wise, our Guizhou matcha tends to be a bit milder than Japanese counterparts, since it is grown at high altitude and has a more delicate flavor and sweetness because of the growing conditions.
In loose-leaf tea, high altitude is generally a desired trait, but because there is not a single matcha plantation in Japan that grows at these altitudes, it makes it difficult to say one is “better” than the other. They are different.
Similarly, Japanese matcha tends to be grown in rockier soil and closer to the ocean, which creates more mineral and umami flavors. Sometimes, fish bones are used in fertilizer in Japan, lending it a “seaweed” flavor.
Our Guizhou matcha is still rich and has lots of umami, but that “seaweed” tasting note is not as intense.
In the end, the differences are there, but not so large. I think only experienced matcha drinkers would be able to tell a large difference between Chinese and Japanese matcha. More important than country is quality: better leaves and a more even grind makes a smoother, cleaner matcha, regardless of where it was produced.
I personally think comparing Japanese matcha and Chinese matcha is like comparing Japanese and Chinese teas: you could do it, but it’s worth trying both, weighing the value and quality, and seeing what you like best.
Jesse Says:
The journey to bringing Matcha to the teahouse has taken several years.
For the first few years of the Teahouse, even though I knew Chinese matcha was available and being sold in the West as “fake” Japanese Matcha, I still did not sell it.
First of all, I didn’t want to sell “fake” anything; but mostly I hesitated because I didn’t know as much about matcha as loose leaf tea, and I didn’t want to jump on a bandwagon without doing the same due diligence I do on all my other teas.
Over the years, two trips and their learnings made me change my mind and decide to start the matcha line.
The first was my trip to Guizhou in 2025, where I got to meet the farmers, see their farms and shading operations, and learn about the grinding and packing process. I saw how they separated the matcha into various grades based on the quality of the end product, and how their matcha production line looked on par with the best in Japan.
The second was my trip to Uji, Japan, in 2026 where I met Tanaka Sensei, a 16th Generation matcha shop owner. Through my Chinese-Japanese translator, when I asked him how he faced the challenge of balancing new trends (like matcha suddenly being so popular) with the tradition that brought him here, he showed me two characters of calligraphy: 守道: “Michi o mamoru” - “Defend the Path.”
Tanaka Sensei said that he keeps his focus on protecting the customs, quality control, and techniques that have allowed his shop to last from the times of the Shogun to now.
This made me think: What is the Jesse's Teahouse Path? What am I defending?
I felt that it was a combination of sourcing in person - going straight to the mountains - and providing transparency, quality, value, and education.
Basically, I should source the matcha to the same standards as my tea, share the culture, our tea farmers, and teamaking techniques. If I follow the path that has brought me here, I then just have to hope tea drinkers embrace the transparency and my attempt to do something new in the matcha space by doing transparently-sourced Chinese matcha.
If you’ve got more time, take a look at my matcha videos! A lot of thinking has gone into this new matcha line, and I hope it will grow and expand.
Jesse’s Chinese Matcha Bowl Sets
Part of our Path at Jesse’s Teahouse has been to match great tea with great tea equipment.
Since most matcha sellers re-package Chinese matcha and either sell it as “fake” Japanese matcha or simply don’t share where it comes from, we found nobody had Chinese-themed matcha sets anywhere online.
Working with our porcelain guy in Dehua, we designed two original sets with classic Chinese themes, which we hope will serve as fantastic tea-making sets that complement, and not compete with or copy classic Japanese sets.
Both of these are unique - if you see anything similar, they’re copying us!
Set 1: Blue-White Porcelain Matcha Set
Nothing is so classic as Chinese blue-white porcelain. In the spirit of avoiding AI art, we searched museum archives for traditional Chinese painting of the region our tea is from, and discovered a piece from an album called "Landscape Gazing at Me." Painted in 1743 by Zou Yigui, the "East Mountain" depicted in this painting is the East Mountain in Guiyang.
This set is made of Dehua white porcelain, and features the character “Cha 茶“ for tea. This character is Jesse’s own personal calligraphy, digitized and added to each bowl through an ink-transfer technique.
The whole set comes in a gorgeous gift box, which includes:
- One blue-white porcelain matcha bowl
- One purple bamboo high-quality Chasen (whisk)
- One porcelain whisk-holder
- A wooden matcha scoop, for measuring how much matcha to use
- A scoop-holder, so the scoop doesn't get tired and fall over-
- A small sieve for smoothing the matcha powder, for a smooth finish
Set 2: Jianzhan Glaze Matcha Set
Jianzhan glaze style, and its myriad of metallic colors, is one of the most visually captivating styles of Chinese traditional glaze. Our jianzhan cups have been a popular item for years, but since nobody was selling Chinese matcha as “Chinese”, similarly nobody had thought to use this glaze style in a matcha set.
