Seikoen

Tea Factory Based in Itoigawa, Niigata

One of the few tea factories based in Northern Japan, Seikoen specializes in the use of a traditional cooling room, a yukimuro or literally "snow room", to age tea leaves and increase their umami flavor content. The factory also specializes in a traditional folk tea called Itoigawa Batabatacha, a mix of bancha, roasted kawaraketsumei herbs, roasted soybeans, and mugicha.

Award

2009 & 2012 Monde Selection silver medal winner for their Echigo Boucha, roasted green tea leaf stems

• Company Name: Seikoen, Ltd.
• President: Yoshiyuki Matsuki
• Type: Tea finishing factory & 4 shops in Niigata Prefecture
• Employees: 10 full & part-time employees
• Specialty: Tea aged in special room cooled by natural snow throughout the year (yukimuro 雪室 literally "snow room"). Itoigawa
• Batabatacha
Location: 4-1-6 Ichinomiya, Itoigawa-shi, Niigata Prefecture, Japan