Our story
Rooted in craft.
Growing in Cascadia.
Vale is a modern matcha company born in Seattle with a simple belief: exceptional matcha should be accessible to more people.
Our story begins with the leaf.
We source exceptional tea from established growers in Japan, building relationships with people who have devoted generations to growing and producing tea. Those relationships continue to shape how we think about quality, craft and the responsibility that comes with working with matcha.
In Seattle, our team of chefs, tea experts, engineers and makers brings that care to every glass across our cafes, mobile matcha bars, at-home products and technology.
And now, that journey extends to Whidbey Island, where we're beginning to grow tea ourselves.
Vale Farms
We're planting our next chapter.
On Whidbey Island, surrounded by the cool maritime climate of the Pacific Northwest, we've planted the first 12,000 tea plants at Vale Farms.
The 365-acre property is a long-term investment in tea agriculture, research and the future of matcha. Over the coming years, we plan to cultivate approximately 200 acres of tea, learning season by season what it takes to grow exceptional tea in this part of the world.
Our work builds on what we've learned from growers across Japan, tea farmers in the United States and agricultural research here in Washington. Together, those learnings are helping us explore how Camellia sinensis responds to the soils, seasons and climate of this particular place.
We're interested in discovering what tea grown here can become.
Planting is only the beginning. Tea takes years to mature, and understanding a new growing region takes longer still. Over time, Vale Farms will give us the opportunity to learn from the land and explore a distinctly Pacific Northwest expression of tea.
Vale exists to make magic. For us, that starts with an extraordinary leaf, the people who grow it and the care we bring to everything that follows.
Our approach
Students of tea.
Our team has traveled throughout Japan, spending time with growers and producers in Kyoto, Uji, Shizuoka and Kagoshima to better understand the decisions that shape exceptional tea, from the field through the finished cup.
Those relationships continue to inform how we source today and how we think about growing tea in Washington tomorrow.
We approach that work with curiosity and humility: learning from people who have devoted their lives to tea, investing in relationships over time, and contributing our own perspective from the Pacific Northwest.
Head of Craft
Taste leads the way.
Our Head of Craft, Jeffrey Hayden, trained in some of the world's most demanding kitchens before bringing that same discipline to matcha.
When Vale began searching for the tea we wanted to serve, Jeffrey traveled through Japan tasting across farms and growing regions in search of leaves with the color, aroma, texture and flavor we believed could anchor our drinks.
That same taste-driven approach shapes everything that follows: how we source, how we develop recipes, how we prepare each drink and, increasingly, how we think about the tea we hope to grow ourselves.
Because before technology, before a recipe, before a beautiful glass of matcha, there is the leaf.
And the leaf has to be exceptional.
Our philosophy
The Cascadia Matcha Standard.
Everything we make is held to one standard.
Leaf-First
Great matcha begins with the perfect leaf. The color, the aroma, the texture, and the finish are already present in the raw material. Our job is not to override it, but to honor it.
Cold-Drawn
Hot water releases harsh tannins that obscure the tea's finer qualities. We prepare our matcha cold to draw out the amino acids, raise L-theanine, and keep bitterness in check. The result is smoother, brighter, and more refreshing.
Natural Sweetness
Nature already provides the sweetness we need. We build on matcha's natural L-theanine with fruit, honey, and maple syrup, ingredients that complement the leaf rather than compete with it.
Precision-Milled
We mill our matcha to an exceptionally fine micron size, so it suspends evenly in cold water and dissolves clean. That fineness is the velvety mouthfeel that makes cold matcha a pleasure.
Modern Froth
We use a modern frothing approach that creates a more stable suspension, for a drink that is smooth and balanced every time.
Our first self-serve matcha bar
Matcha on demand.
Now serving in the lobby of our Pioneer Square HQ. Fresh, made-to-order matcha, with the Cascadia Matcha Standard in every cup.
Our culinary team crafts our drinks fresh, and our technology takes it from there. Designed and built from scratch by our engineers in Seattle, our self-serve matcha bar uses robotics to pour, seal and serve each matcha to order, bringing together craft and technology for a fresh, consistent experience every time.
Order at the machine or ahead through the Vale app.
Where we're going
From leaf to cup.
Vale began with a love for matcha and a belief that more people should have the opportunity to discover and enjoy it.
Today, that belief connects everything we do, from our relationships with growers in Japan to our cafes and mobile matcha bars in Seattle, from the drinks our culinary team creates to the technology we build, and now to tea taking root on Whidbey Island.
We're investing in every part of the journey, from how tea is grown and sourced to how it's crafted and served. Each step gives us an opportunity to learn, deepen our craft, and create new ways for people to experience exceptional matcha.
And we're just getting started.
Newsroom
Recent Press.
Selected coverage of Vale. For interview requests, company news and the full archive, visit our newsroom.
Puget Sound Business Journal
Vale Matcha launches 365-acre Whidbey Island farmSouth Whidbey Record
Matcha farm takes root on North WhidbeyPR Newswire
Vale Matcha Announces Vale Farms, With Plans to Grow One Million Tea Plants on Whidbey IslandSeattle-based matcha company plants first 12,000 tea plants as part of a long-term investment in Pacific Northwest tea agriculture.
Seattle Times
WA envisioned as Napa Valley of teaPuget Sound Business Journal
Luke Larson scales Vale Concepts matcha startup in Seattle
Careers
Come build with us.
We're building a company around tea, agriculture, craft, hospitality and technology and that requires people with very different kinds of expertise.
Our team includes Matcharistas and Matcha Ambassadors serving guests across Seattle, alongside chefs, tea experts, farmers, roboticists, software and mechanical engineers, food scientists, designers and community builders.
Different disciplines. One shared standard: care deeply about what you make.
Whether you're preparing a cup of matcha, planting tea, developing a recipe or writing the code behind our next machine, there's an opportunity to help shape what Vale becomes.