Nevaeh Tea Co. Tengoku review

I first stumbled on Nevaeh through social media. A content creator posted about her experience at one of their tasting sessions in LA, which hooked me. I booked a session shortly after.

The session was actually part education, part tasting, which I enjoyed. For the tasting portion, the owner served us freshly milled Tengoku. You read that correctly - freshly milled matcha, and done right in front of us:

This is a rarity in the United States. Most matcha is imported in its milled form. Nevaeh imports tencha, the dried leaf precursor to matcha, then mills it in-house using a premium stone mill imported from Japan.

We first drank it as usacha, and it was delicious. A deep umami filled my palette quickly, carrying notes of mushroom broth and nori seaweed. It slowly faded after each sip, giving way to a pleasant astringency. I tasted no bitterness whatsoever. This was a thick, rich, and brothy bowl.

The second tasting was Tengoku prepared as matcha affogato - a thick koicha drizzled over ice cream. What a flavor explosion. The bitterness of the koicha complemented the sweetness of the ice cream perfectly.

Tengoku is clearly a top-shelf matcha, which is why I was shocked when I learned its price: $36 for a 30g tin ($1.20/g). That’s outstanding value for a matcha of this caliber. I will certainly be reordering Tengoku in the future.