Prayer for an Abundant Tea Harvest and Growth
We completed the “Tea Offering” during the New Tea Festival in Ei.
The New Tea Festival is held every year from March until the beginning of April at Ono-dake shrine in Ei, where we pray for an abundant tea harvest, safety, and the continuous development of our region.
The festival signals the start of spring: this is the time of the year when the cherry blossoms appear, and many dance performances take place. The new tea used as an offering is picked by the young generation of the Ei Branch of the Chiran Tea Association. They begin first thing in the morning and spend half the day picking new buds with enthusiastic diligence.
We produce tea with a wonderful taste, smell, and color! Minami-Kyushu is the largest tea producing city in Japan by output. As a leading production area of Japanese tea, and a major supply base for green tea, we work hard every day to deliver tea that provides peace of mind and safety to consumers.
Hand-rolled Tea
Green tea is produced using a hand-rolled method. This traditional method involves hand rubbing the tea using tea processing tools and kettles to dry the harvested leaves.
Until tea processing machines were invented, all tea was hand-rolled, and there were many different styles and techniques for processing it. Today, most tea is processed by machines, and the number of people who know how to produce hand-rolled tea is decreasing. The production amount of hand-rolled tea is very small.
Newly sprouted tea leaves are placed between the hands and rolled back and forth. The process slowly dry the leaves. Skilled hands can take a single tea leaf and roll it into the shape of a needle.
The highest quality tea has a hard, thin shape. When you pour hot water over one of these thin, hand-rolled leaves, it will slowly open back up and regain its original shape.
