According to Hiroki Murakami, who will become the farm's 4th generation master, the family doesn't know exactly when they started farming tea, though his great-grandfather was the one who built their first processing factory in the late 19th century.

Based in the Yoshiwara district, a mountainous region famous for its sea of clouds within the municipality of Shizuoka City, the family produces about 2 tons of tea altogether per year (first and second flushes).

Their leaves are mostly processed as a near-fukamushi (deep steamed), a steaming technique that creates a tea that has fukashimicha's deep, opaque green color and sweetness, but while also retaining much of the leaf's shape.

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Another shiraore stem tea coming from the award-winning Kurihara Tea Farm. So, what exactly do we meant by shiraore? Shiraore is a term used for kukicha (“twig tea”), or leaf stem tea, made with parts of the tea plant that is usually not used for making the most common type of green tea such as sencha or gyokuro. This shiraore consists of matcha powder and a blend of tea stems, stalks, and twigs which came from the production of their sencha tea. While in Kyushu (the most southern island), the people call this type of tea shiraore, Kyoto folks call it karigane. Because the shiraore is a tea that comes mainly from the stems, the characteristics is a refreshing stalk aroma that will slightly differ from your typical sencha. With the addition of the matcha powder, you will experience a vegetal tea, light-bodied with a deep green color.

Kukicha is a fantastic staple tea to add especially because a high quality kukicha such as this one will be pleasing but they are also often affordable. If you are looking to explore in the realm of kukichas, the Kurihara family also has a gyokuro shiraore and imperial shiraore, waiting for you to try!

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Shimizu-san's Fukimukashi blend is thought to be their finest shincha. This tea originates from Shimizu-san and the Sayama tea farmers’ fields (comes from three tea plantations).

Like Bizenya’s Shourai blend, it consists of aracha (unrefined tea in which stems and leaf fannings are not filtered) from three types of cultivars: fukumidori, yumewakaba, and yabukita.

After the tea is harvested, it goes through a process of withering in which the tea leaves are first sun dried, then dried in the shade for about half a day to create the aroma. Each cultivar is hand-fired separately using a hoiro (焙炉 a special table with thick washi paper surface that is heated from the bottom), then blended to complete the Shourai blend. This tea was served to the Japanese emperor and empress to accompany their dessert at Koryo Shrine on September 20, 2017.

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Steeping Recommendation from Bizenya

Shimizu-san's Fukimukashi blend is thought to be their finest shincha. This tea originates from Shimizu-san and the Sayama tea farmers’ fields (comes from three tea plantations).

Like Bizenya’s Shourai blend, it consists of aracha (unrefined tea in which stems and leaf fannings are not filtered) from three types of cultivars: fukumidori, yumewakaba, and yabukita.

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Steeping Recommendation from Bizenya

Gyokuro tea is grown beneath shading, cutting out some 85% of the sunlight. This allows the leaves to mature without obtaining bitterness. The results is an ultra delicate green tea with an extremely sweet taste profile.

The Kurihara family's Heritage Gyokuro is grown beneath traditional, handmade bamboo and/or straw shading. The moisture that drips from this natural shading flavors the tea -- a return to the past with this gourmet tea.

The most premium gyokuro tea the Kurihara family offers is produced on a specific field that has seems to have the ideal soil composition, sunlight exposure, and surround mirco-climate. After handpicking the tea leaves from this field, they are processed in our small, private factory. Because this particular tea leaf, 'Kurihara Heritage Gyokuro', is so good, we decided not to blend it with other fields keeping it as a single field tea.

Advanced cultivation technique

(See tea plant photo) Termination of apex domination. A tea plant allowed to grow more freely for handpicking has an apex leaf bud at the tip of each branch as well as lateral leaf buds that form on older base leaves further down the branch. The plant will favor this apex bud giving it more nutrients to grow larger. By cutting off each and every apex at the start of spring, Kurihara-san forces these nutrients into the lateral buds infusing the new spring leaves with flavor. Those lateral buds are then carefully picked by hand. For more info, see this article.

