TeaMania in Japan – The tea growing area Honyama

Konnichiwa dear tea friends

We are pleased to publish our first photo report about Japan. After the stay in the hectic urban jungle of Tokyo we were glad to get a taste of the country air again. After a short stay in a Ryokan we moved to Shizuoka, one of the main tea growing areas in Japan. In Shizuoka we visited an innovative tea producer whom we got to know through a friend. Maybe more about this in a later post.

But we were interested in more teas with character. Such from small tea farms which are run by families and captivate with their uniqueness. In Honyama we finally found what we were looking for. Here, where the Abe River has its source, tea bushes thrive in narrow valleys surrounded by deep forests. The water of the mountain streams is so clear that even wasabi can be cultivated here. These special conditions create a special micro-climate. From the Abe and its numerous tributaries and sometimes even from Fuji, wafts of mist pass through the tea fields of Honyama. This shades the tea leaves in a natural way and this is one of the reasons why teas from Honyama can be counted among the best teas in Japan.