Message from Tea farm Kaei

Hello, I’m Hayashi.

I was born in a tea farm family in Wazuka, Kyoto.
When I was at teen age, I got a serious illness and this experience made me feel how precious a life is and how grateful that I live at all. This is my original motivation to grow and produce green tea along with nature by respecting the ecosystem and the connection of all lives on earth.

It is such a precious thing that I’m healthy now allowed to live at all, we inherited a tea plantation which our ancestor left for us, and above all, there are people who trust my tea and support us.

I swear that I will keep producing good qualified safe tea for the rest of my life.

About Wazuka, Kyoto

Located in south of Kyoto, this small city (village) has 800 years history of tea plantation. Surrounded by mountains and Wazuka river flows in the middle of city, this region has up and down in the temperature of a day and also throughout year. Being tend to be foggy in the morning and evening which shut out the direct sunlight, the soil is appropriate for tea plantation and Wazuka is the main origin of Uji tea. Wayuka is registered officially as a landscape heritage of Kyoto prefecture.

My philosophy

Our tea is free from pesticide and chemical fertiliser - some of them are even without any organic fertiliser, completely naturally grown. As I mentioned, my philosophy is to grow and process tea leaves within the cycle of ecosystem without excluding any creature. The ecosystem of great nature is immeasurable and beyond human’s understanding. I feel I just borrow the power of this system.

During tea planting, I see uncountable numbers of creatures everyday who live together. Among them, there are also insects who are harmful to tea leaves, but at the same time, these insects are food for other insects - there are no single insect who is meaningless and every single creature has its purpose. But we, human being, tend to think they are obstacle and must be excluded. In this way we have been trying excluding insects and weeds for very long time.

As one of farmers who try to change this customary, through my tea planting I keep proving that there is a way to grow tea without any artificial help.