Kinrin vs Aoarashi: Which Marukyu Koyamaen Matcha Should You Buy? (2026 US Price & Stock Guide)

Marukyu Koyamaen is a matcha house in Ogura, Uji, Kyoto, with roughly 300 years of history. Two names come up constantly when people start shopping its catalogue: Kinrin (金輪) and Aoarashi (青嵐). Both sit in the company's "Principal matcha" line, both are Uji matcha, and they are not interchangeable — one is graded for thick tea, the other for everyday bowls.

This guide covers what each one costs on the brand's own stores and in the US, what Marukyu Koyamaen itself says about them, why availability differs so much between channels, and what to drink while you wait.

Kinrin vs Aoarashi at a glance

Japan domestic prices include Japanese consumption tax; the international shop lists tax-excluded prices. That is why the same tin shows two different yen figures.

The short version: Kinrin costs roughly three times what Aoarashi costs per gram, and the reason is koicha. If you are never going to make thick tea, that premium buys you very little.

What actually separates them

Marukyu Koyamaen publishes a clear rule of its own: Kinrin and the grades above it are recommended for both koicha and usucha, while the grades below are recommended for usucha only. Aoarashi's own product page positions it for thin tea.

That single line explains the price gap. Koicha — thick tea, roughly 4 g of matcha to 30 ml of water, kneaded rather than whisked — is unforgiving. Any astringency or thinness that a bowl of usucha would hide comes straight through. Matcha graded to carry koicha comes from a narrower leaf selection, and it is priced accordingly.

So the honest way to choose is not "which is better". It is:

• You practise tea, or you want to try koicha at home — Kinrin is the brand's own entry point for thick tea. That capability is what you are paying for.
• You drink a bowl or two of usucha a day — Aoarashi is the more rational buy, and it is the one the brand positions for exactly that.
• You put matcha in a latte — neither. Milk and sugar flatten the differences you are paying for. Both houses make cheaper grades for this, and so does everyone else.

Availability: why you keep seeing "out of stock"

If you have tried to buy either of these and been met with a grey button, you are not imagining it.

Availability currently differs sharply between Marukyu Koyamaen's domestic and international channels. On 29 August 2026, the international shop showed Kinrin out of stock in every size and Aoarashi out of stock in every size. On the same day, the Japan-domestic shop had the Kinrin 40 g can, 100 g can and 100 g bag live and purchasable; only the 20 g was out.

The company has said publicly that it is limiting matcha availability because of exceptional demand, and it has published a notice that the countries it ships to are adjusted without a fixed schedule, so destinations can disappear from the checkout menu without warning. The United States is not on its published exclusion list — but that is not the same as a promise that checkout will work on the day you try.

This is worth knowing before you build a morning habit around one specific tin.

How to buy from the United States

1. Marukyu Koyamaen's own international shop. Best prices and real Japanese pricing, subject to the stock and destination caveats above. Their FAQ states they do not offer free shipping on international orders.
2. A US specialty retailer. You pay a markup — Kinrin 40 g lands around $75 against roughly ¥5,720 at source — but the tin sits in a US warehouse and ships domestically. Worth it if you want the tea this month rather than eventually.
3. Marketplaces. Treat with care. We found the same Aoarashi 40 g listed at $25 by one seller and about $45 by a specialty retailer, a spread wide enough to ask questions about storage, age and provenance. Marukyu Koyamaen maintains a public list of sellers it does not authorise; check it before ordering.

A note on retailer wording: Marukyu Koyamaen publishes a list of unauthorised sellers, but absence from that list does not by itself make a shop an authorised distributor. We therefore describe US shops as specialty retailers rather than authorised retailers unless the brand states otherwise.

A note on the Aoarashi price: we quote roughly $45 for 40 g because that is what a specialty retailer charges. We saw a lower figure elsewhere and could not verify it against the brand, so we do not treat it as the market price.

What you are actually paying for at ¥150 a gram

We make and sell teaware and a single-origin ceremonial matcha, so treat what follows as a maker's opinion rather than a neutral verdict.

