Harvest Index
At Collingwood tea studio Harvest Index, moss-coloured velvet curtains and light jazz combine to effectively set the mood to calm. Together with the marble tea-tasting bar, which is the focal point of the room, light timber panelling and emerald design elements throughout, the room feels a bit like a traditional Japanese teahouse, albeit with a modern edge.
Harvest Index expand and change their offering regularly. When they launched in mid-2019, there were six varieties: matcha, sencha, genmaicha, hojicha, mizudashi cha and wakocha. All tea comes from the one plant, so the variety comes from the process pre- and post-harvest.
There are four grades of matcha alone, starting with the M04 which costs $39 for 30 grams. It’s best for daily drinking, matcha lattes and cooking. It has a slight umami taster, that’s a little more bitter to the tongue. The deluxe grade M01 ($88), meanwhile, is the best of the best – made to be sipped on its own and is a vivid fluorescent green.
In store, ceremony specialists walk four customers at a time through the ritual over a free 30-minute tea tasting. The tea here is all organically certified and sourced from a seventh-generation farm in Wazuka, a small town in the mountainous region of Uji, Kyoto. To complement the take-home tea experience there are tea accessories, including Hario Japan shaker bottles, bamboo spoons, thermometers and Chojin handmade ceramics.
We do not seek or accept payment from the cafes, restaurants, bars and shops listed in the Directory – inclusion is at our discretion. Venue profiles are written by independent freelancers paid by Broadsheet.