Kimberley's Kyusu

In January I started a brand new series titled Garden Glimpses, a series in which each post focuses on a single Japanese tea garden / farm, highlighting the work they are doing alongside my personal experiences with them and the teas that I have had the chance to sample from them over the years since I started my blog. I started that series focusing on Azuma Tea Garden and for the second instalment, I want to introduce you all to Tarui Tea Farm. 

If you have been following me for a while you’ll be no stranger to that name as I have luckily had the opportunity to sip on quite a few of their teas over the last few years, a few of which I’ll be covering in today’s post. However, if you are completely new to my blog and you haven’t read any of my posts yet, here’s a rundown of everything you need to know about Tarui Tea Farm and their teas. 

The Tarui Tea Farm is a family-operated tea farm, factory and shop established in 1970 in the small town of Nearai, on the outskirts of Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka. Takayuki Tarui is a 2nd generation farmer and cultivates multiple cultivars on separate fields on the flatlands of Nearai and in the mountains nearby. He has been growing organically since his father started the farm, with Takayuki certifying his farm and factory in 2003. He seeks to provide clean tea, deep-steamed for those who love green tea. Tarui-san’s daughter, Ai, is currently learning to cultivate tea from her father and will inherit the farm at some point in the future. 

Out of all of the teas I have had the chance to try from Tarui Tea Farm, I would say that their 2019 Aged Shizuoka Black Tea has been my highlight. To this day, it is the first and only aged Japanese black tea I have tried and I recommend it to everyone who asks me for recommendations. I would even go as far as to say it is my No.1 Japanese black tea and I have tried quite a few since I started my blog. If you want to discover why I love it so much you can find my in depth review here. 

Having enjoyed that black tea to such an extent, I knew I also had to try their 2019 first flush Karabeni Shizuoka Oolong. I tried this for the first time while writing this post and thoroughly enjoyed it almost as much as I did the black tea. From my overwhelmingly positive experiences with both of these teas, it is very clear to see that not only was the 2019 harvest fantastic but also that so much hard work went into aging these teas beautifully. If I were to recommend you try anything from Tarui Tea Farms, I would suggest that you try these two first. 

I have also had the pleasure of trying their Organic Genmaicha Powder, Organic Hojicha Powder and Sannen Bancha Roasted Three-Year Aged Tea Stems. Both powders were not only delicious, but incredibly versatile and I was able to use them for different drink recipes as well as being able to use them for baking. The Sannen Bancha was a scrumptious and comforting low caffeine treat that I would finish each and every day with during the colder months. Aside from the teas I have tried from Tarui, a fantastic range of their Organic Teas are currently available over on the Yunomi Website, including (but not limited to) Sencha, Fukamushicha, Genmaicha, Hojicha, Wakoucha and Oolong, all of which I am more than certain will provide anyone who tries them with session after incredible session.

Should you want to try any of the teas feature in this post or pick out any others from the fantastic range of Tarui Tea Farms stocked currently on the Yunomi website, remember to use my code INFKKYU to get 1000yen off of an order of 5000yen or more.

Until next time, Happy Steeping – Kimberley