This was a tea factory tour courtesy of The World Green Tea Association. Mr. Nishikawa (Manager) and Mr. Uchino (Senior managing director) were kind enough to take me along....
The World Green Tea Association
I first heard about the World Green Tea Association (世界緑茶協会) at the World Tea Expo. The manager, Hiroshi Nishikawa, learned of my trip to Japan because of this blog’s...
Yamaneen Genmaicha with Matcha
This tea is sold by Ippin, an online store that specializes in Japanese products. The following link is for the US market: https://us.ippin.com. The tea’s brand is Yamaneen (山年園),...
World Atlas of Tea (Book Review)
World Atlas of Tea, as its name implies, is a book with emphasis on the geographical aspect of tea. It’s written by Krisi Smith, co-founder of Blue Bird Tea...
NAJTIA Bamboo Certification Course
NAJTIA (North American Japanese Tea Instructors Association) is a non profit organization representing the Japanese Tea industry and the traditions around Japanese Tea in North America. Before NAJTIA, you could only...
Meeting Tyas from The Tea Crane
My wife and I wanted to go to Osaka because the city is famous for its food. I hadn’t been there much, even when I lived in Japan. Besides,...
How to Prepare Iced Matcha
I usually prepare matcha with hot water, but iced matcha is a good alternative when you need to cool off. Let me show you the different methods, and my...
Inori Gyokuro
Hanna Wood from Inori contacted me some time ago, her store has gyokuro and kabusecha from Uji. She and her husband Michael source the teas from Mr. Hattori, a...
The Gokou Tea Cultivar
What do Gokou, Asahi, Ujihikari, and Samidori cultivars have in common? First of all, they come from Kyoto prefecture. Second, they are used for gyokuro and tencha. Finally, they...
Kyoto Saryo
Kyoto Saryo (京都茶寮) is both a Japanese tea house and a gallery, located in the second floor of the Kyoto Station building. As soon as I saw it I...
Rishouen Tea Kaori Genmaicha
I enjoy genmaicha at least once every few days, it’s one of my favorite teas. It’s definitely the favorite tea of my wife. She likes to drink it after...
Rishouen Tea
After my trip sponsored by JETRO, I still had time for more tea tourism. I visited Rishouen Tea in Uji city. They were the first to invite me by...