Editorial policy

Independence

No brand sees a review before it is published. No brand can buy a place in a ranking. We do not accept free product; where that rule is ever broken, the review says so in its first paragraph.

Sourcing

Claims about harvest timing, growing regions and processing are sourced to producers, trade bodies or published research, and linked. Where the Japanese tea trade genuinely disagrees with itself — and on grading, it does — we say so rather than picking the version that makes a cleaner sentence.

Health claims

We make none. Matcha is a drink. We will report what studies exist and what they actually measured, with links, and we will not tell anyone that tea treats a condition.

AI

Drafting and editing tools are used here, as they are almost everywhere. What is never automated: the tasting, the verdicts, the prices, and the final read. Nothing is published that Lasse Pettersen has not read end to end and stands behind. A tasting note that no one tasted is a lie regardless of what produced the sentence.

Corrections

Errors are fixed as soon as they are confirmed, with a dated note at the foot of the page when the correction is material. Prices are re-checked when a page is updated; the update date on each page is the real one. Tell us at contact.