This type of tea is harvested from a shaded tea farm (usually open-air, but covered with reed screens and shade cloth from mid-April until harvest). Covering the tea plants increases chlorophyll in the leaves, making them richly green, thin, and soft. This enhances the umami while minimizing bitterness and astringency. After the new buds are picked, they are steamed and then dried at a high temperature in a tencha(碾茶) furnace. The dried tencha is ground into matcha using a stone mill.

Maruri Yoshida Meichaen, located in Uji, Kyoto, has been producing Uji tea for 16 generations since the Edo period, passing down the tradition from their ancestors. They continue to uphold traditional tea production techniques such as hand-rolled tea processing and the Honzu covering method, which shades tea plants with rice straw mats to enhance flavor and aroma. Their Uji tea is carefully picked from meticulously managed tea farms and crafted with the highest level of skill.

Since 1947, they have participated in the National Tea Competition every year and have won the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Award, the top prize, 20 times. The fourteenth-generation owner, Yoshida Kisaburo was registered as intangible cultural heritage in Uji-City. Since then, they have managed the care of Japan's oldest tea farm, Kozan-ji Tea Farm, which is part of the UNESCO World Heritage site Kozan-ji Temple.

Location: Uji, Kyoto
Taste Profile: Umami
Cultivar: Samidori + Ujihikari (Blended)
Harvest Method: Hand-picked

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