Hiraoka Tea Garden

About

Sayama tea is recognized as one of the three best major teas in Japan, along with Uji and Shizuoka tea. In particular, Sayama tea is renown for its taste (in Japanese we have an expression: Aji no Sayama cha which means “the taste of Sayama tea”). This is because Sayama, Saitama prefecture is located in a cold tea producing region, so the tea leaves are thick and accumulate rich and plentiful nutrients. At Hiraoka Tea Garden, we take particular care so that the tea branches are left intact as much as possible. In this way, the number of buds is reduced and a large amount of nutrients can be stored in each tea leaf, resulting in a deep and rich tea. Please enjoy the Sayama tea that we have made with great care! What is Sayama-cha and why is it so special? Sayama-cha is a regional specific name for Japanese tea produced mainly in the western part of Saitama prefecture as well as the Nishitama region of Tokyo prefecture. It is the coldest tea-producing region in Japan; thus, tea harvest season is often limited to the ichibancha and nibancha (i.e., 2 harvest seasons; spring and summer). Owing to the cooler climate, Sayama tea is characterized by its thick leaves, which comes with a deep umami and profound richness, and is renowned for its wonderful taste. Another unique aspect of Sayama tea is that many of the tea farmers in the Sayama region are self-reliant. That is, they have their own tea farm, process their own tea, and they will sell it themselves. Since each tea farmer has a strong commitment and passion in making their own good tea, Sayama teas can greatly differ from one another. In this sense, it can also be said that Sayama is a diverse tea producing area. Finally, although Sayama tea is known as one of the top three Japanese tea producing areas (along with tea from Uji and Yame), it is a rare tea because they are not widely distributed throughout the country, let alone internationally. *Note that there is a famous tea picking song, which proclaims that the b