Shizuoka Prefecture produces roughly 40% of Japan's green tea, and the arrival of shin-cha (new tea) in early May is marked by harvest festivals and hands-on picking events at farms and processing facilities across the Makinohara plateau and the Okabe area. Visitors don traditional harvesting aprons and hand-pick young leaves from perfectly manicured rows of tea bushes, with the snow-capped silhouette of Mount Fuji often visible on clear days. Freshly processed first-flush sencha is brewed on-site for tasting, and artisans demonstrate the rolling and drying processes that produce Japan's most prized teas. Organised farm tours, tea-ceremony workshops, and market stalls selling premium shin-cha round out a uniquely immersive agri-cultural experience.
- Type
- Experience
- Category
- Food
- Season
- Spring
- Month
- Early May
- Region
- Chubu
- Prefecture
- Shizuoka
- City
- Shizuoka (Okabe / Makinohara)
Highlights
- ◆Hand-pick first-flush shin-cha leaves in terraced fields
- ◆Mount Fuji views from the Makinohara plateau
- ◆Freshly processed sencha tasting on the same day
- ◆Tea-rolling and processing demonstrations by local artisans
- ◆Premium shin-cha market stalls and tea-ceremony workshops