During the Japanese Tea Master course I took with the Global Japanese Tea Association, we spent a day in Uji visiting several tea businesses. One of my favorite discoveries was Jinjiro, a tea shop and factory run by Jintaro Yamamoto. He is a 6th-generation tea farmer. His passion for traditional tea cultivation and processing was truly inspiring.
About Jinjiro
Address: Myoraku-36 Uji, Kyoto 611-0021, Japan
Hours: 12 pm to 3 pm Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Website: https://jinjiro.jp/
Specialty: Japan’s oldest operating tencha drying oven
We were lucky to get a special behind-the-scenes tour and have matcha prepared for us by Jintaro. The store and factory are located just a short walk from Uji Station. You might miss it if you didn’t know it was there. Look for the dark blue fabric banner by the door (that I unfortunately forgot to get a picture of). Inside, there were tea treasures hidden in every nook and cranny.
My eyes were immediately drawn to the four ishiusu in a glass case at the back. Our instructor, Mika of Mika’s Teabox, translated while Jintaro shared all about his family’s expansive history in tea. He served us tencha as well as two different kinds of matcha. They were all very tasty, even when taken in small sips from paper cups.
The shop is only open three days a week because he needs to tend to his tea farm the rest of the time. It is only of the oldest in Uji and its focus is mainly on Asahi and Samidori tencha produced using the traditional honzu shading method. The tea plants are shaded using woven reed screens. Shelf or direct shading with synthetic cloth has become the norm in modern Japanese tea production because they are much easier to use. Jintaro was quite adamant that honzu shading produces the best result despite the extra labor it requires.
Jintaro explained that the Asahi cultivar has an early harvest, and the teas made from it have a strong umami. Samidori needs a later harvest with a longer shading period. Teas made with it are softer and mellower. He only uses natural fertilizers such as black sugar cane, rape seed oil husk, and sesame oil. The leaves are also harvested by hand rather than by machine.
In the back of the retail store is a tea factory where he processes the tea by hand as much as possible. Aracha, or unfinished tea, is sifted through bamboo screens of varying sizes. I was able to see the many patches that had been made over time. This type of equipment is not easy to replace since it is rarely used nowadays.
The centerpiece of the factory is the oldest Horii-style tencha drying oven still in operation in Japan. It was built in 1925 and previously ran on charcoal, but it has since been converted to burning gas.
I was obsessed with the cute little diorama they had on the counter that showed honzu shading over a miniature tea field. Of course, you can’t visit a tea shop and go home empty-handed! I was tempted by many options, but settled on a small packet of Jinjiro’s Asahi matcha as we still had several more stops to make that day. Whenever I whisk up a bowl at home, it brings me right back to this special day. I highly recommend visiting Jinjiro, especially if you love matcha as much as I do. It is a must-visit if you’re ever in Uji!
Have you ever visited Jinjiro? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below!
Help Support This Site
Please support my work in tea by joining my Patreon community. For $2-$5 a month, you’ll receive access to exclusive behind-the-scenes content, my private Discord server, surprise quarterly packages, and more!