Start with a sencha or one of the gift sets. Sencha is the everyday tea most Japanese households actually drink, so it is the fairest introduction to the style. A gift set lets you compare several teas side by side, which is also the easiest thing to hand to someone else.

• If you want one tea to live with: Gokuzyo Aracha — full-bodied, forgiving, hard to brew badly.
• If you want to taste the range: The Beginner Gift Set — comes with a Tokoname kyusu teapot.
• If you already love green tea: The Sencha Lover Gift Set — our premium single-origin lots.
• Save the shaded leaves for later: Gyokuro and Issaku Reserve are extraordinary, but worth meeting once you know what you like.

Yes — every tea ships with its own instructions, because the right water temperature and steeping time are genuinely different for each one. There is no single number that works across the range:

• Sencha — about 160°F (70°C), 60 to 90 seconds.
• Gyokuro — cooler, around 140°F (60°C), and steeped longer.
• Hojicha and genmaicha — near-boiling water is correct for these.
• Matcha — whisked, not steeped.

The one rule that covers almost all of them: boiling water on a delicate green tea is the most common reason it tastes bitter. Our full brewing guide is here.

Keep it sealed, away from light, heat and strong smells. An airtight tin, or the resealable bag it ships in kept in a cool cupboard, is ideal.

• Refrigerate only if the bag is fully sealed, and let it return to room temperature before opening so condensation does not form on the leaf.
• Opened tea is at its best within three months; unopened, it keeps until the date printed on the pack.
• Matcha is the most fragile — it fades fastest once air reaches it.

Yes, if you order by December 18, 2026 for delivery within the continental United States. We ship from our own warehouse in the US, usually within one business day, so there are no customs delays or surprise fees for US customers.

Orders going outside the US should be placed by December 8 to clear customs in time. Full details are on our shipping and returns page.

Gift sets are included — the code will work across the entire store, and the gift set collection is one of the better places to spend it, because the saving is largest on the higher-priced sets.

Subscriptions already carry their own standing discount, so the Black Friday code cannot be stacked on top of a subscription order.

Tell us within 30 days and we will refund you. We would rather you drank something you love than kept a tin you do not — nothing to send back, no form to fill in.

If you are unsure what went wrong, write to us first. Nine times out of ten it is water temperature, and the brewing guide fixes it.