Ippodo matcha: how to read the lineup

Which Ippodo matcha should you buy? The short answer

Ippodo's lineup is a ladder of richness with a use attached to each rung. Rich blends — Ummon, Seiun, Sayaka, and at the top Kuon and Kanza — are for the whisked bowl and, at the top, for koicha. Medium and Light blends — Ikuyo, Kan, Wakaki — are what the house itself recommends for lattes. Serving sizes are the same across the range: 2 g for usucha, 3 g for a latte, 4 g for koicha. Buy from ippodotea.com in the United States; Ippodo left Amazon US in December 2024.

The house

Ippodo’s own history page dates its origins to 1717, when Rihei Watanabe opened a shop called Omiya on Teramachi Street in Kyoto to sell tea and ceramics; the name Ippodo, “preserve one,” was given in 1846. The company describes itself as selecting, blending and crafting more than thirty blends — a blender and packer, not a single-estate grower — and states its matcha’s origin as blended and packaged in Japan by Ippodo, Kyoto. It has a Tokyo shop in the Shin-Marunouchi Building and a store in New York, and it runs three online storefronts: ippodotea.com for the United States and Canada, shipped from US stock; a global shop; and the Japanese site. The three do not carry identical lineups, sizes or prices, and this page follows the US one unless noted.

The lineup, by richness

Ippodo does not sell grades. It sorts by flavor category and tells you what each blend is for.

Source: ippodotea.com collection and product pages, September 2026. The global and Japanese shops list further names — Shoin-no-mukashi, Hatsu-mukashi, Fumi-no-tomo, an organic matcha — and moved most matcha to 20 g boxes from October 1, 2025.

The names carry the old Kyoto convention: on the Japanese side, blends ending in -no-mukashi and -no-shiro, a house vocabulary that predates any English grade word. On the US site the categories do the work instead, and they are more useful to a buyer than a grade: “Rich & Robust” tells you the bowl will be full-bodied, “Light & Sharp” that it will cut through milk. Ippodo’s product pages describe Ikuyo, for instance, as balanced between astringency, umami and sweetness, with a medium-light body and a bright aroma — and recommend it for lattes because its slight astringency pairs with milk.

What Ippodo says, and does not say

Says. Category, use and serving size for every blend; a full set of recipes — usucha, koicha, latte, iced — with grams, water and temperature; that blends are made from tea of different farms and locations so that each name stays consistent year to year; that new harvests are rested before sale. And, in its own FAQ, that it does not use the term “ceremonial grade,” because the term was invented to market matcha overseas and is not used in Japan.

Does not say. Cultivar, farm, district within Kyoto, or harvest, for any blend. Shading duration. A lab report: no heavy-metal, pesticide or radiation results are published. The organic matcha on the global site carries its organic status; the rest of the range is conventional and undocumented beyond the house’s name.

That is the trade-off Ippodo offers, and it is the same one Marukyu Koyamaen offers: the house’s reputation and consistency in place of the field’s identity. It is a reasonable trade for a blend that tastes the same every year. It is not the same thing as disclosure.

The shortage, in Ippodo’s own notices

Ippodo has written the shortage down more precisely than any house. A president’s message dated July 31, 2025 announced purchase limits across all of its sales channels worldwide, citing bulk buying by unauthorized resellers, and put the market trading price of matcha at about 2.5 times the previous year. A notice dated September 15, 2025, updated on the 24th, set new prices from October 1, 2025 and moved most matcha to a 20 g box format, discontinuing several 40 g and 30 g cans and boxes on the global shop. A notice for March 1, 2026 extended purchase limits to bancha — hojicha and genmaicha — and stated that 2026 matcha prices were likely to remain near 2025 levels rather than rise further, with bancha supply the greater concern. The house’s February 2026 figures for 2025 Kyoto leaf — first harvest at 2.5 times, second at 2.9 — are the numbers this site uses for the shortage as a whole.

Amazon, resellers and the imitation site

As of December 2024 Ippodo withdrew its products from Amazon US. Its FAQ states that any Ippodo products found there are sold by unauthorized third-party sellers, asks customers to buy from its official website or authorized retailers, and notes that the statement does not apply to Amazon Japan. The company has separately warned of a fraudulent website using a look-alike domain. For a buyer in the United States, the route is ippodotea.com, shipped from US stock, or a retailer the company lists.

Which blend, for which bowl

Reading a tin

Ippodo’s boxes and cans state the blend name, the category on the US site, and the serving guidance; they do not state harvest, cultivar or field. The 20 g box is ten bowls of usucha, six or seven lattes, five koicha; Ippodo’s own advice is to consume it quickly once opened. If a listing offers Ippodo at a price far below the official site, on a marketplace the company has left, the listing is telling you what it is.

Numbers and facts at a glance

• Founded: 1717 (as Omiya); named Ippodo in 1846. Kyoto, Teramachi Street.
• Categories: Rich, Medium, Light; serving 2 g usucha, 3 g latte, 4 g koicha.
• Latte recipe: 3 g, 100 ml at 80°C, 15 seconds, 100 ml milk.
• Disclosed: category, use, serving, recipes. Not disclosed: cultivar, farm, harvest, lab results.
• Grade terms: does not use “ceremonial grade,” by its own FAQ.
• Amazon US: withdrawn December 2024; resellers only.
• Notices: July 31, 2025 (limits, 2.5x); October 1, 2025 (prices, 20 g boxes); March 1, 2026 (bancha limits).
• Affiliate program: none.