About us

WMATCHA & CO. is a Japanese tea startup.

We work directly with small-scale tea producers to carry the story of Japanese tea, which was close to being lost, into the next 50 years.

WMATCHA & CO. was founded by two young men drawn to the traditions of Kyoto. We met at sixteen in Uji, and went on to play on the world stage as members of Japan’s national American football team. That experience shaped us, and led to careers in the financial industry in Silicon Valley, New York and Tokyo.

But the relentless pace of modern life slowly carried us away from who we used to be.

At twenty-two, over dinner in Tokyo, we realized that we were not the only ones: many people around us had lost sight of who they really were. Rather than simply looking back, we chose to bring that essence back to life through the enduring tea culture of our home, Kyoto. Matcha has been refined in Kyoto over centuries. It is not a relic. It is a living tradition, and a place of stillness in a world that never stops.

This is not a return to nostalgia. It is a return to our essence.