Miyazaki Kamimizu Tea Farm

About

A 4th generation family tea farm Established by Kamimizu Sousuke, the Kamimizu family has been growing tea in Miyazaki Prefecture for over 120 years. Today, the family farms without the use of pesticides and without the use of fertilizers in order create tea according the biorhythm of the tea plants. Company History At the foot of Mt. Kirishima in Miyazaki Prefecture lies the town of Mimata, a land where the sunlight, rich soil and pure water are in abundance. Kamimizuen have been growing tea for over 120 years. Kamimizuen was founded in 1896 by Kamimizu Sousuke. He was 20 years old when he first learned the hand-rolling technique and started tea production. As Japan faced modernization, machinery was introduced into the tea industry and in 1931 Kamimizuen’s second generation owner installed tea processing machine. In 1965, the third generation owner Kamimizu Suzumu decided to handle the entire process from tea production, manufacturing to sales. The turning point came in 1979, when the late frost killed the tea harvest of Kamimizuen’s entire tea field. In 1980, learning from a similar case seen in abroad, they incorporated the use of sprinklers in the tea field. When the temperature drops to -2 degrees (Celsius) it kills the leaves. The late frost becomes a concern in early spring when the tea buds start to grow, so in order to avoid the temperature from dropping to -2 degrees, abundant amount of water is sprinkled throughout the field to keep the tea leaves at 0 degrees; in this way it freezes and protects the tea leaves instead of killing them. Although the water supply was a great concern because this method required a large amount of water, in 1982, with the use of ground water Kamimizuen succeeded in protecting the tea leaves, becoming the only tea field that was not affected by the late frost. This incident gave Kamimizu a new insight into the wonder of water and how it interacts with plants to bring their intrinsic power. Bio Tea In 1986, Susumu Kamimizu cre