Japanese tea gardens look quite different from tea plantations in other parts of the world. The bushes are cultivated in long rows and trimmed so the row has the appearance of a long dome. In Okinawa Prefecture it is said that the tea gives the impression of smooth waves of green, undulating over the landscape. This curved form of the tea bush gives the largest plucking table (the area where the new shoots used in high quality tea production grow is called the ‘plucking table’ – not only in Japan but in other parts of the tea growing world as well). It is on the long regularly shaped plucking table that the pickers take the leaves and the new buds. In the early season plucking is only done by hand.
Country of Origin: Japan
Region: Okinawa, Ryukiu-Islands, Japan
Infusion: Pale green yellow