Japanese Green Tea Regions

[thirtysixbelow]

I'm wondering where is a good place to learn about the tea growing regions of Japan. I always see the names Uji, Shizuoka, Yame, and Kagoshima. A quick google search didn't give much, and wikiCHA has some brief descriptions. It appears most sencha comes from Shizuoka, Uji is known for its age, Yame does a lot of gyokuro, and no idea about Kagoshima other than they make the famous YM. Any insight would be appreciated

[Chip]

Here is a start, but yeah, I know what you mean. Hard to find all the info in one place.

http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=10069

There is another topic I thought ...

[thirtysixbelow]

That's a good link ... starting on the page two ... stuff gets easily heated around here with vendor talk. Thanks

[Maitre_Tea]

Though I may elaborate when I have more time to mull over this, but is the differences between these regions more a reflection of the varietals grown there, or is it more a reflection of terroir? And how much does terroir matter when compared to other factors, such as the varietal, processing techniques, vendor, etc.?

[Chip]

That's a good link ... starting on the page two ... stuff gets easily heated around here with vendor talk. Thanks

Oops. Forgot about that little tangent. You can call me a lot of things, just don't call me a shill nor late for tea.

Still, you can glean some interesting info if you are wearing asbestos protective clothing.

[Intuit]

Let's Google it. Type in the phrase 'Differences in Japanese tea growing areas' in the google web search engine page.

About half way down the results that are returned for this search, we see a Google Books entry:

The story of tea: a cultural history and drinking guide - Google Books Result

Clicking on that entry will take you to the Google Books edition, The story of tea: a cultural history and drinking guide by Mary Lou Heiss, Robert J. Heiss (2007), page 175. The next few pages give a very nice overview of the three main tea growing areas of Japan, their history and specialty products. The previous page is as a side entry on a 370-year old tea shop in Uji area and the left-hand text column clarifies the use of Chinese grown green teas produced under Japanese-oversight to meet overflow demand for green tea products domestically and abroad.

There is another inset box on page 178 describing Shizuoka town. Page 179 provides a brief description of green tea products.

Not a bad intro to the dominant tea growing areas of Japan. Some of the tea plantations are quite old, operating for hundreds of years. Tightly proscribed tea culture, carefully developed cultivars, dominant tea types produced within signature areas, micro-climate and soils characteristics all comprise a set of factors that determine where certain tea types are produced, and when.