Our Kirishima tea growers - Hayashi Shutaro, Kenji and Take, are 5th generation farmers. Over 100 years ago, the first Hayashi brought tea seeds from Shizuoka Prefecture 静岡県 - the major green tea producer of Japan. Those trees are still alive now! And they make Zairai Fukamushi. In the 1950's, the Kirishima growers were pioneers in the use of pesticides. In the 1980's, they were the first farm in the region to go organic, and have remained so since. Having inherited a historical culture of tea cultivation and production, the current generation growers are nonetheless innovative and unorthodox. They experiment with non-traditional tea production, such as various single-cultivar sencha; matcha made of specialsamidorileaves; and green tea paste that tastes awesome in nitro.
