Tea Harvest in Sayama
Pick it, roll it, roast it, drink it, one hour from Shinjuku
Japan's northernmost major tea region, where the leaves grow thick because the winters are cold
- Duration
- 3 to 5 hrs
- Season
- Picking May to Oct; first flush late Apr to early May
- Group
- 2 to 10
- Price band
- €€
There is a saying in Japan: Shizuoka for colour, Uji for aroma, Sayama for flavour. Sayama sits further north than any other major tea region, so the plants grow slowly through cold winters and put out thicker leaves. Then comes Sayama-biire, a heavy final fire-roast unique to the region, which gives the tea a sweet, deep, almost toasted body. Small farms here grow, process and sell their own leaf, a single-origin structure that has largely vanished elsewhere in Japanese tea.
What you'll do
- Pick new shoots by hand in the rows, in traditional harvesting dress if you want it
- Hand-roll fresh leaf, the slow, hot, repetitive process behind every good sencha
- Watch the finishing roast and try the fire yourself
- Taste several Sayama teas side by side, and eat tea-leaf tempura
Pair it with
Tokyo's western breweries. Same direction out of Shinjuku, same Seibu and Chuo corridor.
Practical
Roughly one hour from Shinjuku via the Seibu Shinjuku Line to Sayama-shi or Iriso. Farms including Miyanoen run hands-on sessions May to October while the leaf is still soft; picked leaf is processed and canned for you to take home. Advance reservation required.
When it runs
Solid ochre marks peak months. Pale ochre marks months it runs in a quieter form.
