Description
Spring Harvest Premium Houjicha (Roasted Green Tea); Fujieda, Shizuoka, Naturally grown with no synthetic pesticides or fertilizers - 2026 Ichibancha (First Flush) Spring Harvest.
Origin: Fujieda, Shizuoka Prefecture.
Cultivar: Yabukita.
While many commercially available Houjicha use bancha harvested in autumn or second or third harvest Sencha from the summer, this Houjicha is made from the first flush Sencha harvested in May. Deep roasting of the spring's delicate and flavorful tea leaves and stems provides a smooth, rich flavor that is both luxurious among Houjicha and easy to drink any time of day. The roasting process produces a very savory and smoky aroma and a slightly sweet flavor reminiscent of burnt caramel, walnuts, sweet potatoes, and/or apricots, in a light chestnut brown liquor. Very low astringency, caffeine, and tannin levels make this a smooth and mellow tea that can be enjoyed anytime by tea drinkers of all ages
Our Shizuoka Houjicha from Fujieda City comes to us from the same farming group that provides our Yamakai Sencha, Shizuoka Genmaicha, and Setoya Momji WaKoucha. The Kinezuka Family were pioneers in the naturally farming tea before it was more widely accepted in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan's largest producer of tea for decades (surpassed in volume by Kagoshima for the first time in 2024.)
Tenth-generation tea farmer Toshiaki Kinezuka was a pioneer of organic tea farming in Shizuoka Prefecture, which has the largest prefectural share of tea farmland in Japan. Starting natural farming methods in 1976, his dedication and practices have continued with his family, and have spread to other farmers and consumers in the region. From the family's website, "It took three years of hard work before finally getting a harvest that met his standards for quality, but thanks to a dedicated group of consumers and collaborators, he was able to persevere through the first few years and to fulfill his dream of creating an entirely organic tea company. In the time since, he has continued to study how to maintain the highest standards of environmental stewardship while producing great tea. He has drawn other local farmers into the organic tea cooperative, and actively pursued the spread of sustainable tea production in Shizuoka, Japan, and the entire world. This practice now continues with his children and grandchildren."