Uji-cha

Tea is said to have arrived from China in the early Kamakura period, and its processing is said to have been refined around Uji ever since. In the late 16th century, a technique called ooshita saibai — covering the tea garden with reed screens or straw — is said to have emerged and spread as a method permitted only in Uji. Shaded cultivation is said to boost umami compounds, and it's a technique well suited to growing the tencha behind gyokuro and matcha. Tencha and gyokuro from the area are said to carry a pale, clear green liquor with concentrated umami and little astringency, the shading technique itself reflected directly in the cup.

From new buds grown under shaded cultivation, several premium teas are said to have been produced: tencha, dried without rolling; matcha, ground from it; and gyokuro, finished the same way as sencha. Gyokuro's method is said to have been established by the end of the Edo period, making Uji a region where several tea types branched out from a single technique, shaded cultivation. Temples and shrines such as Byodoin dot the hills along the Uji River, said to have supported demand for tea-making through the tea ceremony.

Being close to the capital of Kyoto, and the tea ceremony culture that grew up alongside its temples and shrines, is said to have supported the labor of making such demanding premium teas. Being permitted to use — and continuing to refine — a growing method that spares no effort in shading is said to be why the name Uji-cha came to be known as a producing area for gyokuro, matcha, and sencha alike. The basin-like terrain ringed by mountains is said to favor morning fog, and this humid air layering with the shading technique is said to have nurtured tea with concentrated umami.