Tesuko, the store where you can buy silver medal matcha in Japan and other high-quality teas

In the middle of the conversation, Verónica Hernández García (León, 36 years old) asks to interrupt the call because she has to attend to a customs request. It is the most bureaucratic, least attractive and most tedious part of his job at the head of Tesuko, the tea sales business that he started a few years ago with his partner, Pavel García, with the intention of bringing high-quality teas to Spain and spread knowledge about this drink about which, when speaking with Hernández García, one realizes that he does not know everything about it. “95% of the tea that enters Europe enters through Rotterdam or the Netherlands. Tea does not expire as such, but it does lose on an organoleptic level. We could find the best supplier and bring it, but we didn't know the traceability, there was a lot of data missing… that's when we started to think that we had to import directly,” explains Hernández García, who goes by the professional name Verónica Hegar. ”In Japan, they only have one last name,” she adds. More information Hegar studied occupational psychology and dedicated herself to that until one day a tea sommelier certification crossed her path. Until then she only saw this drink through the prism of a hobby, but that immersion made her see that she wanted to dedicate herself to it professionally. “I was wondering: 'What am I worth? A conventional tea shop?' “I wanted something more exclusive where it offered something really good,” she says. But before launching into the project she felt that she lacked “real knowledge” and went to work in Japan. “Everyone has seen a vineyard, but with tea it is different. She didn't know what she was looking for, but she did want to know more.” And what he found during his experience in a tea producing company in Wazuka – a small town in the prefecture of Kyoto – laid the foundations for what Tesuko is today: bringing “exceptional teas” to Spain, purchased directly from the producers and complying with all health guarantees. “I started right in the harvest season and I was able to experience the first one, which is carried out by hand. Then this collection is sold in a kind of auction in which the teas are tested and there are collectors who buy them. That day two kilos and 200 grams were produced, there were 200 of us and there I understood why the tea was aimed at the emperor and the court and that it requires a lot of labor to process. They sold for $4,000,” she tells as an anecdote.Hegar, on a tea plantation in Japan during the harvest. Image provided by the brand. Keisuke Inoue. In Japan he immersed himself in a culture, that of tea, which today he enthusiastically conveys to those who ask him, showing that the drink is largely unknown and that, for example, as happens with wine, the terroir influences it. He says, for example, that in some cases, such as green tea, it can be infused several times; that the names red, green, blue, white or black vary depending on the area of ​​the world in which it is consumed. “In the West we identify different teas based on the color they have in the cup. In China, they look at the leaves. If you go to China and order a red tea, you will see in the cup the equivalent of a black tea,” he explains. The way they found back in 2016 to start marketing their product to an audience that looked at quality and understood The price difference with commercial tea was working closely with specialty coffee shops. Specifically, with Hola Coffee Fourquet, in Madrid, whose owners, Nolo Botana and Pablo Caballero, he calls “friends.” “It was serendipity.” Hegar also remembers perfectly that the first time they imported a “very small” batch from Japan of 20 kilos of several varieties: Hojicha – a green tea that is grown in the shade –, Kukicha – green tea without caffeine – and Wako-cha – black tea. For some time, Japan was the only country where they bought product, but since 95% of what is produced there is green tea, Hegar decided that it was “missing some notes”, so they also began to work with Nepal. . There are now five origins in their catalogue, including Malawi, India and China. “Most places where tea is grown are developing countries. Generally, there is a direct relationship between the quality of the tea and how workers are treated. The teas are spectacular, but we also select them because they are doing things differently,” he clarifies.Tea harvest in Japan. Image provided by the brand. Even addressing a very specific hospitality model, it has not been easy for them to understand the difference in the product they offer and its differential value compared to commercial tea. The truth is that their best advertising, says Hegar, has been “word of mouth” and thus they have reached some 80 establishments throughout Spain such as the specialty coffee chain East Crema or restaurants such as OSA and Señor Martín, in Madrid. . “I think that tea is going to begin to be considered as a gastronomic element in the kitchen. Cold infused tea, with sparkling water, in kefirs, in kombuchas…,” predicts Hegar. She has even witnessed its applications in cooking and gives as an example a sauce made with infused tea leaves made by Señor Martín's cook or the pairing they carried out at the Pablo restaurant during a full dinner. “We started with a matcha tonic and then we tried it. For dessert, which was with sheep cheese, we had Hojicha.” Tesuko teas have also become the go-to products for leading professionals such as beverage developer Esther Merino, who has worked in some of the best restaurants in the world such as Alchemist (Copenhagen) and to whom Hegar reveals having sent her a green tea Gyokuro, “the most special that the Japanese have.” Another example is the pastry chef Noelia Tomoshige, from Monroebakes (Getafe), who has launched her own line of matcha tea in collaboration with the project. The first available is a Matcha Hakata tea, a high-quality ceremonial grade matcha ideal for drinking neat. Because not all matcha is the same. Specifically, this one from Tesuko has won the silver medal for the best tea of ​​this variety in Japan.Most of Tesuko's teas come from Japan, but there are also teas from China, Nepal, India and Malawi. Alex OnciuTesuko sells to individuals through the online store where you can search for the perfect drink for each person based on the variety, origin or aromas. Mainly, the product is sold in two formats, in leaf or powder, depending on the variety and the packaging – in a can or in bags – details both the method of preparation and the type of tea, the origin or the notes. tasting. Thus, for example, the genmaicha latte (23 euros, 100 grams) is offered mixed with toasted rice “to give it a more appetizing taste” and it is recommended to emulsify it with water at 85 degrees and then add the milk. Some varieties, such as those of Nepalese origin, are among the most appreciated and their price. In the catalog there are options starting at 10 euros for 100 grams of white, black and green varieties and other infusions such as red fruit jaleo (11 euros) or rooibos chai (13 euros) in which they play with spices and flowers. . Always, of course, without artificial flavorings. 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