Sometimes I am lucky. 16 years ago, I was very lucky to stumble across Tsuyoshi Sugimoto. He runs one of the best tea companies in the best tea town in Japan. We stopped by his factory and tasted the semi processed tea : Aracha from this year. In China we were a bit too late, but in Japan we were right on time to see the tea season in action.
We chose two teas to make the Matsuda’s blend. Lovely ones and it turns out they were made at the same time as our Ichiban from Kakegawa. It is unusual that Uji peaks at the same time as Kakegawa.
