Three Generations of Sencha

Deep in the mist-filled valley of Kawane, the Mori family has been cultivating mountain tea since 1936. Unlike the efficient commercial plantations on the flat plains, the Mori estate extends across dizzying 40-degree terraces where machines are entirely useless. Every leaf is selected, evaluated, and harvested by hand.

Grandfather Kenji, now eighty-four, supervises the spring harvest with an eye trained through seven decades of experience. ‘The leaf tells you when it is ready,’ he says. His son, Hiroshi, handles the traditional deep-steaming (Fukamushi) process, balancing local cedarwood fires to perfection. Granddaughter Risa, meanwhile, is introducing their family’s premium single-estate Sencha to tea sommeliers in Paris and Tokyo.

The Mori estate represents a living library of pre-industrial wisdom, proving that some sensory frequencies can only be achieved by slow, human craftsmanship.