IT ALL STARTED IN JAPAN
I still remember my first cup of matcha. The taste was intense, nothing like what I had expected, and yet something pulled me back.
With time, I began to understand why. Beyond the taste, there was an entire world: precise gestures, a particular rhythm, a way of being present that I had not found elsewhere.
Gradually, matcha became part of my daily life. A moment I look forward to from the moment I wake up. A simple, deliberate way to begin the day.
BACK FROM JAPAN, SOMETHING WAS MISSING
The matcha available in Europe is often smoothed out, standardised, designed to suit Western tastes. Profiles are softened, blends are common, origins rarely highlighted. It is no longer matcha as it is consumed in Japan, it is a standardised version that has the colour without the substance.
FROM THIS CONTRAST, ALFALFA WAS BORN
With a simple intention: to offer a matcha that is transparent, demanding, and true to what it really is. A matcha whose origin you know, whose taste you recognise, and whose aromatic character you can perceive.
OUR CHOICE: SINGLE CULTIVAR
At Alfalfa, we work exclusively with single cultivar matchas the equivalent of a grape variety in winemaking. Where most matchas available in Europe are blends, single cultivar exposes the taste without filter. Each profile is distinct, each origin identifiable.
WE WORK EXCLUSIVELY WITH JAPANESE FAMILY FARMS
Each matcha comes from the first spring harvest. The leaves are shaded using traditional methods, processed into tencha, then slowly stone-ground. It is this attention at every step that gives the matcha its depth, texture and balance.