Rice Planting  (by Daiki T.)  In the town of Wazuka, it's customary to plant rice in April, just as the tea harvesting season kicks into full gear. At d:matcha, we cultivate our own rice in the paddy fields in front of our main store. One of the most crucial aspects of rice cultivation is water management. Water levels can influence growth and suppress weeds, so it's essential to prepare the paddies carefully before planting. The quality of this work directly impacts the harvest and fieldwork duration. Recognizing this, d:matcha redeveloped the fields immediately, consolidating ..read more

About Theanine Theanine is a unique amino acid found in tea, synthesised only by tea plants and certain fungi in nature. It contributes to the umami taste in tea and is closely related to the quality of tea, as theanine content correlates with tea quality. Theanine also has relaxing and sleep-inducing effects when ingested orally. Therefore, when the same amount of caffeine is consumed through tea compared to coffee, the awakening effect of caffeine is counteracted by the relaxing effect of theanine, resulting in a milder awakening effect. Thus, theanine is an essential component in ensuring t ..read more

Changes in the Tea Fields During Winter (by Aka) The management of the tea fields throughout the year follows a sequence: first tea harvest, bancha cutting, second tea harvest, autumn bancha cutting, and then preparing for the first tea of the next year. Bancha cutting is a preparation to neatly trim the first and second tea. By cutting the surface layer of leaves and stems during bancha cutting, only the new shoots are harvested for the first and second tea, maintaining their quality. The autumn bancha cutting, performed after the second tea harvest, is essentially the same as bancha cutting ..read more

Winter Frost (by Aka) In winter, it's common to see tea fields covered in frost. This sight appears almost magical and beautiful as if the fields are clad in garments of ice. During the cold early mornings, the entire tea fields in Wazuka Town are often covered in frost, creating a beautiful winter landscape. However, such frost can sometimes adversely affect the tea. If frost occurs during spring, the young, tender buds in the initial growth stages of the first harvest may struggle to withstand this cold, reducing the quality and yield of the tea. In severe cases, harvesting becomes difficult ..read more

Hello, thank you for supporting d:matcha Kyoto! This newsletter is filled with the monthly updates from our team. We hope you enjoy our stories from Wazuka Town, Kyoto Prefecture. --- Unusual Early New Tea Harvest (by Aka.H) This year, a warm climate continued from March to April, and cherry blossoms bloomed very early. The first harvesting season of this year is also about a week earlier than usual, and tea-picking work can be seen here and there in Wazuka town. The arrival of this too early season is not favorable for farmers. The climate during this time is unstable, and there are frequent ..read more

Hello, thank you for supporting d:matcha Kyoto! This newsletter is filled with the monthly updates from our team. We hope you enjoy our stories from Wazuka Town, Kyoto Prefecture. --- About farming (by Aka.H)　 The aftermath of pesticide free second flush harvesting Every year we only harvested tea from the first flush for pesticide free farms. Instead of harvesting, we cut all the branches deeply to maintain the health and quality of tea and to avoid the pests. For the first time, this year we decided to harvest tencha from the second flush to improve our production. I have been checking on th ..read more

Hello, thank you for supporting d:matcha Kyoto! This newsletter is filled with the monthly updates from our team. We hope you enjoy our stories from Wazuka Town, Kyoto Prefecture. --- About farming (by Aka.H) Rare tea leaves part⑥ I’ve been tea farming for six years and I often see unusual-shaped tea leaves. Today I would like to describe some tea leaves that I found according to personal preference. The photo on the right is a scene that you can only see once every few years. This is called Chuugari or Middle pruning. What we do here is cut the tree so deep that what is left is branches. It s ..read more

Hello, thank you for supporting d:matcha Kyoto. This newsletter is filled with monthly updates from our team in Wazuka, Kyoto. We hope that you enjoy reading our content! --- About farming（by Aka） Creating fertilizer. Part 1 For any crops, sunlight energy helps the growth cycle infinite. Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen are elements necessary for plants to grow but can be supplied naturally due to atmosphere and precipitation. When people harvest crops, it means removing other elements (nitrogen, calcium etc.) from the plants to grow. So we manually need to add the necessary elements and fertilizer ..read more

Hello, thank you for supporting d:matcha Kyoto! This newsletter is filled with the monthly updates from our team. We hope you enjoy our stories from Wazuka Town, Kyoto Prefecture. --- About farming (by Aka.H) Rare tea leaves part⑤ I’ve been tea farming for six years and I often see unusual-shaped tea leaves. Today I would like to describe some tea leaves that I found according to personal preference. Please take a look at the photo(①) that was caused by a certain organisim This photo was taken right before harvesting tencha. You could see the dead leaves damaged due to pests eating the leave ..read more

Hello, thank you for supporting d:matcha Kyoto! This newsletter is filled with the monthly updates from our team. We hope you enjoy our stories from Wazuka Town, Kyoto Prefecture. --- About farming (by Aka.H) Rare tea leaves part④ I’ve been tea farming for six years and I often see unusual-shaped tea leaves. Today I would like to describe some tea leaves that I found according to personal preference. Sometimes I come across tea leaves that look like it snowed during the summer season. Right after the harvesting season the rainy season comes to Wazuka. This rainy season comes between a cool or ..read more