At the foot of Mt. Fuji, Fujinomiya City in Shizuoka Prefecture offers an impressive view of vast bright green tea fields spreading against the backdrop of the majestic mountain.

While touring around the Fuji area, my fellow writers and I stopped to enjoy tea leaf-picking and a facility tour at Yamataka Sakurai Seicha tea farm.

We were greeted by owner Yutaka Sakurai and led into a greenhouse to learn how to pick the perfect green tea leaf.

The tea bushes in the greenhouse were short, making leave-picking easy. We noticed that there were both light and dark-hued leaves and Sakurai advised us to pick the lighter ones. He said the light green leaves produce a fresher, sweeter tea flavor.

According to Sakurai, tea leaves can be harvested four times a year in Shizuoka – from April to May, from June to July, around bon season (mid-August) and from September to October.

“Among the four times, the first harvest around April or May is called ‘shincha’ (the first tea of the year) and has the best, full-bodied flavor and sweet aroma,” Sakurai said.

Shizuoka Prefecture is known for its enormous tea production. In 2020, the prefecture produced no less than 25,200 tons of tea, or about 36.1 percent of Japan’s tea products (69,800 tons).

Shizuoka’s tea is in high demand and often ranked alongside Saitama Prefecture’s Sayama Tea and Kyoto Prefecture’s Uji Tea as one of the best. According to Sakurai, Shizuoka is blessed with mild temperatures, clear water and well-drained soil comprised from Fuji lava, making it a suitable place for quality tea.

Sakurai said he and his family have been producing quality tea for three generations and more than 70 years.

After filling out baskets with fresh tea leaves, we walked through Sakurai’s tea field and went up a hill overlooking the grounds. Although most of Mt. Fuji was hidden in the clouds, we were able to catch a glimpse of the snowy peak above.

Our next stop was to check out the tea production process at the farm’s factory. Here tea leaves are steamed, dried and crushed before being bagged and sold.

Though we didn’t process the leaves we picked, we were able to take them home and attempt to complete the production process on a smaller scale with a pan or microwave. Sakurai suggested watching a YouTube video or searching for instructions online to complete the process.

After the facility tour, Sakurai’s wife demonstrated how to brew tea and extract the umami flavors of the farm’s premium tea leaves.

She showed us the proper way to cool down the water and heat the teacups before pouring the water over the tea leaves on a small sieve sitting on the teapot opening. We sampled the tea after brewing once, twice and three times to experience the evolution of flavor. The strength and subtle sweet taste are adjusted with the steeping time and water ratio.

When I sampled the changing flavor of the same tea leaves in several pours, I noticed that the first service of tea and the second had a completely different flavor and aroma. The second pour was smoother with a milder aroma compared to the sweet and sour richness of the first brew. Both were wonderful, but I preferred the first brew.

The tea farm also has a small shop where you can buy a variety of tea, matcha and tools to brew the perfect cup.

You can enjoy tea leaf-picking and tea tasting at Yamataka Sakurai Seicha from April to October. Plan to drop by when you visit Fujinomiya!

Yamataka Sakurai Seicha (Tea Farm and Factory)

Location: 877 Yamamoto, Fujinomiya City, Shizuoka Prefecture

Hours: 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Tea leaf picking and factory tour: 1,000 yen

URL

Tel: 0120-37-2238

See more about Japan’s green tea at Green tea key part of Japanese culture.

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