Giving Matcha as a Gift: Putting Together a Gift Set

A good matcha gift consists of fresh powder, a bamboo whisk (Chasen) and a sieve; if the person has no bowl yet, add one. For beginners the START RITUAL at €80.90 is the right choice; the FULL RITUAL suits anyone who wants matcha straight from a bowl or has no equipment yet, at €119.90 with a glass bowl or €124.90 with a ceramic bowl. Order so that a few working days of buffer remain, and keep the pack sealed until you hand it over.

What a good gift set contains

When giving a gift, what counts is that the person can get started right away. That takes four things: the powder, a whisk, a sieve and a vessel. Everything else is a bonus.

The powder. Choose a variety that suits the recipient's preferred preparation. Anyone who only knows matcha as a café latte will be happy with a powder made for lattes; anyone who enjoys matcha straight will appreciate a variety intended for that preparation. With us, RINSUMILA DAILY (50 g, €34.90) is the matcha for latte and iced latte, RINSUMILA PURE (30 g, €39.90) the one for the bowl. Both are ground green tea from Japan. There is no "best" brand, but there are features you can look for with any supplier: origin on the pack, best-before date and lot number, a short ingredient list (only matcha, no sugar, no milk powder) and a description of which preparation the variety is meant for.

The amount. 30 g to 50 g is a good size for a gift: at 2 g per serving that is about 15 to 25 bowls or glasses, so enough to try out, but not so much that the powder sits for a long time after opening. After opening, matcha is best used up within a few weeks. A 100 g pack like our REFILL (€64.90) only suits someone who already drinks matcha daily. For comparison: 30 g of Japanese matcha usually costs about €19 to €49 in shops.

Whisk and sieve. The Chasen belongs in every set, because matcha does not dissolve but only disperses, and a bamboo whisk whisks the powder most reliably. The sieve removes lumps before the water goes in. You can replace the Chashaku with a teaspoon for scooping; for weighing, use a precision scale.

The vessel. For the latte base, a vessel the person already has and that has room for the Chasen is enough. For matcha served straight in a bowl you need a wide bowl (chawan) with room for the whisk. If you do not know what is in the cupboard, add the bowl.

A tasting set with small quantities of several varieties is a nice idea for the curious; such samplers are available from specialist tea shops. With us the counterpart consists of the two options DAILY for latte and PURE for the bowl, which you can combine individually. What matters for bowl, whisk, spoon and sieve in detail is explained in our guide to matcha accessories.

For beginners: START RITUAL

The START RITUAL contains RINSUMILA DAILY in the 50 g doypack, the Chasen, the Chashaku and a fine sieve, and costs €80.90. It is the set for people who do not know matcha yet or only know it from the café: DAILY is made for latte and iced latte. For preparation you additionally need milk or oat drink and a suitable vessel in which the Chasen has enough room. A bowl is not included, so the set suits you if the person already owns such a vessel.

The preparation you can write on the card: sieve 2 g of matcha, whisk it with 30 ml of water at about 75 °C into a fine foam, top up with 200 ml of milk or oat drink, warm or over ice. Plain, it is 2 g to 70 ml of water at about 75 °C. At 2 g per glass the doypack lasts for about 25 glasses. Add the note to soak the Chasen in warm water for a few minutes before first use.

For a smaller budget, for example for students, DAILY alone at €34.90 is enough; with a milk frother and a kitchen sieve, a latte can also be stirred together without a Chasen. If the person likes the sweet latte from the café, DAILY suits them too, because it is meant for milk; they can choose how much syrup to add.

For advanced drinkers: FULL RITUAL

Advanced means here: the person wants to drink matcha plain from the bowl, or should have the choice, and you do not want to guess what they already have. The FULL RITUAL contains everything from the START RITUAL plus a bowl. When buying, you choose the bowl: the FULL RITUAL with the glass bowl RIN costs €119.90, with the ceramic bowl AKENO with a green-gold glaze €124.90. In the set the parts together cost less than individually.

Which bowl? Glass looks clear and modern, does not absorb odours and is easy to clean; in the glass bowl RIN you also see colour and foam from the side. The ceramic bowl AKENO has a green-gold glaze and looks more handcrafted. Both are matters of look and preference, not of function. If you know the person you are giving it to, you usually know whether they would rather have glass or ceramic in the cupboard.

