About this tea

The Tamakawa region lies in the upper stream of the Abe River. Tamakawa is one of the oldest and original tea growing areas in Shizuoka, with nearly 800 years of tea farming history. Tamakawa is one of the top-quality areas of the Hon Yama tea production region in Shizuoka (Japanese Southern Alps terroir of Shizuoka). It is surrounded by dense mountain forests, clear air, pure river streams and abundant nature. The region has a blessed environment for making tea with its rich soil and the riverbed water of the Japanese Southern Alps. The great temperature differences from night to daytime form fog from the flowing rivers that nourish the Hon Yama tea farms. This phenomenon results in the gentle yet deep taste and aroma of Tamakawa Hon Yama sencha. The soft sweetness and umami are balanced with an elegant astringency and complex aroma that is floral, herbaceous and slightly spicy. Due to the aging population and the lack of successors to the elderly tea farmers in the mountain, the production quantity of Hon Yama tea is decreasing. Hon Yama sencha is becoming scarce due to a lack of farmers in the remote areas. It is one of our favorite green tea categories to seek out and select each year to support the few teams farmers left that practice the old ways of sencha production. We chose the best batch of tea that was made in Tamakawa this year to represent the amazing character of Hon Yama sencha.