Some questions about Matcha...

I just spoke with our Matcha partners in Japan. They are safe and doing well. For your information, the matcha fields are located more that 300 miles south of the Fukushima nuclear power plant. As of March 23, 2011 no radiation had been detected. In speaking on with our partners today, they have confirmed the absence of radiation.

One item of note is that all of the product that is available today or that will be available this year is from the 2010 harvest. The 2010 crop reserve is being held in a cool secure facility with no radiation exposure. I received results confirming the absence of any radiation in their reserves. Even though the farms and processing facilities are located far to the south, as a precaution all material will be tested for radiation and will need to meet all Japanese and US food safety regulations.

We are confident that we will continue to be able to provide our matcha products without any delay or problems that may have been caused by the devastating earthquake and tsunami. I invite you to continue to consider donating to the relief efforts. As you know, these funds are matched dollar for dollar by the Make Life Better Foundation (see here). Remember that we ARE about Making Life Better.