The women of Kiroku Tea Garden began experimenting with a unique roasting of their tencha tea leaves a few years ago (in cooperation with their roasting partner in Wazuka Village), and created this unique roast—a deep, double-roasting of their single cultivar okumidori spring tencha leaves that creates a sweetness in the tea when steeped.

Tencha is the green tea leaf used to make matcha, and okumidori cultivar spring tencha is highly sought after for matcha. Most farmers would think it a waste to roast these leaves, but in the pursuit of innovation in tea, the Hori family sets aside a small amount each year for creating this sweet roast.

The very first batch roasted in 2019

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Product Info

Ingredients: Green tea
Cultivar: Okumidori
Harvest: Spring
Notes: Roasted. No pesticides used prior to harvest, synthetic fertilizers used.
Region: Wazuka Village, Kyoto Prefecture

Steeping Recommendation

Tea: 5 grams. Time: 1 min. Water: 80C/178F, 200 ml. Resteep up to 6 times.

About the Garden

The 4th generation Kiroku Tea Garden is in the heart of Wazuka, Kyoto prefecture, an area whose mountain tea fields and undulating terraced slopes thick with fog make perfect tea-growing conditions. Founded nearly 100 years ago, before cars and farming machinery were available, their mountain fields were cleared by hand by the Great-Grandfather of sisters Megumi and Ui Hori.

Today, with their mother, the sisters find themselves in the unusual position of being a farm entirely owned and operated by women. After the passing of their father, the three women took over the running of the farm to continue their family’s legacy, one that began in these fields all those years ago. In the male-dominated tea agriculture and production industry, their efforts are a challenge to the status quo. At Yunomi, we are proud to support their dedication. To learn more about the Kiroku Tea Garden, please check out our interview with Ui Hori (posted April 2021).