THE FIRST Kondōwase Sencha

Single-cultivar Sencha from Mariko, Shizuoka Prefecture

This extremely rare green tea not only tends to be the first to be plucked every year on Honshū, Japan’s main island. Its partly Indian genome also gives rise to a unique taste experience. It combines a sharp bitterness with a pleasant flowery aroma reminiscent of lilacs blooming in late May, as if to suggest that bright and sunny days are ahead.

It tastes good even when steeped in a way similar to black tea, in boiling hot water but with a minimum of leaves (2-3g tea leaves, 200ml boiling hot water, 3 minutes). "The First" also makes an excellent cold infusion.

This tea is grown in Mariko, a small community in Shizuoka that is famous for Wakōcha, or Japanese Black Tea. Usually plucked in early April, it tends to become the first tea to be harvested on the main island Honshū every year.

Origin: Mariko, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan

Cultivar: Kondōwase

Harvest: May 2025

Taste: Intense, Floral, Exotic, bittersweet