After some trial and error, we managed to get the glaze consistency just right and enrobe a large earthenware matcha bowl and chasen-holder. The resulting Jianzhan bowl is in itself a work of art worthy of display, and it will make great matcha too!
The whole set comes in a gorgeous gift box, which includes:
- One jianzhan-style earthenware matcha bowl
- One purple bamboo high-quality Chasen (whisk)
- One jianzhan-style earthenware whisk-holder
- A wooden matcha scoop, for measuring how much matcha to use
- A scoop-holder, so the scoop doesn't get tired and fall over
- A small sieve for smoothing the matcha powder, for a smooth finish
The matcha bowls are available here, and also come with discounts on matcha samplers.
Want Quality Matcha Wholesale?
We just launched this new matcha line, so we aren’t set up for wholesale yet, but if you run a cafe, teahouse, or boba place and need wholesale sized matcha, please email teafriendsupport@jessesteahouse.com re: Wholesale Matcha and ask for our wholesale info, and let’s see what we can do!
This item is NOT OUT OF STOCK! It launches in a few days - click the "Notify Me" button below to get an email when it launches and get first dibs!
Jesse’s Premium Guizhou High-Altitude Matcha
What is Matcha?
Known as Mo Cha (抹茶）in Chinese, Matcha is a tea powder made from ground-up whole leaf green tea. Traditionally drunk straight by dissolving the powder in a bowl and whisking, it can also be mixed with milk, coconut water, or other drinks.
To make matcha, green tea farmers hang specialized shades over huge areas of their farms to keep the trees from absorbing too much direct sunlight. By shading specific cultivars of tea trees, the resulting leaves and matcha are rich in antioxidants, with more amino acids and less bitterness than un-shaded tea.
The leaves are then ground repeatedly until reaching just the right grain size so that they dissolve easily and smoothly. Matcha is graded by color, flavor, and quality of grind.
About This Tea:
1 x 30g tin (15-20 sessions)
This is our premium matcha! It has a light, creamy and sweet taste, while still packed full of umami flavor and grassy, fresh notes.
When we visited the matcha farmers, we asked for the best matcha they had, and this is it. In fact, they told us, somewhat embarrassed, that they only made this high-grade matcha as a promotional material and for enjoyment in-house, since the leaves are so expensive and no Western company had been interested in exporting premium Chinese matcha so far.
We waited a whole year to secure a new, larger crop, which enabled us to get enough of the matcha
While this matcha was selected specifically for ceremonial-style drinking, we did blind taste-tests and every single person at the Teahouse agreed that this matcha also made the best mixed drinks of any we tried.
At only a few extra cents per session, don’t feel bad if you use this mixed with milk or other ingredients, as it works surprisingly well.
Compared to the premium matcha, it has a stronger, bolder flavor and a slightly darker color. If you just want quality, single-sourced matcha at a good price, this is the one!
Pick up Jesse’s Matcha Sampler to get 1x30g tin of both the Everyday and Premium matchas, and save!
Japanese Matcha vs. Chinese Matcha
Mo Cha (Matcha) originated in China in the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), and spread from China to Japan. While it was long popular amongst courtiers in both countries, the tradition of making matcha lapsed in China, though it continued in Japan, and eventually reached the West through Japan.
Modern Chinese matcha is made with the same growing and grinding techniques as Japanese matcha, but uses Chinese-grown leaves. Our Matcha people in Guizhou use machines imported from Japan for grinding, and workflows and quality-checks designed by Japanese matcha grinding experts, adapted for the special varietals of green teas grown in Guizhou.
Japanese and Chinese matcha are more similar to each other in taste than Japanese and Chinese green teas. The main difference is terroir (growing conditions) but otherwise they are produced with the same processes and techniques.
Flavor-wise, our Guizhou matcha tends to be a bit milder than Japanese counterparts, since it is grown at high altitude and has a more delicate flavor and sweetness because of the growing conditions.
In loose-leaf tea, high altitude is generally a desired trait, but because there is not a single matcha plantation in Japan that grows at these altitudes, it makes it difficult to say one is “better” than the other. They are different.
Similarly, Japanese matcha tends to be grown in rockier soil and closer to the ocean, which creates more mineral and umami flavors. Sometimes, fish bones are used in fertilizer in Japan, lending it a “seaweed” flavor.
