Special features in location, cultivation and processing
Uji is considered the birthplace of Japanese tea culture, offering fertile soil for tea cultivation in the former floodplain of the Ujigawa River. Since the early medieval period, Uji has been renowned as Japan’s premier tea-growing region, and to this day, it continues to produce some of the country’s finest Matcha, Gyokuro, Sencha, and Hojicha. However, organic cultivation remains a rarity due to intense market competition, requiring years of experience to achieve the highly sought-after deep and harmonious umami flavour. Recently, the increasing international demand for high-quality organic Uji tea has begun to signal a shift, led by pioneering farmers such as ours.
Unlike the common practice of blending different cultivars, this Matcha is crafted exclusively from the rare Ujihikari cultivar. Ujihikari is celebrated for its remarkably complex flavour profile, which lingers on the palate for minutes. Our farmer cultivates this tea using the traditional Shizen Jitate method, where tea plants grow as individual bushes rather than being machine-trimmed in plantation-style rows. This approach means that both pest control and harvesting are carried out entirely by hand – resulting in the supreme quality and depth of flavour that distinguish this Matcha. Due to the labour-intensive cultivation process and the naturally low yield of the Ujihikari cultivar, only a very limited quantity of this Matcha is produced each year.
Single Origin
This Matcha comes 100% from the above-mentioned tea field and tea farmer and is packaged for us directly on site.