About Us

so what is kenko tea?

Hi there!  Kenko Tea is an online tea shop based in Melbourne, Australia. We sell supremely healthy, incredibly tasty Japanese matcha green tea powder. Our customers, naturally, are some the smartest, sexiest and healthiest people getting around.

Kenko (健康) is also Japanese for healthy.

what do you do?

Our philosophy is simple: "do one thing and do it well"

So our focus is solely on sourcing the finest quality matcha tea from Japan and making it available to Australia. We sell direct to customers via this website, and also wholesale for cafes and retailers.

You won't find 50 different tea blends, mixes and strains, just the highest quality Japanese matcha available on the market. 

We source from sustainable tea growers in Nishio, Kagoshima and UJI Japan, and you can even re use our tins and packaging once you run out of matcha.

it's run by a cartoon fox?

No, no. It is run by myself, Sam James. I am a chef, foodie, green tea lover and a try-hard comedian. 

Kenko Tea is the intersection of a few of my biggest passions. Namely;

• My desire to live a healthier lifestyle 
• An appreciation of quality artisanal ingredients
• And of course my love affair with Japanese matcha tea  

the story:

I first discovered matcha tea while looking for a healthier alternative to coffee.

You see, I loved coffee. The taste, the aroma...(hold on I'm trying to sell tea here). After years of working in Melbourne cafes I was a certified coffee addict. But what I didn't like were the side effects. The jittery, 'wired' feeling I felt, the ups and downs followed by the afternoon caffeine crash. So my search for a healthy alternative began..

I came across matcha after trying a few types green tea, and instantly loved it. The intense colour, it's unique flavour, it's endless versatility for making sweets and smoothies. Not to mention the amazing health benefits and antioxidant levels.

After sampling just about every grade of matcha I could find, I wasn't impressed with what was available in Australia. Most were dull shades of murky green, bitter to taste and no real aroma. Matcha is a very delicate product, with a short lifespan. It should be vibrant 'electric' green in colour. with a fresh, sweet, grassy aroma that delights you. So I started Kenko Tea with the goal of bringing quality Japanese matcha green tea to Australia.

Alot of the matcha green tea sold in shops is stale, dull, lifeless and colourless - with good reason. Matcha loses it's freshness very quickly after being ground into a fine powder. Exposure to air, light and any extremities damage it even further. At Kenko, as we are a small company, we order matcha in small batches, and the matcha is only stone ground once we place an order. Meaning you are getting a much fresher product than what is available in any store. Larger stores have to order in bulk, it then sits in a warehouse, before being shipped to their own warehouses, before being packaged, and sent to the stores. The result = lifeless, dull matcha. The opposite of what it should be. 

I hope you will love our products and if you want get in touch send me an email at sam@kenkotea.com.au