At Kinrin's level you are buying three things: leaf selected well enough to survive koicha, a house that has been blending in Uji for about three centuries, and consistency — the tin you buy next spring will taste like the one you bought this autumn. Those are real, and they are not cheap to produce.

What you are not buying is a difference you will notice in an oat-milk latte, or in a bowl whisked with water that was boiling ninety seconds ago. Most of the gap between a $45 tin and a $75 tin disappears the moment technique or temperature slips. If you are still working on your whisking, buy the cheaper tin and better water control first.

For daily usucha in the US

*US figures are specialty-retailer listing prices observed on 29 August 2026, not brand-set prices. They move.

• Best for koicha: Kinrin
• Best value for Marukyu Koyamaen usucha: Aoarashi
• Best value for a larger Uji daily-drinking tin shipped from the US: Strabella Asanagi

What we drink while the Uji tins are out of stock

We make Asanagi, a single-origin first-harvest Uji ceremonial matcha in a 54 g tin at $49 — about $0.91 a gram, or roughly 27 bowls.

Set against the numbers above, that is less than half the per-gram price of Kinrin at a US specialty retailer, and less than half the per-gram price of Ippodo's Ummon, which sells for $82 per 40 g can on Ippodo's own US store. We are not going to tell you it beats a koicha-grade tin from a 300-year Uji house in a side-by-side thick-tea tasting, because we have not run that test and neither has anyone else who is being straight with you.

What we will say is narrower and more useful: if you want a first-harvest single-origin Uji matcha for daily usucha, in stock, shipping domestically rather than clearing customs, Asanagi is the tin we drink every morning and the one we would hand a friend who asked.

Buy the Japanese houses when you want koicha, when you want a specific blend you have grown attached to, or simply because you want to. Buy ours when you want Uji matcha in stock and shipping from California within one business day.

Frequently asked questions

Is Kinrin or Aoarashi better for a beginner?

Aoarashi. It is positioned for usucha, it is roughly a third of the per-gram cost, and a beginner's whisking technique will not reveal what the extra money in Kinrin buys.

Are these ceremonial grade?

Marukyu Koyamaen avoids that English phrase. What the company does say is that its Principal matcha are suitable for tea ceremony, and it tags Kinrin as recommended for ceremony practice. "Ceremonial grade" is not a regulated term in any case — what matters is whether the tea is graded for koicha, and the brand tells you that directly.

Why is Kinrin three times the price of Aoarashi?

Koicha. Kinrin is graded to be drinkable as thick tea; Aoarashi is positioned for thin tea. That capability comes from a narrower leaf selection.

Can I use either for lattes?

You can, but you are paying for nuance that milk erases. Both houses make lower grades intended for that, and they cost far less.

How long does an open tin last?

Plan on four to six weeks after opening, kept airtight, cold and dark. A 40 g tin at one bowl a day is about three weeks of drinking, so buy the size you will finish rather than the size with the best per-gram price.

Sources and method

Last verified: 29 August 2026.

How we checked this. We read prices, sizes and stock status directly from the brands' own storefronts and from US retailers on the date above, then re-checked each figure against a second source. Where two sources disagreed, we say so in the text rather than picking one. We did not conduct a side-by-side tasting of these matchas, and nothing here is presented as a taste test. We make and sell teaware and our own single-origin matcha, which is disclosed in the section where we mention it.

Primary sources:

• Marukyu Koyamaen — Kinrin, international shop: marukyu-koyamaen.co.jp
• Marukyu Koyamaen — Kinrin, Japan domestic shop: motoan-shop
• Marukyu Koyamaen — Aoarashi, international shop: marukyu-koyamaen.co.jp
• Ippodo Tea — Ummon 40 g can, US store: ippodotea.com

Written and edited by the Strabella team, Newport Beach, California. We sell matcha and teaware, including the Asanagi tin referenced above. Corrections: info@strabella.org.