Origin? Cultivation? Marketing? Supplement? Tradition? Culture? Scam? Fashion? Trend? Uji? Japan?
These are just some of the words, labels, and narratives that surround matcha today. It seems everyone knows what matcha is, yet the more important question remains: How many people truly understand it?
As with every anniversary edition of Satoricha's Journal, we begin not with answers, but with questions, questions that encourage us to look beyond the obvious. We seek voices capable of offering fresh perspectives from their own fields of expertise, because understanding tea has never been simply about memorizing names, regions, or production methods.
These anniversary features may appear to be a departure from our usual editorial path, but in reality, they represent exactly the opposite. They are an opportunity to explore tea from new angles and to remind ourselves that understanding it is a lifelong pursuit, one that, much like tea itself, is cultivated over time.
One of those questions lies at the heart of this conversation: Can a tradition that spans centuries coexist with a deeply technological ecosystem, where science, engineering, materials, design, and innovation work together not to replace tradition, but to preserve it?
That question, perhaps, best captures the essence of Sanko Matcha.
Under the leadership of Ryan and Sam, the company has become a meeting point between Japanese tea tradition and a contemporary vision of innovation. Yet to understand how they arrived there, we must first return to where their journey began: a desire to understand tea beyond the cup.
Back in the classroom
The story begins at the Penn State Tea Institute, an interdisciplinary program dedicated to the study, education, and preservation of tea culture.
Ryan served as its second director, while Sam became its third. More than an academic institution, it was a place where different tea traditions could meet and interact: the Japanese chanoyu schools of Urasenke and Omotesenke, the Korean tea ceremony, and the Chinese gongfu cha tradition.
The Institute also hosted seminars led by internationally recognized tea practitioners. It offered immersive learning experiences in Japan, China, and Korea, allowing students to encounter tea within its own cultural landscapes.
It was this constant dialogue between traditions that sparked one of their most important questions.
Sam noticed that while conversations surrounding Chinese gongfu cha and the Korean tea ceremony openly explore cultivars, origin, and processing methods, these topics often seem to take a secondary role within Japanese chanoyu.
Not because they are less important, but because the focus shifts toward something broader: the experience of the ceremony as a whole.
That contrast planted a fundamental question: How can we understand not only the tea that reaches the bowl, but everything that exists behind it?
And that search did not remain confined to the classroom.
Can science predict the taste of tea?
One of their research projects set out to answer a question that seemed almost impossible: Could data predict the flavor of a tea?
Back in 2012, long before artificial intelligence became part of everyday conversation, they combined sensory science, statistical analysis, and AI to develop models that linked a tea's sensory profile to variables such as origin, age, and even consumer preferences.
What began as an academic research project eventually evolved into something much larger. It became a sensory analytics company whose technology found applications far beyond tea, reaching industries such as wine, beer, soft drinks, and food.
Yet even after building two successful ventures, both Ryan and Sam felt that something was still missing.
The answer, in retrospect, seemed both simple and inevitable:
More tea.
More specifically, more matcha. And that is how Sanko Matcha was born.
What is Sanko Matcha?
When Ryan explains what Sanko Matcha is, he doesn't begin by talking about a company. He begins with a problem.
After years of studying tea, Ryan and Sam identified a fundamental limitation in the world of matcha: producing consistently high-quality, freshly ground matcha still relied on traditional stone milling. This artisanal process is difficult to scale and even harder to reproduce with precision.
Their solution was as ambitious as it was unconventional: To develop a countertop machine capable of replicating the physical principles behind a traditional Japanese stone mill.
But the goal was never simply to automate craftsmanship.
Sanko Matcha's technology is designed to control critical variables throughout the grinding process, including tea compression. It incorporates ceramic grinding mechanisms and an active cooling system that dissipates heat during milling, helping preserve the sensory qualities of the matcha.
According to Ryan, developing this technology has required more than two years of continuous research and refinement. Yet as the machine took shape, another need became increasingly clear: The need to share knowledge.
After years of research, they had come to believe that the future of tea would depend not only on better tools, but also on better conversations.
That conviction gave rise to the Specialty Matcha Podcast, a platform that brings together producers, researchers, and tea professionals with a simple but ambitious mission: To take knowledge beyond the small circle of specialists and make it accessible to anyone who wants to understand matcha on a deeper level.
So... what is Matcha, really?
Knowing the depth and complexity of our guests, we decided to begin with one of the most difficult questions by returning to the very basics: What is matcha?
Today, we live in a world where the most literal interpretation of the word often seems to prevail: if something is ground into a fine powder, it is suddenly labeled as "matcha."
That is how terms such as "brown matcha", which is often nothing more than powdered hōjicha, or "black matcha", typically made from activated charcoal, have entered the market.
Which raises an uncomfortable question: At what point did we stop expecting matcha to actually be tea?
So how do Ryan and Sam define it?
Their first response is a disclaimer:It depends on whom you ask.
For them, matcha is a finely milled powder produced from tencha, a shade-grown green tea that has been steamed during processing before being ground into powder.
You may agree with that definition or not, but it is the framework through which they understand matcha.
(Psst... I happen to agree. As far as I am concerned, activated charcoal isn't "black matcha." )
Why Matcha? Because it's trendy?
Not at all. Rather, because of destiny.
Ryan recalls that the first time he tried matcha was from a can of Teavana. Later, he encountered it again through his studies in the Omotesenke tea school.
For him, matcha became associated with a very specific experience: spending 20 minutes or more sitting in the seiza position, patiently waiting as the body slowly begins to remind you of its existence. And after surviving the ceremony, an usucha accompanied by a wagashi became the perfect reward.
Beyond the flavor itself, it was the complete experience, the atmosphere, the ritual, and the emotions surrounding it. A moment that became a treasured memory and, years later, continues to stay with him.
For Sam, however, matcha represents a connection with his own origins.
Born in China and later moving to the United States during his childhood, he always looked for ways to reconnect with his cultural roots. In many ways, he and matcha share a similar journey.
Matcha traces its origins back to China during the Song Dynasty, when powdered tea was part of a refined tea tradition. Later, this practice largely disappeared in China during the Ming Dynasty, while it continued to develop in Japan, eventually becoming deeply connected with the cultural expression of chanoyu.
Today, interestingly, China is also experiencing a renewed interest in rediscovering and exploring this historical tradition once again.
For that reason, we can say that matcha entered Ryan and Sam’s lives not simply as a beverage. It arrived as an experience, a cultural connection, and an ongoing question.
As they themselves summarize: “The journey has really been about understanding what makes a product meaningful for people.”
Before Sanko Matcha, they spent years working with artificial intelligence and the food and beverage industry, helping companies better understand consumer preferences and create products that were not only different, but genuinely better experiences.
That same mindset naturally carried over into matcha.
Because behind a simple bowl of tea lies a much more complex question: What truly defines high-quality matcha, and how can we better understand the elements that make it exceptional?
This conversation continues in the first volume of Mijología Aplicada.
Access the complete volume to continue exploring the reflections, experiences, and knowledge shared by Ryan and Sam from Sanko Matcha, and discover a deeper conversation about matcha, its tradition, and everything that exists behind a single cup.
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