Our approach

At Sanko, we are on a mission to provide technology infrastructure that allows people to consume higher quality matcha anywhere and everywhere. We utilize new materials, scientific insights, and functional designs to create contemporary matcha preparation tools and milling equipment built for modern consumption scenarios.

The problems we want to solve

Matcha's unique flavor, color, and nutrients are highly sensitive to degradation. Most matcha is 6-18 months old after it travels from Japanese mills to a consumer’s cup. Matcha consumers deserve to experience matcha on “day one” of its shelf life.

Sanko is developing counter-top matcha milling technology that allows matcha millers to control compression, rotational speed and the capacity of a state-of-the-art cooling system.

Traditional matcha teaware has been refined for centuries for Japanese tea ceremony practitioners. Today, most matcha is enjoyed outside of a ceremonial context, and tools intended to prepare matcha once a day are now used every five minutes at high-volume cafés.

A vision worth innovating for

  • Quality matcha should be easy to prepare

  • High-quality, fresh-milled matcha should be ubiquitous

  • Matcha should be transparently sourced, not mysterious

Our team

Our founders met at the Tea Institute at Penn State, an organization dedicated to the study and preservation of all tea ceremony, and bonded over sitting in seiza for hours on Sunday mornings during Omotesenke Japanese tea ceremony lessons. Prior to founding Sanko, the entire founding team worked professionally together at the intersection of AI, flavor, and sensory in New York City in food and beverage product development. Their team was responsible for collecting the largest AI consumer sensory dataset in the world and leveraging those insights to create better tasting products that consumers love.

What's next?

Our current and biggest project to date is a temperature-controlled matcha mill. This countertop tool has the ability to mill high-quality, fresh matcha from tencha anywhere and everywhere. Can’t wait until the release? Contact us for our beta testing program!