From the fields of family-operated tea farm, Tomizawa Tea Garden, a green tea shaded for about 2 weeks before early May harvest (making it a kabusecha). The Saemidori tea cultivar is has been the most popular cultivar among tea connoisseurs in Japan in recent years due to its bright color and sweet flavor, both enhanced by shading.

As a steamed tamaryokucha (or guricha), the leaves are not rolled into straight needles as you would see with sencha, but rather left slightly curled by skipping the last rolling step.

Steeping Notes

Tea: 3-5 grams
Time: 1 minute
Water temperature: 60C/140F degrees
Water amount: 1 cup
Resteep at hotter temperature up to 3 times. We recommend the second steep to be quick -- in and out, since the leaves are primed for extraction.
Use hotter temperature & longer steeping time for a more astringent tea, use cold water or ice steeping for a very sweet tea.

Product Info

Name: Kabusecha Saemidori
Japanese name: かぶせ茶　富茶華（とみさわ）さえみどり
Ingredients: Green tea
Cultivar: Saemidori
Harvest: Early May
Steaming: Slightly longer than regular steaming but retains shape well, so not quite fukamushi (deep steamed)
Region: Mashiki, Kumamoto

Vendor Info

The Tomizawa Tea Garden has over 85 years of tea farming history in Kumamoto Prefecture, and have received many famous tea awards in Japan. The family grows tea with a lot of sunlight and Kumamoto’s natural ground water famous for its clean and beautiful taste.

In April 2016, Mashiki, Kumamoto Prefecture affected by the Kumamoto Earthquakes with main shock at magnitude 7.0. The earthquakes have resulted in 48 deaths, 3000 injuries, and nearly 200,000 people evacuated to shelters in the aftermath.

Tomizawa Tea garden also had been affected by this earthquake losing their tea shop. However, they used this opportunity to rebuild their shop in 2018, calling it the Greentea.Lab.

Name: Tomizawa Tea Garden / Greentea.Lab
Location: 47 Oyatsu, Mashiki, Kamimashiki-gun, Kumamoto 861-2204
Established: April 1928

Learn more about the farmers here!