Japan & Korea
Uji · Shizuoka · Kagoshima · Yame · Nishio · Boseong · Hadong · Jeju
Two countries, two philosophies of care. Japan shapes through precision. Korea preserves what nature gave. Both approach the leaf with quiet reverence.
Terroir
Yabukita accounts for 75% of all Japanese tea. Hardy, umami-rich, the backbone of the industry. The specialist cultivars exist as deliberate counterpoints: Gokou for deep savory gyokuro, Samidori for bright matcha, Asatsuyu for natural sweetness even unshaded.
Lowland, volcanic soil. Uji's clay-rich terraces along the Uji River hold moisture and minerals. Shizuoka's slopes face the Pacific, catching sea mist. Kagoshima's gardens grow on volcanic ash from Sakurajima, giving earlier harvests and a distinctive sweetness.
Maritime and humid. Morning mists blanket Uji's river valleys. Warm, subtropical Kagoshima harvests weeks before the north. But the real climate control is artificial: tana shade structures block 85% of sunlight for gyokuro and tencha, forcing the leaf to overproduce chlorophyll and L-theanine.
Steaming, not pan-firing. This is the defining Japanese choice. It halts oxidation instantly, preserving vivid green colour and clean vegetal sweetness. Deep steaming (fukamushi) gives a richer, cloudier cup. Light steaming (asamushi) keeps it bright and clear. Then stone-milling tencha into matcha, a craft unto itself.
Yabukita was bred in 1953 and now accounts for roughly 75% of all Japanese tea production, a monoculture that gives Japanese tea its consistent character but also its vulnerability. The specialist cultivars (Gokou, Samidori, Asatsuyu) are deliberately maintained as alternatives.
Terroir
Jaerae-jong, native Korean seed adapted over centuries. Yaseong, wild seed from Hadong's ancient monastery groves, direct descendants of seeds brought from Tang dynasty China in 828 CE. On Jeju, Yabukita hybrids cross Japanese breeding with Korean stock.
Hadong's wild groves climb the slopes of Jiri-san, Korea's second highest peak. Boseong's tiered hillsides face south, catching full sun. Jeju is volcanic island soil, mineral-rich and well-drained. Each place shaped its own tea tradition independently.
Continental, with cold winters that force deep dormancy. The growing season is shorter than Japan's, which concentrates the spring harvest. Monsoon summers bring heavy rain. The first picking before grain rain (ujeon) catches the most concentrated leaf of the year.
Pan-firing, not steaming. This gives Korean greens a gentler, rounder warmth than Japanese teas. Minimal processing, often by hand in small batches. Hwangcha (yellow tea) on Jeju uses light oxidation before firing, a technique that sits between green and oolong. Where Japan engineered, Korea remembered.
Hadong's Ssanggye-sa temple claims the oldest cultivated tea in Korea. Seeds were brought from Tang dynasty China by the monk Daryeom in 828 CE. The wild-seed trees growing there today are direct descendants, making this one of the oldest continuously cultivated tea sites outside China.
Both traditions revere the first spring picking: ichibancha in Japanese, ujeon in Korean. Both developed tea ceremony as spiritual practice. Both understand that the quality of attention given to the garden shows up in the cup.