Kiroku Tea Garden: Single Cultivar Tencha Sayama Kaori from Wazuka, Kyoto Kiroku Tea Garden

A light bodied shaded green tea with zero astringency, and notes of sweet matcha. Tencha is the leaf used to grind into matcha, but resembles the delicacy of a white tea when steeped.

Sayama Kaori – the “aroma of Sayama”, a region north of Tokyo (Saitama Prefecture) is a cultivar known for its hardiness and large leaves resulting in higher yield than normal. It tends to be on the more astringent side in comparison with sweeter cultivars, but retains this when shaded for an umami rich tea that also retains its grassiness. 

Product Info

• Ingredients: Green tea
• Cultivar: Sayama Kaori
• Harvest: Spring
• Notes: Shaded 3-4 weeks. No pesticides used prior to harvest, synthetic fertilizers used.
• Region: Wazuka Village, Kyoto Prefecture

Steeping Recommendation

Tea: 3 grams. Time: 2 min. Water: 70C/158F, 200 ml. Resteep up to 3 times.

About the Garden

The 4th generation Kiroku Tea Garden is in the heart of Wazuka, Kyoto prefecture, an area whose mountain tea fields and undulating terraced slopes thick with fog make perfect tea-growing conditions. Founded nearly 100 years ago, before cars and farming machinery were available, their mountain fields were cleared by hand by the Great-Grandfather of sisters Megumi and Ui Hori.

Today, with their mother, the sisters find themselves in the unusual position of being a farm entirely owned and operated by women. After the passing of their father, the three women took over the running of the farm to continue their family’s legacy, one that began in these fields all those years ago. In the male-dominated tea agriculture and production industry, their efforts are a challenge to the status quo. At Yunomi, we are proud to support their dedication. To learn more about the Kiroku Tea Garden, please check out our interview with Ui Hori (posted April 2021).