Zenkouen Tea Garden

Yoshimitsu Masuda spent the first part of his adult life working in a major farming cooperative. Alongside honing his tea production skills, during this time he learned firsthand about the risks of pesticides. After his time at the cooperative he returned to the family tea farm in 1992 and continued to learn tea production from his father and fellow tea farmers in Shimada, Shizuoka. Having learned about the risks of pesticides he started re-evaluating his family farm's approach to pesticide use and ultimately decided to shift the farm to using organic methods.

Switching to organic farming was not an easy task; insects and plant diseases caused challenges on the first field he took charge of. At first crop yield and leaf quality dropped, and he faced criticism from both family and other tea professionals. But he felt it was worth pursuing organic farming despite the challenges. Finally his hard work proved successful and the tea he produced became both delicious and pesticide free. Ultimately the whole farm switched to organic farming.

Today, Masuda-san has over 25 years of experience in organic farming and is proud to produce tea that aligns with his values regarding tea production and tastes delicious! Now he is passing his skills onto his children.