Our Story

Ryoko Benoist was born in Tokyo and grew up between Tokyo and Kyoto, in a family that ran a wagashi shop, a restaurant and a workshop. Japanese craftsmanship was simply part of daily life.

She went on to spend years in fashion and luxury, between Tokyo, London and Paris. A fast world, one she excelled in, where something still stayed just out of reach.

Then the pandemic came, and nearly 80% of her work disappeared overnight. In the quiet that followed, an old wish returned: to share the beauty and traditions of Japan with France, the country she now called home.

Matcha found her at exactly that moment. She ordered some to try: an organic matcha from the Nakai family in Wazuka. She didn’t know it yet, but that bowl would change everything.

In October 2024 she travelled to Wazuka to meet the people who grew it. She walked their fields, listened to the farmers, and fell for the hills, their light, their calm. Then one of them prepared a bowl for her. In April 2025, she founded MUSUBI MATCHA.

That was the moment. In April 2025, she launched MUSUBI MATCHA.

結び, musubi

Musubi means a bond, a knot: the place where two things meet and hold. Between a farm in Kyoto and your table. Between an ancient gesture and your morning.

The Nakai farm

Since 2026, MUSUBI MATCHA has been the exclusive European partner of the Nakai Organic Tea Garden in Wazuka. Every tin traces back to the field, the harvest and the hands that picked it. Ryoko returns each year to walk the rows and taste the leaves.

What we stand for

To bring Europe a pure, traceable organic matcha, directly from the farm. And to offer something rarer still: a moment of your own, the time it takes to prepare a bowl, drink it, and return to your day a little differently.

Ryoko is a certified Japanese Tea Advisor, the author of MATCHA (La Plage, 2025), and shares matcha culture in France & Italy.

“My mission is to share the true beauty of Japanese matcha: its tradition, its craftsmanship, and the quiet it brings.”

Ryoko Benoist

Ryoko Benoist, founder of MUSUBI MATCHA, certified Japanese Tea Advisor