Tokuya’s approach is a truly authentic and natural one. While other farmers are busy pulling weeds during summer, Tokuya rejoices the sight of the different species growing in his tea gardens. He even says that each year the kinds of weeds and grasses that grow in his absolutely natural tea gardens may differ. He believes that this is because nature is smart and can fend for itself, and that the weeds that grow in his tea garden have an important role to fulfill in maintaining a balance in the nutrition in the soil and the harmony of the ecosystem in general.

He chooses not to pull the weeds as much during summer. Because he only harvests once a year in spring he allows his tea gardens to be overgrown with fresh weeds and grasses during summer. “In winter these will wither and fall down to the ground where they will decompose and become nourishment for next year’s tea bushes once again” he says. 

He truly aims to maintain the natural rhythm of the tea garden and it is the tea that has grown in this fashion that he harvests in spring to deliver us with this magnificent and absolutely natural sencha. It is a tea that has had no other influences on its growth other than its natural surroundings and the originality of the tea tree itself.