Kagoshima Yutaka Midori

Kagoshima sits at the southern tip of Kyushu, Japan’s southernmost main island, where a warmer climate pushes the growing season earlier and gives the region’s teas a character distinct from the cooler prefectures further north. This tea is built around the Yutaka Midori cultivar. The name means “intensely green,” a variety prized for its vivid color and clean vegetal expression.

The blend combines light and deep-steamed Senchas, a pairing that balances brightness with a slightly fuller presence. The lighter steaming preserves more of the leaf’s volatile aromatics and allows a natural sweetness to come through that heavier steaming would mute. The deep steamed leaves contribute a heavier body. The result is a cup well suited to anyone drawn to the gentler end of the Japanese green spectrum.