Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Shin Cha 2011 "Limited Offer from Tea Maestro"


Shin Cha season has arrived!


We are now officially taking orders of Shin Cha 2011.
We are again offering three kinds of Shin Chas: Temomi Shin Cha, Hashiri Shin Cha and Hachiju Hachiya Shin Cha.

This is a limited offer during the Shin Cha 2011 campaign, and each Shin Cha has limited quantity.

Please note: One shipment per order. All of your item(s) will be shipped out together on the last estimated ship-out date of the latter crop. You must make separate orders if you wish for separate shipping.



Click here to go to our online store.

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Hand-kneaded tea exclusively performed on the first day of the spring harvest
Net Weight: 10g (0.35oz)
Price: $15.00

Estimated Harvest Date: April 20, 2011
Estimated Ship-out Date from Seattle: April 27, 2011

Temomi Shin Cha is a rare tea. Picking of tea leaves, steaming, kneading and drying, they are all done by hands; and it was a common method centuries ago. Today machine has replaced the labor and this Temomi technique is vanishing. If you would like to try the truly traditional taste of green tea, this is definitely your choice.

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Hashiri Shin Cha
The first of the first-flash green tea
Net Weight: 50g (1.76oz)
Price: $20.00

Estimated Harvest Date: April 25, 2011
Estimated Ship-out Date from Seattle: May 4, 2011

Hashiri means “early season” in Japanese. Our Hashiri Shin Cha is produced from very young leaves harvested at the end of April. These early-season leaves are very soft and contain a lot of sweetness. This is the taste of spring.

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Hachiju Hachiya Shin Cha
88-Night Green Tea

Net Weight: 50g (1.76oz)
Price: $12.00

Estimated Harvest Date: May 4, 2011
Estimated Ship-out Date from Seattle: May 14, 2011


Hachiju Hachiya means "88 nights," and refers to the eighty-eighth day after the first day of spring on the traditional Japanese calendar. It is believed that the 88th day is the best time to pick tea, and Hachiju Hachiya Shin Cha is prized as high-quality green tea.



Monday, March 14, 2011

Thank You for Your Support

Dear our customers and business partners,

We have been receiving many calls and emails asking whether our families and friends are affected by Japan’s massive earthquake and tsunami. Fortunately, all of our loved ones are safe and fine. We want to express our gratitude for your support and prayers.

There are a tremendous number of people who are suffering from this disaster. Our heart goes out to all those in the hardest hit region of Japan.


We will be donating 10 % of online sales to Red Cross for Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami Relief through April 30th.

Thank you for your support.

Friday, March 4, 2011

International Restaurant & Foodservice Show NY 2011

International Restaurant & Foodservice Show (IRFS) was held from Feb. 27 to Mar. 1 at the Javits Convention Center in Manhattan, and Japan Pavilion turned out to be a great success. I believe Japan Pavilion was the most crowded area at the show. There were many companies came from Japan, and they brought very unique and Japan-taste products to the pavilion. If you are Japanese mania and missed this show, you were very sorry.





Among many Japanese companies, my favorite was Cutler Sanshu of Seki City, the traditional knifes maker from Gifu prefecture (their Japanese website). They exhibited Japanese traditional cooking knives as well as traditional sword called "Katana." I was very impressed with them because it was my 1st time to see the real Katana. Most interestingly, Mr. Yoshida, the president of the company, gave a demonstration of "IAI GIRI (居合斬り)" which was traditional cutting technique using Katana. During the demonstration, his body moved smoothly and quickly, and with just single swing, bamboo was cut by half and the cut edge was clean and beautiful. It was really impressive. There was no question that his demonstration made Japan Pavilion more and more crowded.





This was our 2nd time to join the IRFS and was great chance to meet potential customers in East Coast. The 1st day was really busy, and we served more than 700 cups of tea samples! From the 2nd day, people settled down, and we had a chance to talk with customers at an easy pace. Overall, the show was great success for us.
During the show, we showcased our brand new product called "Drip Tea" and did some market research. The filter of Drip Tea was uniquely developed to control the dripping speed, and we can make the perfect cup of tea just by pouring hot water into the filter. We were still in the developing stage, but in the future, we will start marketing the Drip Tea to American market.