What MatchaDB is, and how we research it

MatchaDB is an independent database of matcha: 1,183 products from 156brands, from historic Uji tea houses to grocery-store tins. It exists because matcha buying is hard. Labels like “ceremonial” aren't regulated, sourcing is often vague, and prices are listed in different sizes and currencies.

Where the data comes from

Every product entry is built from the brand's own product page. We record price, size, grade, cultivar, growing region, certifications, and tasting notes as the brand states them, and link back to the source. Prices are re-checked from the live pages weekly, and yen, pound, and euro prices are converted to dollars daily at the current exchange rate.

What we don't do

• We don't invent data. If a brand doesn't say where a matcha was grown, we show that gap rather than guess.
• We don't smooth over contradictions. When a brand's own pages disagree with themselves, the entry says so.
• We don't draw farm boundaries we can't verify. Map outlines are real administrative boundaries (town, province, country), never a guessed property line.
• We remove products and brands we can't verify exist.

How results are ordered

With hundreds of products, order matters. Default results favor brands with a genuine reputation for matcha craft, such as long-established Japanese tea houses and careful direct-sourcing importers, over mass-market private-label tins and generic resellers. This is an editorial judgment, not a sales or paid ranking, and no brand can pay to move up.

Composition figures

L-theanine and EGCG values are shown either as the brand states them or as published grade- or cultivar-level research estimates, labeled with the study. They are not lab results for the specific tin.

Independence and money

MatchaDB isn't affiliated with any brand listed. The site may show ads or use affiliate links to cover its costs; we disclose that on the pages involved and in our privacy policy, and it doesn't change how products are listed.

Spot an error or want a brand added? Tell us.