Ceremonial Matcha Restock Update - Dry August

It is finally coming!

For those who’ve been waiting, a big shipment of matcha is making its way through to us. 

 
Now, the arrival date is 4-5 business days.

ETA: Tuesday, 3rd September.

To keep you in the loop, we will send out 1-2 more updates as it makes way in the shipping routes, so you don’t miss out on delicious matcha our farmers made after their holiday (I’ll get into this soon, but it’s an important detail to note).

Now that I have your attention, lets dive into the details and events of this restock:

• Why “Dry August” makes it a long wait for this matcha restock.
  
  
• What we are currently up to with building Green Caffeine.
  
  
• How we intend to expand, to grow and keep a steady flow of matcha for the years to come (It’s our mission to keep you caffeinated, yes. We also want to be matcha-ated with the ‘GOOD STUFF’ too).

As you can tell, this is not a quick restock alert.

It is our first longform newsletter to our audience and customers.

Why this restock is different

Every month, our restock operates like clockwork. A stream of fresh shipments trickle in ad infinitum to meet the growing demand.

We send the tender in. The farmers and suppliers make matcha. The waterwheel of matcha flows on; until there’s no tea left to make into matcha or until the demand dries up.

Here’s how the matcah industry works in Japan simplified:

1. You’re blender — You purchase green tea harvests from a marketplace auction, mixing and blending to make your own taste and blends. You don’t own any green tea farms, and only have facilities to make the matcha, no agricultural capacity.
   
   

2. You’re a farmer — You plant and grow various tea cultivars. Matcha and tea is your lifeblood. You can sell at the auction marketplace to blenders. You own the land (often inherited generationally), and have the facilities to make matcha too.

A majority of our ceremonial matcha comes from farmers.

This time there was no tea left to make matcha, so the restock took longer than ever.

As strange it sounds, the farmers needed their own restock (waiting for a harvest to be ready etc — keep in mind the tea alone takes tremendous effort to procure. Making matcha itself is several extra steps ontop)

Dry August, as it will go down in our calendar; is the problem with one major, national holiday — OBON.

“The obon festival is to honor, remember and say thank you to those that have gone before us who have influenced our lives. The festival continues the Buddhist customs, brings the community together in celebration and just having fun and enjoying the day.”

— Rance Kudo of Newbury Park

Ironic isn’t it, on a festival of the dead, our matcha supply was dying too.

Although we couldn’t help to be impatient since matcha is running out, it’s futile to rush our good friends the passing of a holiday.

Dry August happened because of complacency. We simply weren’t aware:

• End of July, just as we had tendered our order — we were notified of Obon (1 week holiday).
  
  
• We were left in silence for 3 weeks, almost ignored until we reached out in desperation.
  
  
• We didn’t know it yet, but our farmers were waiting on a harvest of tea to produce ceremonial matcha (found out 1 week after they came back from holiday).
  
  
• The lead time to produce, to package matcha is 1-3 business weeks.
  
  
• Shipping and import is another 1-2 weeks.

Before this, the restock cycle took less than 14 days.

As of this letter — 34 days, 23 hours, 19 minutes and counting.

Had we prepared for the restock earlier, this could all have been avoided.

Plan for what it is difficult while it is easy, do what is great while it is small.

- Sun Tzu

It’s on us and we wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

Resentment, regret and colouring of the past with what ifs or could haves, is an ill fated endeavour.

When you roll with the punches by moving forward, you cannot be defeated.

After all, business and life share similarities. That no matter how good you think you have it, events outside of your control happens — testing your mettle.

For us, matcha is about patience and mindfulness. After many cups of nice lattes (thank you to those who suggested ratios) and caffeinated contemplation, we decided to diversify our matcha range and not keep all our eggs in one basket.

Even the tempering of steel could not be rushed. Metal needed time to wait until it was ready; so did we, and so shall it be for your ambitions.

This is part 1 of 2 (maybe 3). In the next part of this newsletter we talk about:

• What we are currently up to with building Green Caffeine.
  
  
• How we intend to expand, to grow and keep a steady flow of matcha for the years to come

See you on the next one.

Leo & Vicky

Peace.