Onizuka-San is a fifth-generation organic tea farmer in Kagoshima, Japan. He is making mid-steamed “chumushi” sencha with rich and juicy character owing to his special soil management and masterful cultivation techniques. Onizuka-San is growing several cultivars for our organic sencha. He puts his heart and soul into organic farming and all aspects of tea production. His organic sencha is always amongst the best of our selections each year with robust and rich character.

Saemidori translates to “clear green” and is the hybrid field cultivar of the Asatsuyu and Yabukita cultivars. It is one of the first-harvested cultivars of early spring and is favored by tea farmers in Kyushu Island for its vivid and bright green infusion color and its relative frost resistance in the early spring.

This lot of Saemidori produced by Onizuka-San stood out on the cupping table with its shimmering bright green and opaque emerald infusion color. The fertile black volcanic soils of Onizuka-San's farm really come through in the cup quality and produce a special minerality and density in the taste of this Shincha Saemidori.