Shizuoka
Fresh grass, marine umami, balanced. The largest Japanese tea-producing prefecture by volume; the everyday Japanese sencha standard.
Shizuoka produces roughly 40% of Japan's total tea output and is the prefecture that most defines everyday Japanese sencha character for drinkers worldwide. The Yabukita cultivar — developed in Shizuoka in the early 20th century — has become the dominant Japanese tea cultivar, accounting for most Japanese sencha production. Shizuoka's climate (mild, Mount Fuji-moderated, with summer rain and cool nights) and the deep-steamed (fukamushi) processing style developed in the region produce the distinctively bright green, slightly grassy, marine-umami sencha that most Western drinkers encounter as "Japanese tea."
Within Shizuoka, multiple sub-regions produce distinctive character. Honyama (本山) — the original Shizuoka tea-growing area — produces some of the prefecture's most refined sencha. Kawane (川根), a remote mountain area, produces longer-cultivated traditional sencha that some drinkers prefer to mainstream Shizuoka style. Makinohara plateau is the most modern, mechanized tea-growing area within the prefecture, producing volume sencha at moderate prices. The everyday Japanese tea-drinking experience — sencha with rice, sencha at the office, sencha as the household standard — is most likely Shizuoka tea.
Signature teas
- Shizuoka sencha
- Honyama sencha
- Kawane sencha
Tea types produced
Cultivars grown
- Yabukita (dominant)
- Yutaka Midori
- Saemidori
- Sayama Kaori
Processing focus
Harvest seasons
- First flush shincha (mid-late May)
- Second flush (July)
- Autumn (limited)
Flavor signature
Notable producers & areas
- Honyama
- Kawane
- Makinohara
- Fujieda
Brands carrying Shizuoka tea
Brands in our directory that carry tea types this origin produces. Direct-sourcing brands shown first.