Kogane Midori

 

Last Friday I went to Shizuoka prefecture to harvest tea. The tea leaves are very rare. Usually, tea leaves are green, and the leaves are yellow. Named "Kogane Midori". "Kogane" means gold.

There were twenty of us who joined the organized activity for people interested to experience tea picking. It took us two hours to pick one kilogram of the "Kogane Midori".

There were fewer leaves that we can pick because of the delicateness of the center bud, which is the newly grown leaves. The leaves were a rarity, we had to pick only the center part thus, we can not pick a lot.

The one-kilogram leaves will make 200 grams of tea. 

Some of the pickers enjoyed the experience of making and drinking tea from the harvest, I left early so I was not able to see how it was done. Although I  enjoyed the picking so much.

The activity was like an excursion to experience tea leaves picking during this season.

What is Shizuoka prefecture known for?

Most Japanese know that Mr. Fuji, the national symbol of Japan and a World Heritage site majestically stands in Shizuoka prefecture and Yamanashi prefecture.  But for this blog, I shall be talking about Shizuoka prefecture and the green tea fields I visited a week ago. 

Shizuoka is also famous for its green tea production.

Here is some information about how the tea production started:

• Green tea is a hugely important product of Shizuoka Prefecture. 

• Shizuoka accounts for 40% of Japan’s overall tea production, and the prefecture aims to make the most of this dominance by conducting cutting-edge research on the functional benefits of green tea. 

• Green tea plantations here date back to 1241 when a monk named Shoichi Kokushi planted green tea seeds obtained during a trip to Song China near his hometown in present-day Shizuoka Prefecture. 

• Following the end of the Edo period in the second half of the nineteenth century, a former retainer of the Japanese shogun, recognizing the trade potential of green tea, began cultivating it in Makinohara. 

• This was the beginning of tea as a cash crop in Shizuoka. Shizuoka’s climate, along with its water quality and proximity to major ports, has since solidified its status as a major region for green tea production. 

• In addition, Shizuoka’s green tea comes in a number of different varieties, giving it significant versatility.

 

Resources:

https://matha-jp.com/en/6031

http://www.pref.shizuoka.jp/a_foreign/english/tea/index.html

Photo by Mieko