Our Guizhou matcha is still rich and has lots of umami, but that “seaweed” tasting note is not as intense.
In the end, the differences are there, but not so large. I think only experienced matcha drinkers would be able to tell a large difference between Chinese and Japanese matcha. More important than country is quality: better leaves and a more even grind makes a smoother, cleaner matcha, regardless of where it was produced.
I personally think comparing Japanese matcha and Chinese matcha is like comparing Japanese and Chinese teas: you could do it, but it’s worth trying both, weighing the value and quality, and seeing what you like best.
Jesse Says:
The journey to bringing Matcha to the teahouse has taken several years.
For the first few years of the Teahouse, even though I knew Chinese matcha was available and being sold in the West as “fake” Japanese Matcha, I still did not sell it.
First of all, I didn’t want to sell “fake” anything; but mostly I hesitated because I didn’t know as much about matcha as loose leaf tea, and I didn’t want to jump on a bandwagon without doing the same due diligence I do on all my other teas.
Over the years, two trips and their learnings made me change my mind and decide to start the matcha line.
The first was my trip to Guizhou in 2025, where I got to meet the farmers, see their farms and shading operations, and learn about the grinding and packing process. I saw how they separated the matcha into various grades based on the quality of the end product, and how their matcha production line looked on par with the best in Japan.
The second was my trip to Uji, Japan, in 2026 where I met Tanaka Sensei, a 16th Generation matcha shop owner. Through my Chinese-Japanese translator, when I asked him how he faced the challenge of balancing new trends (like matcha suddenly being so popular) with the tradition that brought him here, he showed me two characters of calligraphy: 守道: “Michi o mamoru” - “Defend the Path.”
Tanaka Sensei said that he keeps his focus on protecting the customs, quality control, and techniques that have allowed his shop to last from the times of the Shogun to now.
This made me think: What is the Jesse's Teahouse Path? What am I defending?
I felt that it was a combination of sourcing in person - going straight to the mountains - and providing transparency, quality, value, and education.
Basically, I should source the matcha to the same standards as my tea, share the culture, our tea farmers, and teamaking techniques. If I follow the path that has brought me here, I then just have to hope tea drinkers embrace the transparency and my attempt to do something new in the matcha space by doing transparently-sourced Chinese matcha.
If you’ve got more time, take a look at my matcha videos! A lot of thinking has gone into this new matcha line, and I hope it will grow and expand.
Jesse’s Chinese Matcha Bowl Sets
Part of our Path at Jesse’s Teahouse has been to match great tea with great tea equipment.
Since most matcha sellers re-package Chinese matcha and either sell it as “fake” Japanese matcha or simply don’t share where it comes from, we found nobody had Chinese-themed matcha sets anywhere online.
Working with our porcelain guy in Dehua, we designed two original sets with classic Chinese themes, which we hope will serve as fantastic tea-making sets that complement, and not compete with or copy classic Japanese sets.
Both of these are unique - if you see anything similar, they’re copying us!
Set 1: Blue-White Porcelain Matcha Set
Nothing is so classic as Chinese blue-white porcelain. In the spirit of avoiding AI art, we searched museum archives for traditional Chinese painting of the region our tea is from, and discovered a piece from an album called "Landscape Gazing at Me." Painted in 1743 by Zou Yigui, the "East Mountain" depicted in this painting is the East Mountain in Guiyang.
This set is made of Dehua white porcelain, and features the character “Cha 茶“ for tea. This character is Jesse’s own personal calligraphy, digitized and added to each bowl through an ink-transfer technique.
The whole set comes in a gorgeous gift box, which includes:
- One blue-white porcelain matcha bowl
- One purple bamboo high-quality Chasen (whisk)
- One porcelain whisk-holder
- A wooden matcha scoop, for measuring how much matcha to use
- A scoop-holder, so the scoop doesn't get tired and fall over-
- A small sieve for smoothing the matcha powder, for a smooth finish
Set 2: Jianzhan Glaze Matcha Set
Jianzhan glaze style, and its myriad of metallic colors, is one of the most visually captivating styles of Chinese traditional glaze. Our jianzhan cups have been a popular item for years, but since nobody was selling Chinese matcha as “Chinese”, similarly nobody had thought to use this glaze style in a matcha set.
After some trial and error, we managed to get the glaze consistency just right and enrobe a large earthenware matcha bowl and chasen-holder. The resulting Jianzhan bowl is in itself a work of art worthy of display, and it will make great matcha too!
