Bancha Familia Hayashi

In 1897, Kisuke Hayashi established a tea plantation with seeds he brought from Shizuoka. A tobacco farmer on a trip to Tokyo to sell his produce, he came across the tea plantations in the province and developing an interest in the plant, he decided to exchange his tobacco fields for tea fields.

Great-great-grandfather Kisuke's plants are descendants of those introduced to the province from China in 1320, so his old bushes are not only unique but produce teas with exceptional flavours. Kisuke also promoted the region's hand-rolling technique as at that time the tea had to be shipped to be made in Shizuoka as the technique was not known in the local area.

Haruo Hayashi of the third generation was the inventor of the prototype of a harvesting machine that consisted of large scissors on rails, and it was his son Osamu who took on the task of returning to organic and traditional farming, without pesticides.

Even today, Shutaro Hayashi, a fifth-generation member of the family and current owner of Kirishima Tea Garden, works to develop the best possible organic fertilizers that will improve the health of the tea plant and produce excellent leaves. The family's knowledge of tea farming is combined with Shutaro's studies in agricultural science.

Shutaro's fingerprints can be seen in the improvements both in cultivation and tea collection and manufacture. Shutaro Hayashi devotes all his time and energy to his tea garden 260 metres above sea level, developing it step by step. He is always looking for the best land in Kirishima to find new tea garden plots, but he also finds and plants new varieties of tea plants for his existing organically grown plots.

Bringing new flavour notes, colours, fragrances and opening up new possibilities to combine them in new and different ways.