Gently and naturally — feel the breeze from the mountains. Deep in the mountains of Shizuoka lies a small district called Ikumi (伊久美). Climb further up from the village and you’ll find a quiet, open field on the hillside — this is where the tea is grown. No large machines can reach here. Everything depends on human labour. Without pesticides or synthetic fertilizers, fieldwork becomes especially demanding in the harsh summer, with endless hand-weeding. This is a place that Tetsu, the founder of Kawagiri, has visited many times — even working in the fields to understand firsthand how labour-intensive this kind of farming really is. The tea bushes here are shaded (kabuse, 被せ) for over 20 days — well beyond the typical 7–14 days, and closer to the duration used for gyokuro, Japan’s highest grade of green tea. This extended shading produces a gentler, more mellow flavour and a richer nori-like aroma known as ooika (覆い香) — but it comes at a cost. Blocking sunlight for that long reduces yield, which is why leaves like these are normally reserved for blending, used to lift the quality of other teas rather than sold on their own. Mr. Ohashi makes an exception for us, setting aside a portion to offer unblended — as is. The taste is verdant and oceanic, but effortlessly natural. Just one cup can make you feel connected to the breeze flowing through those mountain tea fields.
