Takabayashi Kenzo: Pioneer of Tea Processing Machines
Most of the tea produced in Japan is processed by machine, because doing it by hand (temomi process) is very slow and costly. Takabayashi Kenzō (高林謙三) changed the Japanese...
The Decline of the Kyūsu
Do you own a kyūsu teapot? I have many, and I like them very much. But the number of households in Japan that have one is falling every year....
Tezumi Handpicked Honyama Sencha
Since most Japanese tea is harvested by machine, obtaining one picked by hand isn’t easy. I’m very eager to taste this asamushi (light steamed) sencha from the Honyama region...
The Tea Industry in the Metaverse
While it may take many years before we are continuously having virtual and augmented reality experiences, I think that it is inevitable. After all, a lot of us are...
Chabacco
If you don’t smoke, you might want to buy chabacco in Japan instead of tobacco. It’s a powdered green tea, sold in a package that looks just like a...
Podcast 044: Wakoen
In this episode I interviewed Daisuke Horiguchi and Kyle Ketner of Wakoen. I was surprised by how much information they had to share. We talk about the history of...
Bizenya Kohaku
I found this tea from Bizenya but I can’t remember who gave it to me in the first place. The good thing is that it’s a very interesting tea....
Japanese Green Tea Refining
After the initial process is complete, aracha (crude tea) needs to be refined. In Japan, the refining process (shiage, 仕上げ) is usually done by the tea wholesalers. This process...
Aracha Processing
Aracha is a crude tea. This tea has gone through an initial process, but is still unrefined. The aracha process varies for each type of tea. For this post,...
Tada Motokichi: The Father of Japanese Black Tea
People are often surprised to hear about Japanese black tea, or wakoucha (和紅茶), since Japan is mostly known for its green tea. Japanese black tea isn’t produced in large...
Japanese Tea: A Comprehensive Guide (Book Review)
This book’s author, Simona Zavadckyte, works at the international department of Obubu Tea Farms. She has years of experience with tea in Japan because of her work, and also...
Yamahachi Maeda Koutarou Shouten
My last tea experience at Shizuoka prefecture was at Yamahachi Maeda Koutarou Shouten (やまはち前田幸太郎商店). This company is a tea wholesaler. It’s best known because the master tea blender Fumio...