Written from Japan

Picked in Japan

Tea, food, and everyday things worth carrying home — found, tasted, and used here in Japan. No roundups copied from other roundups.

  • Japan Has Lost Four in Ten of Its Tea Factories

    Japan Has Lost Four in Ten of Its Tea Factories

    The number of factories that turn fresh leaf into tea fell from 5,580 to 3,594 in a decade, and the ones disappearing are the small owner-operated ones. The reason is...

    Japan Has Lost Four in Ten of Its Tea Factories

    The number of factories that turn fresh leaf into tea fell from 5,580 to 3,594 in a decade, and the ones disappearing are the small owner-operated ones. The reason is...

  • Two-Thirds of Japan's Tea Is One Cultivar

    Two-Thirds of Japan's Tea Is One Cultivar

    Wine taught everyone to look for the grape variety, so people arrive at Japanese tea expecting the same kind of range. Sixty-seven percent of Japan's tea acreage is planted with...

    Two-Thirds of Japan's Tea Is One Cultivar

    Wine taught everyone to look for the grape variety, so people arrive at Japanese tea expecting the same kind of range. Sixty-seven percent of Japan's tea acreage is planted with...

  • Ochazuke, Tea Rice, and the Part of the Leaf You Are Throwing Away

    Ochazuke, Tea Rice, and the Part of the Leaf Yo...

    Brewing tea extracts what dissolves in water, and that is a smaller share of the leaf than most people assume — the beta-carotene reading for brewed sencha is zero. Japan...

    Ochazuke, Tea Rice, and the Part of the Leaf Yo...

    Brewing tea extracts what dissolves in water, and that is a smaller share of the leaf than most people assume — the beta-carotene reading for brewed sencha is zero. Japan...

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