Cultivar and technical information
The north of the current Shimada city in Shizuoka is an ancient production zone. However, since the Meiji era, more attention has been given to the region south of the Ôi-gawa River, on the Makinohara Plateau. The area then became a centre of fukamushi sencha production, which is where this unshaded Asatsuyu originates.
Asatsuyu is an ancient cultivar that was registered in 1953, and is among the 15 first tea tree varieties to be registered in Japan. It comes from seeds of tea trees indigenous to Uji and is famous for its naturally very green colour and unique fragrance.

The nose
The tea initially offers light sweet roasting fragrances, in which we find vegetal notes and the tea’s classic edamame bean nuances.

The mouth
In the mouth, this fukamushi sencha is very round, slightly thick even. It has a light umami and an almost nonexistent astringency. We find again, without it being excessive, the tea’s bean notes. More vegetal aromas then appear and persist into the aftertaste with a slightly sweet sensation.
Subsequent infusions remain very round, but are surprisingly fluid for such a fine fukamushi. These characteristics do not, however, prevent the tea from having a certain denseness in the mouth.

Summary
With this Asatsuyu, we have a tea representative of fukamushi from Shizuoka, but one that is also round, light, and without any awkward astringency. While many assume that the shaded Asatsuyu commonly found in Kyûshû necessarily have a somewhat heavy umami, this particular tea is different. It has more freshness and a sweeter impression than would normally be expected.

Technical description
Type of tea : Fukamushi sencha
Origin : Kiriyama district, Shimada city, Shizuoka prefecture
Cultivar : Asatsuyu
Harvest : April 21th, 2026