Hometown of Japanese Tea Ceremony ~Matcha Tea Field in Wazuka, Kyoto~
In my tea ceremony class near Golden pavilion, my guests often ask me “where the tea come from?” or “How to make matcha tea?”, “What’s different from leaf green tea?”.
*Matcha is the powdered green tea made from “tencha”, which were processed in the special factory after picking up the high quality tea leaves, such as Samidori, oku midori etc.
I’ve visited Wazuka, Kyoto, which is the biggest tea field for matcha tea of “Uji, Kyoto” brand.
Talking about matcha; powdered green tea, the south of Kyoto is the most famous place in Japan.
Home town of Japanese Tea Ceremony- Wazuka, Kyoto
Tea filed of green lines looks like the art on the mountain.
Beautiful tea field on the top of the mountain.
How beautiful it is!
We can find there are tea tree’s lines of different colors.
Black line covered with awnings are for matcha tea while lines of fresh green are for sencha; leaf green tea.
We need to avoid the direct sun light to make sweeter high quality matcha tea.
The taste or quality of the tea changes by the types, colors, and when they were harvested.
What we call “1st tea” gathered around May is thought to be the best one because it has the rich nutrition after getting over the cold winter.
“2nd” one will be harvested around June or July.
Sometimes, farmers stop picking up the 2nd harvest to make the tea tree rest, which looks brown on the mountain.
The quality of the tea will be changed by the skill or decisions of the farmers as well.
How to make powdered green tea?- After gathering the tea leaves.
For matcha tea, we need to steam them immediately after the harvest since the color turned into black soon like English breakfast if we leave just one day.
After steaming, they will be dried by the wind like the photo above.
They will be dried in the hot around 180 ℃ in tencha-ro (a special furnace for the tea).
Dried tea leaves are parted into leaves and stems.
Now it’s ready to be grind with stone mill, what we call “Tencha”.
Tea field Tour & Tea tasting in d:matcha, Wazuka Kyoto
Since here is the tea field, we can try tasting some plain types of tea while usual matcha sold in the urban city are blended.
From the left, “Samidori”, “Oku midori”, and “Goko”.
I was surprised they had completely different tastes!
d:matcha Kyoto
It’s in front of the Bus stop for Nara Kotsu, “Nakawazuka”
JR Kyoto station →JR Kizu (木津)→JR Kamo(加茂)→Bus stop ”Nakawazuka”(中和束)
*Please tell them you find d:matcha be this Website “Tea Ceremony Koto”.
Authentic Tea Ceremony near Golden Pavilion
If you are interested in Traditional tea ceremony, please visit us ; Tea Ceremony Koto, too.
By visiting both Wazuka tea field & traditional tea house, your tea trip in Japan will be perfect !