The FULL RITUAL is the set for Christmas or a milestone birthday: everything is in it, and the equipment stays when the matcha is used up. Refills are available as DAILY, as REFILL or as PURE for the bowl. You can find the set under FULL RITUAL.

Adding a bowl and accessories separately

If the person already drinks matcha, powder alone is a risky gift choice, because they have a favourite variety. Things that make everyday life with matcha nicer go over better:

• A second bowl. Many matcha drinkers have exactly one. A bowl of glass or ceramic with a different design is a gift people are almost always pleased with. Look for a smooth, odour-free glaze and a clear statement of the material.
• A new Chasen. The bamboo whisk is a consumable; depending on care it lasts several months or longer. A fresh whisk with many fine tines is therefore a practical gift, especially together with a whisk holder (kusenaoshi) from a specialist tea shop, on which the Chasen dries in shape. With bamboo, look for unvarnished surfaces.
• Sieve and Chashaku. Anyone who has worked with a kitchen sieve and a teaspoon so far notices the difference immediately.
• Powder to discover. For someone who mainly drinks latte, a tin of PURE for the bowl is a new direction; conversely, DAILY is meant for the latte version. A tin also travels well if the gift has to go on a journey.
• For everyday use. A precision scale, a kitchen thermometer or a kettle with temperature selection make preparation more consistent and are gifts that people rarely think of themselves.

Chasen, Chashaku, sieve and the bowls RIN and AKENO are available separately from us. For handmade ceramics it is worth looking at craft shops or specialist tea shops; there you get one-of-a-kind bowls. For a small budget you can give just a single ceramic bowl at first instead of a complete set. Compare the individual prices at specialist tea shops; if your budget does not stretch to a whisk holder as well, you can add it later. It is better to buy the powder and the whisk from the tea seller who states origin, batch and best-before date.

Wrapping and card

Doypack and tin are plain on their own; a set becomes a gift when you arrange it neatly and add a card. You can see at checkout whether a shop offers gift wrapping. Otherwise, take a sturdy box, put the bowl at the bottom in paper, set whisk and sieve beside it and the powder on top. The pack itself stays sealed; that way the matcha keeps until the handover and the recipient opens it themselves.

The card should contain what makes the first attempt succeed:

1. Soak the Chasen in warm water for a few minutes before first use, pour the water away, rinse the whisk.
2. Latte: sieve 2 g, whisk with 30 ml of water at about 75 °C, add 200 ml of milk or oat drink. Plain: 2 g to 70 ml of water at about 75 °C.
3. Avoid boiling water; it makes the matcha astringent.
4. Close the pack well after every use, store it cool and dry, use it up within a few weeks after opening.

If you like, add why you chose the variety: for latte, for the bowl, because the person likes café matcha. On our products the best-before date and lot number are on a sticker, and the batch can be looked up via the QR code on the pack.

Timing and delivery

When to buy? Not months in advance. Unopened and stored correctly, matcha keeps until the best-before date on the pack, but every week on the shelf is one week less for the recipient. Buy the gift when the occasion is foreseeable, and until then store it sealed, dark and cool. If you already have a pack and wonder whether to give it now or wait: now, while it is unopened.

How far in advance should I order? Allow for the delivery time the shop states in the checkout and give yourself a few working days of buffer, especially before public holidays, when parcel services are busier. We ship with DHL; within Germany shipping costs €5.90 and is free from an order value of €49, to the EU €15.90 (free from €89), to Switzerland and Liechtenstein €18.90 (free from €129). Within Germany both sets therefore ship free of charge; to the EU this applies to the FULL RITUAL, while the START RITUAL at €80.90 is just under the threshold. We currently do not deliver to the United Kingdom and Norway.

Straight to the recipient? In most shops you can enter a different delivery address. Then check whether the parcel is recognisable as a gift even without you, and write the card beforehand or send it separately.

Outside Europe? We only deliver within Europe. If you are looking for a gift in Canada, for example, it is best to go to a local tea shop or a specialised online shop that expressly confirms delivery to the country, and to look at shipping costs, import charges, delivery time and the origin, batch and best-before date of the powder. For online shops in general the same checking pattern applies: origin stated, batch and best-before date given, shipping costs visible before purchase.

Giving a subscription? A subscription suits people who know their variety and drink it regularly; as a surprise it is less suitable, because the delivery schedule and address are tied to the person who drinks it. Better give a set, and if the variety is liked, the recipient can later take DAILY on subscription themselves, with us for €31.41 per pack.

Frequently asked questions