The whole set comes in a gorgeous gift box, which includes:
- One jianzhan-style earthenware matcha bowl
- One purple bamboo high-quality Chasen (whisk)
- One jianzhan-style earthenware whisk-holder
- A wooden matcha scoop, for measuring how much matcha to use
- A scoop-holder, so the scoop doesn't get tired and fall over
- A small sieve for smoothing the matcha powder, for a smooth finish
The matcha bowls are available here, and also come with discounts on matcha samplers.
Want Quality Matcha Wholesale?
We just launched this new matcha line, so we aren’t set up for wholesale yet, but if you run a cafe, teahouse, or boba place and need wholesale sized matcha, please email teafriendsupport@jessesteahouse.com re: Wholesale Matcha and ask for our wholesale info, and let’s see what we can do!
This item is NOT OUT OF STOCK! It launches in a few days - click the "Notify Me" button below to get an email when it launches and get first dibs!
Jesse’s Premium Guizhou High-Altitude Matcha
What is Matcha?
Known as Mo Cha (抹茶）in Chinese, Matcha is a tea powder made from ground-up whole leaf green tea. Traditionally drunk straight by dissolving the powder in a bowl and whisking, it can also be mixed with milk, coconut water, or other drinks.
To make matcha, green tea farmers hang specialized shades over huge areas of their farms to keep the trees from absorbing too much direct sunlight. By shading specific cultivars of tea trees, the resulting leaves and matcha are rich in antioxidants, with more amino acids and less bitterness than un-shaded tea.
The leaves are then ground repeatedly until reaching just the right grain size so that they dissolve easily and smoothly. Matcha is graded by color, flavor, and quality of grind.
About This Tea:
1 x 30g tin (15-20 sessions)
This is our premium matcha! It has a light, creamy and sweet taste, while still packed full of umami flavor and grassy, fresh notes.
When we visited the matcha farmers, we asked for the best matcha they had, and this is it. In fact, they told us, somewhat embarrassed, that they only made this high-grade matcha as a promotional material and for enjoyment in-house, since the leaves are so expensive and no Western company had been interested in exporting premium Chinese matcha so far.
We waited a whole year to secure a new, larger crop, which enabled us to get enough of the matcha
While this matcha was selected specifically for ceremonial-style drinking, we did blind taste-tests and every single person at the Teahouse agreed that this matcha also made the best mixed drinks of any we tried.
At only a few extra cents per session, don’t feel bad if you use this mixed with milk or other ingredients, as it works surprisingly well.
Compared to the premium matcha, it has a stronger, bolder flavor and a slightly darker color. If you just want quality, single-sourced matcha at a good price, this is the one!
Pick up Jesse’s Matcha Sampler to get 1x30g tin of both the Everyday and Premium matchas, and save!
Japanese Matcha vs. Chinese Matcha
Mo Cha (Matcha) originated in China in the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), and spread from China to Japan. While it was long popular amongst courtiers in both countries, the tradition of making matcha lapsed in China, though it continued in Japan, and eventually reached the West through Japan.
Modern Chinese matcha is made with the same growing and grinding techniques as Japanese matcha, but uses Chinese-grown leaves. Our Matcha people in Guizhou use machines imported from Japan for grinding, and workflows and quality-checks designed by Japanese matcha grinding experts, adapted for the special varietals of green teas grown in Guizhou.
Japanese and Chinese matcha are more similar to each other in taste than Japanese and Chinese green teas. The main difference is terroir (growing conditions) but otherwise they are produced with the same processes and techniques.
Flavor-wise, our Guizhou matcha tends to be a bit milder than Japanese counterparts, since it is grown at high altitude and has a more delicate flavor and sweetness because of the growing conditions.
In loose-leaf tea, high altitude is generally a desired trait, but because there is not a single matcha plantation in Japan that grows at these altitudes, it makes it difficult to say one is “better” than the other. They are different.
Similarly, Japanese matcha tends to be grown in rockier soil and closer to the ocean, which creates more mineral and umami flavors. Sometimes, fish bones are used in fertilizer in Japan, lending it a “seaweed” flavor.
Our Guizhou matcha is still rich and has lots of umami, but that “seaweed” tasting note is not as intense.
In the end, the differences are there, but not so large. I think only experienced matcha drinkers would be able to tell a large difference between Chinese and Japanese matcha. More important than country is quality: better leaves and a more even grind makes a smoother, cleaner matcha, regardless of where it was produced.
I personally think comparing Japanese matcha and Chinese matcha is like comparing Japanese and Chinese teas: you could do it, but it’s worth trying both, weighing the value and quality, and seeing what you like best.
Jesse Says:
The journey to bringing Matcha to the teahouse has taken several years.
