Blog

Opening in LA: A Letter to the Kettl Team
Opening in LA: A Letter to the Kettl Team
(This started as a blog post, then it became clear this was actually a letter to our team. I figured I would share it anyway). Team, We are getting close.... Read more...
2024 In Review | Reflections on living in tea
2024 In Review | Reflections on living in tea
With the New Year here, all of us at Kettl are feeling the rested after a period of much needed (and well deserved) rest. Me personally , I always feel... Read more...
Tea and Seasonality | How our rituals reflect the season
Tea and Seasonality | How our rituals reflect the season
As summer turns again to fall, again our desire for warmth returns. The satisfaction we seek in a wool sweater or a hot cup of tea is hard wired into... Read more...
Three New Matcha - Diving deep to find the next great offering
Three New Matcha - Diving deep to find the next great offering
(Our first time tasting Suiho Organic - unforgettable) I have seen such a remarkable growth in interest in Matcha over the last several years. Along with that growth, the knowledge... Read more...
Miyabi Sencha - 10 years sourcing our flagship Sencha
Miyabi Sencha - 10 years sourcing our flagship Sencha
(Sourcing tea with the Yamaguchi family in 2014) If there is one tea that could define the last 10 years of Kettl, it would be our Miyabi Sencha. The piercing... Read more...
JPN | NYC - Kettl’s footprint in Japan
JPN | NYC - Kettl’s footprint in Japan
(New York and Japan teams working together) We have just arrived back in Kurume, Fukuoka at our Japan office - right in time to spend the day weathering Typhoon Shanshan—a very... Read more...
Seven harvests with Kiyoharu Tsuji - Continuing progress, continuing excellence
Seven harvests with Kiyoharu Tsuji - Continuing progress, continuing excellence
2024 marks the seventh year of partnership with Kiyoharu Tsuji, one of the most decorated matcha producers in all of Japan and one of Zach's guiding mentors.  The first allotment... Read more...
Tea x Cuisine
Tea x Cuisine
The dream is coming true. The well-worn path of derivative Western-minded tea culture is dying. Long live tea. Well, in fact, tea is very much alive and well. I’ve been... Read more...
2024 Sourcing - Miyazaki, Takanabe
2024 Sourcing - Miyazaki, Takanabe
You could do a lot worse than ending up in Miyazaki. It holds little acclaim to foreigner visitors aside from perhaps its famous beef - Miyazaki Wagyu - or its... Read more...
2024 - The New Harvest Begins
2024 - The New Harvest Begins
Greetings from our 2024 sourcing trip. While it is only the very beginning of the harvest season, with many areas yet to begin harvesting, my team and I have already... Read more...
Shincha | Welcoming Spring
Shincha | Welcoming Spring
While Japan is a small country, roughly twenty-two of its forty-seven prefectures produce tea of some kind. Japan is home to a variety of microclimates and soil types. That in... Read more...
Sencha | The Tea of Japan
Sencha | The Tea of Japan
Sencha refers to the largest category of green teas produced in Japan. Most simply, sencha is made from tea leaves that have been harvested, steamed, and then processed into aracha,... Read more...