SEKITOBA Macha

薩州赤兎馬抹茶

Kagoshima matcha and green tea enter during fermentation, before distillation. Two differently distilled spirits are then blended: sweet-potato depth carries into matcha’s gentle bitterness and the fresh line of sencha, while the product remains legally classified as honkaku imo shochu.

Tea-Fermented Honkaku Imo Shochu

Tea originKagoshima

TimingAdded during fermentation

Spirit designTwo distilled components

DistillationAtmospheric · low temperature

ClassificationHonkaku imo shochu

Tea before distillation

Integrated in fermentation, not mixed in at the end

Kagoshima matcha and green tea are added during fermentation. They pass through distillation as part of the production design, distinguishing this product from a liqueur or a finished spirit simply flavoured with tea after the fact.

Two distilled components

Depth and freshness composed separately

The final expression blends two spirits with different roles. Atmospheric distillation preserves breadth and sweet-potato depth; low-temperature distillation carries a lighter, more lifted tea character. Their meeting creates the product’s progression rather than a single uniform note.

Aromatic profile

Sweet potato, gentle matcha bitterness, fresh sencha

The sequence begins with the soft sweetness and savoury depth of imo shochu, moves through matcha’s measured bitterness, and closes with a fresh green-tea line. Tea is present as structure and transition, not as a sweetened flavour cue.

The 2025 expression

Tea placed inside the structure of shochu

Introduced in 2025, SEKITOBA MATCHA treats tea as part of fermentation and distillation rather than as a surface flavour. That production choice allows the character of Kagoshima tea to remain connected to the body of honkaku imo shochu.

Food affinities

Three stages: sweetness, bitterness, freshness

What is recorded above is a soft sweet-potato sweetness moving into a gentle matcha bitterness, closing on a clean, sencha-like freshness. Tea appears not as a sweet flavour but as a structure that carries the taste through its stages. What follows are four directions that follow those three stages. They are not pairings the distillery states officially.

Fried food, where bitterness cuts the fatFried spring rolls, fried chicken, tempura, croquettes. The gentle matcha bitterness cuts through the fat of fried food

Fatty seafood, met by freshnessHerb-fried fish, grilled eel with sweet sauce, salt-grilled fish, smoked salmon, butter-seared white fish. The sencha-like freshness resets the fat of the seafood

Creamy dishes that echo the green notesGreen curry, yuba, soy-milk hotpot, cream-cheese canapes, risotto. The green tea aroma overlaps with the roundness of the cream

Aromatic grilled meat, where astringency cuts the fatGrilled beef tongue, grilled pork belly, fried pork belly, roasted pork belly, pancetta. The tea’s astringency cuts through the fat of the meat

This pairing rationale draws on the following reference book: Logical pairing theory records bitterness and astringency as a suppressing effect on fat — one that works only when balanced against umami and richness, which mirrors the three-stage structure of this bottle.

Pairing guide — Shochu & Selected Spirits

The producer

Three houses for tradition, innovation and continuity

Hamada Shuzo was founded in 1868 in Ichikikushikino, Kagoshima. Its three-house structure assigns distinct roles to Denbee-gura, Denzouin-gura and Kanayama-gura, allowing historical methods, modern development and long-term continuity to remain visible within one producer.

Official Hamada Shuzo website

For restaurants and retailers

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