How to choose a matcha supplier: a 9-point checklist

Matcha has no legal grade system. "Ceremonial", "barista" and "culinary" are labels each supplier defines for itself, and two bags with the same word can come from different harvests or even different countries. The only way to compare suppliers fairly is on documents.

In our comparison of ten European matcha suppliers on 9 November 2026, only one named its lab tests on its website and four published a per-kg price. Expect to ask for most of the items below; a good supplier answers within a day or two and does not mind.

Work through these in order. The first four are about safety and legality, the rest about whether the product is what you are paying for.

1. Batch certificate of analysis. Ask for the CoA of the lot you will receive, not a sample report from an older batch. It should carry the batch number printed on your bag.
2. Pesticide and heavy-metal results. Results should be measured against EU maximum residue levels (Regulation (EC) No 396/2005). Kyosun names checks for pesticides, heavy metals, microbiology and mercury; most suppliers name nothing.
3. Radiation test for Japanese tea. Many buyers still ask for one. Of the European suppliers we checked, only AIYA Europe mentions radiation testing, and only on a directory profile. Kyosun, which names several other tests, does not mention it.
4. Supplier food-safety certificate. A certificate for the trading company itself, such as IFS Broker, shows that its sourcing and handling are audited. Big Moca holds IFS Broker at Higher Level and AIYA Europe shows an IFS Broker logo. Producer certificates are not the same thing.
5. Organic control-body code. Under Regulation (EU) 2018/848 an organic label must show the code of the control body. Matcha KĀRU names DE-ÖKO-006, Healthy Supplies names Soil Association DA22928. "Certified organic" without a code is a reason to ask.
6. Grade definition in writing. Ask which harvest or flush the grade comes from, plus the cultivar and a colour or particle-size spec. Moya defines Culinary as 3rd harvest; Hojicha Wholesale sells culinary from the September 3rd flush.
7. Origin documents. Ask for the country of origin on the specification and the import papers. Several European wholesale matchas are stated as Chinese origin and some are packed in Germany or France, so the shelf label can look European.
8. Harvest and milling dates. Matcha loses freshness after opening; Ippodo advises using it within about a month. Ask for nitrogen-flushed packing and a best-before date tied to the milling date.
9. Lead time in days. Stock items from EU stockists often ship within days. Production or private-label orders take longer: buyers in a Reddit thread on private-label matcha advise booking production 60 to 90 days ahead.

The table shows what each supplier puts on its own website. A blank here is not a failure; it is a question to send.

Most problems show up before you pay, if you look for them.

• A grade word with no specification. One supplier sells a "ceremonial" matcha picked in summer and autumn; another calls its top grade "advanced ceremonial quality". Neither word tells you the harvest.
• A price you cannot pin to a pack. One French page shows €30.90 ex VAT without saying whether that is for 500 g or 1 kg. Another shows €79 next to an unlabelled €99.
• Organic claims without a code. Some pages say every product is certified organic while the B2B shop lists SKUs without the BIO mark.
• Prices from outside the EU that look cheap. Japanese and US prices exclude EU import VAT and duty, and UK prices bring customs paperwork.
• Copycat domains. Lookalike shops on .it.com addresses turned up in search results for well-known matcha brands, for example jadeleafmatchabest.it.com, matchaashop.it.com and mattchasale.it.com. Type the supplier’s address yourself and check the company register number in the footer.

A short, specific email gets better answers than a request for "your price list". Ask for: the CoA of the current batch, the specification sheet, the organic certificate if relevant, the supplier’s food-safety certificate, the price per kg at your volume with VAT basis and Incoterm, the minimum order, the lead time in days and whether a sample is free or credited.

Big Moca, for example, sends its IFS Broker certificate on request and lists its documents on its quality page; samples are available on request through its contact page. To see how suppliers compare on all six of our criteria, go back to the European matcha supplier comparison.