Professional's Guide to Japanese Tea

Magnificent scenery with mountainous valleys and open plains Centuries of tradition and rich cultural heritage A welcoming rural community Award-winning gyokuro... If the above descriptions resonate with you, Yame may just be the tea haven for you!  And today on the fall equinox, we will be touching on Yame as one of the major tea producing regions in Japan but also to share with you what makes their gyokuro shine.

Kagoshima is the 2nd largest tea producing prefecture in Japan after Shizuoka.  It is only recently however that Kagoshima has obtained recognition as a place of tea.  For quite a long time, Kagoshima had an image of low end tea. That being said, even some Japanese may not be aware that Kagoshima is a strong tea producing region. Today, this prefecture has the highest productivity per area in all of Japan, especially in the flat agricultural areas, which favors mechanization.  But of course, it’s not all about the productivity.  Below, we highlight some of the specialties of Kagoshima tea: