Discovering Shizuoka – A Culinary Haven For Top Quality Ingredients

Japanese cuisine is in a class of its own, but do we really know what goes on behind the scenes from farm to table? How are tea leaves processed to make world famous Japanese green tea? What makes Japanese tomatoes and muskmelons so sweet and juicy? The answers lie in Shizuoka’s abundant produce

- Zann Cai, Theresa Tng

AN INSIGHT INTO JAPANESE TEA CULTURE

Tea drinking has been a pillar of Japanese culture for over 1000 years, and Shizuoka is one of the largest green tea growing regions in the country, home to several tea auctions for the buying and selling of tea leaves. The famous Shizuoka Japanese Tea Market is the only tea market that handles tea from all over Japan, working with a large number of tea buyers across the country.

Farmers pick tea leaves in the afternoon and roll them at night before sending the freshly rolled tea to the tea market early the next morning. Hand-rolled tea is a special form of Japanese craftsmanship, and though the craft typically yields a much smaller volume, it results in a better aroma than when machine-rolled.

Tea buyers participate in a rigorous selection process to decide which tea leaves they wish to purchase. The selected varietal of tea leaves are then steeped in boiling water for a short period of time, after which the leaves are tested for aroma and the tea for taste. The final step is analysing the colour and the clarity of the brewed tea to determine the quality of tea leaves—the clearer the liquid, the better the quality.

PROCESSING TEA LEAVES