Tea Regions of Japan – Saitama (Part 2) | Iruma Featuring Shimizuen

Most tea production in Saitama is concentrated in the southern part of the prefecture. Located on the Kanto plain at the foot of Saima hills, Iruma city is the largest tea producing area here. In Saitama, especially around Kawagoe city, tea had been made for several hundred years. But after a period of decline, it was the area of Iruma, where the efforts to revive tea production took place in the early 1800s. And it is helpful that Iruma is close to Tokyo. Nowadays, it takes less than an hour to get to the central areas of the capital. Due to Iruma being a largely urban area, most tea producers here are making and selling tea themselves. Tea farms are generally small and there are only two shared factories in this area. There are two big tea factories, one in Harada and the other in Ito-ryu. There used to be a Jienji Seiji-han tea farm, but now it's gone. Among the small independent tea farms, Shimizu-yen is one of the largest ones. They currently have about 3.5 hectares of land. If I say yes, it will increase. I guess it can't be helped. How many hectares do you have now? We currently have about 3.5 hectares. But we have a large number of tea farms. How many tea farms? I don't know. I guess about 3 hectares. And Shimizu-yen has a long history. They have been making tea for 17 generations. In the past, Shimizu family also raised pigs and birds. But they started to focus all on tea production since their grandparents' generation. That is also when they started using tea harvesting machines. Now we have a tea farm, but in the past, we used to raise pigs and farm animals as well as farmers. With a long history, Shimizu-yen is also trying to preserve traditions. Even today, they still harvest some tea by hand. How many tea farms do you have? We have about 80% of tea farms. 90% of tea farms. And about 10% of tea farms. I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to it every year. We have a lot of branches. Tea picked by hand seems to have some differences compared to tea harvested by machines. In general, we call it Kabuse. We try not to touch the fire as much as possible while growing the tea. In the case of Tetsu-miru, we have to touch the inside of the tea. We have to touch the inside of the tea. This is because it is not exposed to the sun. If it is not exposed to the sun, it is not fermented. That's why it has a strong color. While preserving traditions, Shimizu-yen is also embracing new ideas. About 10 years ago, they started making Wakocha, Japanese black tea. Since last year, more and more customers have come to pick tea from us. Shimizu-yen also has a teabag production facility, and the production of teabags has grown a lot in recent years. My father has been making teabags for more than 20 years. I bought a machine that could make a triangular teabag a few years ago. I had to do the field work, so I was only making teabags that my father was good at. When I joined the company, the number of customers has increased. The number of customers has increased more than 10 times compared to when I started. The number of customers has increased more than 5 times. I bought a machine last year. The young Shimizu couple met at the university and started making tea after they got married. How did you start making tea in Sayama? I got married. Was your wife originally from this area? I'm from Gunma Prefecture, so I met my wife at the university. They are my seniors and juniors. It has been 10 years since Shimizu-san started making tea, and he enjoys it a lot. It's been about 10 years since I started making tea, but I'm finally getting the hang of it. I'm finally getting the hang of it. It's especially fun to make tea this year. I'm finally getting the hang of it. It's really fun this year. And the young Shimizu couple really wants to preserve tea cultivation in this area. If there is no tea garden, the tea garden will be damaged. I want to protect it to some extent. Thinking about their own tea farm, they would like to continue making unique teas along with Sencha. I'm starting to feel a little negative about the tea shop. Our factory is not that new, so it's hard for me to invest in it. I want to introduce unique teas, such as Ito Chya or Kocha. I want to make Sencha with all my heart, and I want them to buy Sencha together. That's my ideal, and I'm aiming for it.