The Evolution of a Brand

A Message from the Founder 

Every brand has a beginning. For us, it started in 2023 with a belief that great matcha had become unnecessarily expensive and often intimidating. We wanted to create a brand that delivered premium Japanese matcha without the premium markup, making exceptional quality accessible to anyone curious enough to discover it.

Leigh Leaf began as a direct-to-consumer matcha brand built around taste, quality, and trust. We wanted to offer matcha that was vibrant, smooth, and naturally low in bitterness, something that could win over both longtime matcha drinkers and people who had never found a matcha they truly loved.

In those early days, everything was personal. Every order, every review, every message from a customer mattered. We listened closely as people told us they were surprised by how smooth the matcha was, how easy it was to drink, and how different it felt from the bitter or grassy matcha they had tried before.

As the brand grew, so did our understanding of where our matcha could make the biggest impact.

By the middle of 2024, cafés, coffee shops, and foodservice partners began becoming a larger part of our story. What started as a consumer brand slowly evolved into a trusted wholesale source for cafés looking to serve better matcha drinks without compromising on quality or consistency.

That shift changed the future of the brand.

As demand grew, so did the challenges that came with it. What began as a direct-to-consumer brand quickly evolved into supplying cafés and businesses across the country. With that growth came the responsibility of maintaining consistent inventory, strengthening our supply chain, expanding our operations, and ensuring that every customer, from an individual matcha enthusiast to a busy café, received the same exceptional experience they had come to expect.

Leigh Leaf grew with that mission.

Our original branding reflected the beginning: simple, personal, and rooted in our first connection with customers. As the company matured, our updated Leigh Leaf identity began moving toward something more refined, more focused, and more aligned with the premium quality of the product itself.

But as wholesale became the heart of the business, we knew the brand needed to evolve once more.

In 2026, Leigh Leaf became Tay Leaf.

Tay Leaf is not a departure from where we started. It is the natural next chapter of everything Leigh Leaf was becoming.

The new identity was created to better reflect the foundation upon which our business had been built. In a growing market, what ultimately separates one supplier from another is not a logo or a marketing message, but the ability to consistently source exceptional tea year after year. Through our relationships in Japan, we developed a deep appreciation for the partnership between nature and craftsmanship that makes this possible. Inspired by the idea of a teien, a Japanese garden shaped through the harmony of nature and human hands, Tay Leaf represents our commitment to consistency, stewardship, and the people behind every harvest. The new brand better reflects not only where we are today, but the values that have guided us from the beginning.

Through every stage of this journey, one thing has never changed: the matcha itself.

The sourcing remains the same. The quality remains the same. The smooth, vibrant matcha our customers and café partners have come to rely on remains exactly the same.

What has changed is the world around it.

Tay Leaf gives our matcha a brand identity that finally feels as intentional as the product inside. It honors where we started, reflects where we are today, and gives us room to grow into the future.

To everyone who discovered us as Leigh Leaf, thank you for being part of the beginning.

To the cafés and partners who helped shape our next chapter, thank you for trusting us behind your counters and on your menus.

And to everyone meeting us now as Tay Leaf, welcome.

This is the same matcha, carried forward with a new name, a clearer vision, and a deeper commitment to sharing exceptional Japanese tea with more people.

Thank you for being part of this journey.

Warmly,

Eli
Founder, Tay Leaf