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Directly wrapping the tea bushes for effective shading. Mie, Japan. More about this below.
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About time to decide on your
Japanese tea stocks
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While harvesting has begun already in southern tea areas in Japan such as Kagoshima and Miyazaki, young leaves were only being covered for shaded growth last time we visited other northern parts. This year, picking will start in May for both Kyoto and Mie.
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In some areas, we saw them covering the bushes directly by wrapping them with the shading screen, rather than under a frame. “We found that by covering them directly, the leaves will be greener and more umami,” Ito san said in his tea field in Mie. He runs two tencha processing machines in his warehouse. Tencha is the material for making matcha. Its quality directly affects the taste of the matcha that is to be produced by his neighbour who runs the matcha machines, where we procure some of our selections from.
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200+ top quality and great value selections direct from producers only for our wholesale clients. Let us know about your tea business and we shall gladly provide our extensive tea list and trade supports
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As he explained the flow of the processing, we realised that there will be almost no time for him to sleep. “It will be about two weeks with very, very little sleep,” he said smilingly. The wrinkles of his tanned face curved, amplifying that smile. Tencha is his main product.
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Ito san is only 52 but he reminds me of the Fenghuang Dancong Master Wen, who was over 80 when I first met him. They both sleeps very little in peak seasons, like many dedicated tea processing professionals for certain teas. And yet staying happy and healthy.
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The young leaves I have seen look promising and we are very much looking forward to tasting the new batches.
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Some of the Japanese teas that we wholesale are also on our webshop for retail too. You can see them at the link above.
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Do let me know what you need soon so we can reserve the quantities for you before they are sold out.
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Matcha, Gyokuro, Sencha, Kabusecha, Kukicha, Houjicha, Boucha…
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Before Olivia and I could enter the rooms for grinding and packing matcha, we had to wear coveralls and later masks for food hygiene, and then ear-muffs for the noise of the machines.
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