For the first few years of the Teahouse, even though I knew Chinese matcha was available and being sold in the West as “fake” Japanese Matcha, I still did not sell it.
First of all, I didn’t want to sell “fake” anything; but mostly I hesitated because I didn’t know as much about matcha as loose leaf tea, and I didn’t want to jump on a bandwagon without doing the same due diligence I do on all my other teas.
Over the years, two trips and their learnings made me change my mind and decide to start the matcha line.
The first was my trip to Guizhou in 2025, where I got to meet the farmers, see their farms and shading operations, and learn about the grinding and packing process. I saw how they separated the matcha into various grades based on the quality of the end product, and how their matcha production line looked on par with the best in Japan.
The second was my trip to Uji, Japan, in 2026 where I met Tanaka Sensei, a 16th Generation matcha shop owner. Through my Chinese-Japanese translator, when I asked him how he faced the challenge of balancing new trends (like matcha suddenly being so popular) with the tradition that brought him here, he showed me two characters of calligraphy: 守道: “Michi o mamoru” - “Defend the Path.”
Tanaka Sensei said that he keeps his focus on protecting the customs, quality control, and techniques that have allowed his shop to last from the times of the Shogun to now.
This made me think: What is the Jesse's Teahouse Path? What am I defending?
I felt that it was a combination of sourcing in person - going straight to the mountains - and providing transparency, quality, value, and education.
Basically, I should source the matcha to the same standards as my tea, share the culture, our tea farmers, and teamaking techniques. If I follow the path that has brought me here, I then just have to hope tea drinkers embrace the transparency and my attempt to do something new in the matcha space by doing transparently-sourced Chinese matcha.
If you’ve got more time, take a look at my matcha videos! A lot of thinking has gone into this new matcha line, and I hope it will grow and expand.
Jesse’s Chinese Matcha Bowl Sets
Part of our Path at Jesse’s Teahouse has been to match great tea with great tea equipment.
Since most matcha sellers re-package Chinese matcha and either sell it as “fake” Japanese matcha or simply don’t share where it comes from, we found nobody had Chinese-themed matcha sets anywhere online.
Working with our porcelain guy in Dehua, we designed two original sets with classic Chinese themes, which we hope will serve as fantastic tea-making sets that complement, and not compete with or copy classic Japanese sets.
Both of these are unique - if you see anything similar, they’re copying us!
Set 1: Blue-White Porcelain Matcha Set
Nothing is so classic as Chinese blue-white porcelain. In the spirit of avoiding AI art, we searched museum archives for traditional Chinese painting of the region our tea is from, and discovered a piece from an album called "Landscape Gazing at Me." Painted in 1743 by Zou Yigui, the "East Mountain" depicted in this painting is the East Mountain in Guiyang.
This set is made of Dehua white porcelain, and features the character “Cha 茶“ for tea. This character is Jesse’s own personal calligraphy, digitized and added to each bowl through an ink-transfer technique.
The whole set comes in a gorgeous gift box, which includes:
- One blue-white porcelain matcha bowl
- One purple bamboo high-quality Chasen (whisk)
- One porcelain whisk-holder
- A wooden matcha scoop, for measuring how much matcha to use
- A scoop-holder, so the scoop doesn't get tired and fall over-
- A small sieve for smoothing the matcha powder, for a smooth finish
Set 2: Jianzhan Glaze Matcha Set
Jianzhan glaze style, and its myriad of metallic colors, is one of the most visually captivating styles of Chinese traditional glaze. Our jianzhan cups have been a popular item for years, but since nobody was selling Chinese matcha as “Chinese”, similarly nobody had thought to use this glaze style in a matcha set.
After some trial and error, we managed to get the glaze consistency just right and enrobe a large earthenware matcha bowl and chasen-holder. The resulting Jianzhan bowl is in itself a work of art worthy of display, and it will make great matcha too!
The whole set comes in a gorgeous gift box, which includes:
- One jianzhan-style earthenware matcha bowl
- One purple bamboo high-quality Chasen (whisk)
- One jianzhan-style earthenware whisk-holder
- A wooden matcha scoop, for measuring how much matcha to use
- A scoop-holder, so the scoop doesn't get tired and fall over
- A small sieve for smoothing the matcha powder, for a smooth finish
The matcha bowls are available here, and also come with discounts on matcha samplers.
Want Quality Matcha Wholesale?
We just launched this new matcha line, so we aren’t set up for wholesale yet, but if you run a cafe, teahouse, or boba place and need wholesale sized matcha, please email teafriendsupport@jessesteahouse.com re: Wholesale Matcha and ask for our wholesale info, and let’s see what we can do!