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While gyokuro is harvested at the same time as other spring teas, producers commonly prefer to age their gyokuro at least 4 months, often 6 months before releasing the product for sale. The aging of the product in cool, temperature-controlled environment allows the greenness--bitter, astringent flavors--to degrade, ever so slightly increasing the umami flavors. The final polish that transforms a high grade product into the best Japan has to offer. Kurihara Tea, however, chooses to make the new tea leaf available both for tea enthusiasts to taste the fresh leaf, and to enjoy aging on their own.

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Advanced cultivation technique

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Have you ever tried the very first hand-picked tea of the season? This is your opportunity to enjoy Bizenya’s first shincha from their organic tea plantations handpicked only once a year; Nogi-en (located in the famous Sayamacha region: Takahagi, Hidaka city, Saitama prefecture). This tea field is owned and cultivated by Bizenya, with cooperation from other producers / farmers for processing and other work.

Originating from their April 18th morning Fukumidori cultivar harvest, this tea was then processed by award-winning tea farmer and producer Okutomi Masahiro. You are sure to experience a richness that can only be produced with Bizenya's hand-picked tea leaves!

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While many teas tend to be characterized by their stringiness or bitterness, Shimizu-san's Kasumino is characterized by its fruity and refreshing aroma. This aroma is a product of the process of ichoka, in which the harvested tea leaves are withered to enhance their scent. If you would like to enjoy the rich taste of Sayama-cha (tea originating from Takahagi, Hidaka city area in Saitama prefecture) but would also like to appreciate the process of ichoka, the Kasumino tea is the one to try. This blend comes from three tea gardens in the vicinity of Bizenya and is also a blend of cultivars: yabukita, sayamamidori, saemidori and fukumidori.

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Steeping Recommendation from Bizenya

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Steeping Recommendation from Bizenya

Bizenya’s tea merchant Keiichiro Shimizu is proud of his Shimizu Mukashi blend, both for its flavor and its aroma that is incomparable to other teas. This shincha is handpicked primarily from his own Nogi-en tea farm, located in Takahagi, Hidaka city (Sayama region, well-known for their Sayamacha). The Nogi-en tea farm is cultivated without use of pesticides and leaves from this farm are only handpicked and only once a year.

It takes Shimuzi-san and his staff 10 days to handpick the 20 acre Nogi-en for their \"Shimizu Mukashi\" aracha. Aracha is a type of traditional, unrefined tea in which stems and leaf fannings are not filtered out. For this special preparation, the freshly picked tea leaves will go through a carefully controlled shading process, termed ichoka (icho = withering, ka=aroma), which concentrates and preserves the subtle aromas.

Because it is handpicked, the rolled tea leaves will appear larger than what one may be used to seeing, perhaps giving a wild look, foreshadowing its ambition. As you begin the first sip, the alluring aroma slips past your tongue followed instantaneously by a sweet and refreshing taste. You may be surprised by the desire for time to stop and forever live in that perfect moment when aroma and taste both tantalize and satisfy. This is the magic of Bizenya's Shimizu-mukashi shincha. One to look forward to every year!

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Steeping Recommendation from Bizenya

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Steeping Recommendation from Bizenya

Shincha 2025 - Japanese First Flush Spring Green Tea

(239 products)

Items That Have Arrived Limited Edition Products See All Shincha Products

About Shincha - First Flush Spring Green Tea

There are several definitions of what is considered "shincha". The widest definition refers to any leaf in the first two months or so after harvest (when the leaves are still "new"). General use of the term refers more specifically to the spring harvest, and the first two months or so afterwards. This means the same spring tea called shincha in May is no longer called shincha in August because it is no longer new.

However, many farmers will harvest extra early for particularly young, tender leaves creating LIMITED EDITION tea products. These have several names: hashiri - "run", as "in run to the fields now to harvest the leaves", hatsutsumi - "first picking" or the farmer's very first harvest of the spring season, hachijyu hachiya - "88th night" referring to the 88th day of spring in the old lunar calendar, tea picked on this day is said to be the best and brings good fortune for the year (this year it is May 1st).

The period during which shincha is available is short for most vendors, but since we are aggregating producers from throughout Japan, the harvest of tea leaves occur from the beginning of April all the way until July.