Description
Description | 詳細
Suruga Yūki Nōjō Kyōdō Kumiai するが有機農場共同組合 (Suruga Organic Farming Cooperative) is a cooperative of three tea producers – Saitō-san, Iwasaki-san and Nishiyama-san – who cultivate and produce tea in the neighboring regions of Honyama and Shimizu, both traditional Shizuoka terroirs. Saitō-san, Iwasaki-san and Nishiyama-san create both their own and collective productions with tea leaves harvested from each other’s tea gardens, and they share the same great commitment to pesticide- and artificial fertiliser free farming methods (all tea gardens of all three tea producers have been cultivated without any use of agrochemicals for several decades, certified under the Japanese organic standard JAS).
Their Suruga Tedzumi Sencha is harvested in early spring with an equal distribution of tea leaves (50/50) from Saitō-san’s Saitō Chaen in Honyama and Iwasaki-san’s Jishabatake in Shimizu. The harvest is carried out exclusively by hand-picking (tedzumi) – in this case as one bud, two leaves.
Today, almost all modern Japanese tea is harvested using machines, and Suruga Tedzumi Sencha offers as such a rare chance to experience the uncompromising craftsmanship of hand-picked Japanese green tea. The young spring buds and leaves are picked from approximately 25-year-old Yabukita tea trees and finished with an elegant hi-ire post-firing in orthodox Shizuoka style. The final hi-ire adds a subtle but characteristically warm note to the tea leaves, highlighting their inherently deep spectrum of fragrances that calls to mind pistachio, fresh wild herbs, and grilled white fish. There is no explosion of umami here, but instead a highly delicate balance between natural sweetness and a refreshingly clean sense of astringency, which almost vibrates in the mouth as a fine aftertaste long after the last sip.
Tea trees | 茶樹
Cultivar: Yabukita
Age: 25 years
Elevation: 350 masl
Shade: none
Fertilisation: own mixture of organic fertiliser (no synthetic fertilisers)
Cultivation method: pesticide and artificial fertiliser free
Harvest: April 25th 2022 (Saitō Chaen) + May 2nd 2022 (Jishabatake’en)
Production method | 製茶方法
Steaming: medium (futsūmushi) , approx. 30 seconds)
Hi-ire: medium (chūbi, approx. 18 minutter / 100°C) on May 3rd 2022
Producer | 生産者
Saitō Chaen under the leadership of Mr. Saitō and Jishabatake’en under the leadership of Mr. Iwasaki
Origin | 産地
Honyama and Shimizu in Shizuoka prefecture, Japan
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