The cupping table
Every lot is cupped three times: at the garden, on landing, and again before it ships. Anything that drifts goes back.
Single-estate tea importers · Rotterdam · since 2011
Tea, measured from the garden to the cup.
Leafhold buys one picking from one plot, seals it at the farm, and lands it in Rotterdam inside three weeks. Every tin tells you exactly where, when and how high.
- Lot
- 24-117
- Garden
- Okuhara, JP
- Elevation
- 410 m
- Picked
- 08 May 2026
- Landed
- 29 May 2026
38
gardens bought from directly, no brokers
11
origins, from Shizuoka to Ilam
≤ 21 d
from final firing to our bonded store
0
blends, flavourings or anonymous grades
02 — Autumn arrivals
Six lots landed this season. When they are gone, they are gone.
| Lot | Tea | Origin | Elevation | Picked | Process | 100 g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24-117 | Asamushi sencha | Shizuoka, JP | 410 m | 08 May | Steamed | €14.80 |
| 24-122 | Gokou tencha (for matcha) | Uji, JP | 180 m | 14 May | Shaded 24 d | €31.00 |
| 24-131 | Castleton first flush | Darjeeling, IN | 1 370 m | 22 Mar | Light | €22.40 |
| 24-140 | Dong Ding, charcoal-roasted | Nantou, TW | 740 m | 19 Apr | 35 % | €18.60 |
| 24-146 | Old-tree Dian Hong | Fengqing, CN | 1 900 m | 02 Apr | Full | €12.90 |
| 24-153 | Jun Chiyabari spring white | Dhankuta, NP | 1 800 m | 30 Mar | Withered | €19.70 |
03 — How a lot is kept
Freshness is a logistics problem. We treat it like one.
Stone-milled in Uji
Tencha is held whole in nitrogen and milled to order, 40 g an hour, so the matcha you open is never older than a fortnight.
The bonded store
Fourteen degrees, forty per cent humidity, no light. Each tin carries its lot, its garden and the day it was fired.
04 — Brewing parameters
The lot sheet ends with numbers, not adjectives.
Water
70°C
Leaf / 100 ml
5g
First steep
60s
Infusions
3×
Cool water keeps the sweetness in front of the bitterness. Second infusion: 10 seconds.
05 — Route
Four stops, one sheet of paper following the leaf.
- 01
Garden
We buy one plot, one picking. The farmer signs the lot sheet with us.
- 02
Firing
Final firing at origin; we seal in foil under nitrogen the same day.
- 03
Landing
Air or reefer to Rotterdam, then 72 hours resting before the second cupping.
- 04
Your counter
Wholesale tins from 1 kg, retail from 50 g. Lot sheet in every box.
06 — Trade
Samples leave Rotterdam every Tuesday.
For cafés, restaurants and shops: six 10 g sample tins of the current lots, lot sheets included. Free for trade accounts in the EU and UK.
trade@leafhold.example