Premium Matcha Narino

Competitive Grade Tea - The Best Tea from Kyoto

Premium Matcha Narino
Limited Edition Speciality,
Competitive Grade Tea
Beyond the time of 600 years.

As Ashikaga Shogunate acknowledged the good quality of Uji Tea in the Muromachi Period (1338–1573), he designated seven tea gardens in Uji which were later called Uji Shichimeien (meaning “seven distinguished tea gardens of Uji”). Most of these gardens disappeared with urbanization and now only the “Okunoyama” tea garden (owned by Horii Shichimeien) remains.

This garden used to grow more than 1500 indigenous tea plants that can be considered as the roots of Uji Tea. In 1981, however, as they did replanting of the whole garden, they selected the tea plants that are best suited for Uji Tea to be passed down to the next generation. 53 kinds were selected first and after years of testing and research on the quality (the flavor, the fragrance, and the color of tea leaves and made tea) and the strength and the yield, they were narrowed down to 2 kinds in 1994. They then had 6 years of experimentation period in cultivation until they were sure they had the finest Uji Tea they can be proud of in the future. They applied for registration in the Registry of Plant Varieties in 2000 and Uji Tea was registered in November 2002.

20 years after the replanting in 1981, they finally came up with the 2 kinds of tea that are truly suited for tencha. One of them was named “Narino.” Narino received the Minister’s Award from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries in 2010. It means Narino was recognized as the number one matcha in Japan for its rich fragrance and flavor. It is Horii Shichimeien’s original, non-blended, single-breed matcha.

Premium Matcha Narino's tea bushes were shaded from the sunlight for more than 50 days.

This tea is limited for two reasons:
Since Premium Matcha Narino is a single-origin tea, there is a limited amount of Narino tea leaves harvested each year. Horii Shichimien decides every year, whether the Narino tea harvest is high quality enough to produce the premium version. If the harvest is not satisfactory enough, Premium Matcha Narino is not available for the year.

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