Kancha from the mountain village of Kuo, Shishikui in Tokushima Prefecture, is a long-loved bancha, a folk tea that is made specifically in the South of Tokushima Prefecture.

For decades, tea farmer Akemi Ishimoto has been trying to preserve this regional bancha. She founded the Shishikui Kancha Production Association roughly 35 years ago to bring together farmers in the region to help with kancha harvesting and production.

In this region, they have always harvested mature and coarse tea leaves in the winter time as opposed to a spring harvest because the people believe it makes for more delicious and mellow tea.

Due to depopulation and aging; today, Kuo village only has a population of about 10. Now, at 87 years old (in 2024), Akemi-san is the only one who is keeping the kancha tradition alive. Due to the hard labor of tea harvesting and processing, she is the only one that is making the tea from start to finish (e.g., her friends, elementary school children, and tea lovers may help her with harvesting here and there).

Akemi-san says that she has never met a person who loves kancha more than herself and she also says every year that this will be her last year making kancha.

Kancha Processing

As with many banchas, kancha is made from mature, large leaves. What makes kancha unique is that the leaves are harvested in the cold winter months. The way Akemi-san’s kancha is made follows this process:

1. She handpicks mature winter tea leaves (about 10 cm in length) starting on January 1st (and makes multiple batches until March 10).
2. She then boils the leaves for 25 minutes to soften them and stop oxidization. 
3. The leaves are then massaged first by machine then hand-rolled by Akemi-san for the finishing touch (note: previously, it was all hand-rolled).
4. Then, the leaves are left in a barrel overnight.
5. They are then brought to Akemi-san’s greenhouse (across the river), removed from the barrel, and spread out to dry for 2-5 days depending on the weather.
6. Lastly, the leaves are taken outside to sundry on sunny days. Akemi-san says the last sun drying step is a very important in her kancha making process. There is something special about receiving energy from the sun.

Product Info

• Ingredient: Green tea
• Harvest: Cold winter months (January 1st ~ March 10th).
• Region: Kuo Village, Shishikuicho, Tokushima Prefecture
• Cultivated: without use of pesticides 
• Region: Kuo Village, Shishikui, Tokushima Prefecture