Sencha Kanayamidori Yasue 50g

• Style: Asamushi
• Cultivar: Kanayamidori
• Region: Higashi-Shirakawa, Gifu
• Harvest: 05/2025
• Shiage – final refining: 12/2025
• Stimulation: medium

A pleasant, moderately invigorating tea from one of the most beautiful and pristine parts of Japan. The Tokiwaen plantation lies in the picturesque village of Higashi-Shirakawa in Gifu Prefecture, surrounded by steep slopes and deep forests – in the hills above the river whose crystal-clear water gave the village its name (“Eastern White River”). It is beautifully kept, and Mr Yasue is a true expert as well as wonderful company.

Kanayamidori is a fascinating cultivar with a slightly “milky” flavor that pairs beautifully with the local soil. It was bred in the 1960s at the Kanaya tea research station in Shizuoka by crossing Yabukita with a local zairai tea plant, and it is used mainly for sencha and matcha.

Like his father before him, Mr Yasue farms in harmony with the surrounding nature, without pesticides or synthetic fertilizers. He grows, picks and processes the tea himself – first into aracha and then through the final refining (shiage) – in the smallest tea factory I have ever seen. He is the local Shinto priest, a beekeeper, a tea farmer and a tea maker all in one person.