Higashiyamacha

Higashiyamacha, the tea of Higashiyama, is produced and sold by the three agricultural cooperatives representing the 120 families farming tea in the quiet valley of Higashiyama on the outskirts of Kakegawa city, Shizuoka. The family farms of Higashiyama practice an ancient farming method called Chagusaba in which tea fields are surrounded by tall growing grass called susuki and sasa, which are cut each autumn and laid in the tea fields to enhance the soil. A UNESCO designated Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS), the chagusaba method helps to preserve biodiversity including a grasshopper called the Kakegawa fukibatta, indigenous to Shizuoka. The teas featured here come from Chamoji no Sato, Higashiyama, a newly formed joint venture of the three cooperatives.