Pre-Order Starts!

Now I'm very pleased to announce that we have just started the pre-order of Temomi-cha & Shincha. Since I blogged about Temomi cha last year, I have received many inquiries and purchase requests from my customers, but I couldn't supply the tea for them.
I have discussed with my family (our tea producer) how we can provide the Temomi cha to customers in the U.S. and finally found enough collaborators to produce Temomi cha with us.
Because the production volume of Temomi cha is very low, pre-order is requested for the purchase, but I believe it's worth trying our Temomi cha if you are tea enthusiast.

Also,we will introduce our Shincha to the U.S. customers for the first time. Shincha, "new tea" in Japanese, is the first-harvested tea in spring and the most sought-after green tea. During the wintertime, tea plants absorb and stock nutrients from soil. When the spring arrives, tea plants, full of energy and nutrients, begin to sprout andshow the amazing color of vibrant green.
Shincha is technically equal to Sen cha, which is made of only young tea leaves. But only the ta harvested in early spring is called "Shincha."

Here is our 3 kinds of seasonal offers!

TEMOMI SHINCHA

Ingredient: Young Tea Leaves

Net Weight: 10g (0.35oz.)

Price: $15.00

Order Deadline: April 15, 2009

HASHIRI SHINCHA

Ingredient: Young Tea Leaves

Net Weight: 50g (1.76oz.)

Price: $20.00

Order Deadline: April 20, 2009

HACHIJU HACHIYA SHINCHA

Ingredient: Young Tea Leaves

Net Weight: 100g (3.53oz.)

Price: $20.00

Order Dadline: April 30, 2009

Fancy Food Show 09

This is our first time to participate to the Fancy Food Show. This show is very famous in the food industry, and I've been very interested in the show for a long time. This time, we had a booth under the name of Saitama/Shizuoka Prefecture, which were two prefectures in Japan come to introduce their local industry.

Because of the depression of the global economy, other exhibitors said the number of attendees was less than previous year. However, I believe there were more sophisticated attendees because companies cannot afford to send inconsequential employees now. Person attending the show must have had clear reasons and high motivation to develop their business through this show.

Throughout the show, I made more than 1,000 cups of tea as a free sample, and there were a lot of people showing their interests in our products. I was very pleased to meet many decision-making persons and explain about our teas. Mostly, customers were very interested in our Genmai cha, which won the blended/flavored category of the World Tea Championship 2008. Of course, Sen cha and Hoji cha had received many positive feedback, but I felt a lot of potential of Genmai cha during this show.

Happy New Year 2009

Happy New Year from SA Japanese Green Tea.

Hope you all have wonderful holidays with your family, friends, and loved ones. In 2009, we continue to work hard to serve more tasty and flavorful tea for you.

Freezing Seattle

Holiday season is coming soon, but... what is this weather? Since the last week, Seattle has had snow storm. All flights in and out of Seattle have been canceled, and my friend has been stuck in Las Vegas. I have a lot of things to do in my office, but icy roads and heavy snow don't allow me to go out.

However, since I grew up in Shizuoka-prefecture, where rarely has snow, this snow storm is sort of exciting for me. I have never seen this much of snow falling from sky and roads covering by pure white. Also, this snow storm gave me a precious time. I'm staying at home, drinking my favorite Sen cha, and quietly seeing beautiful snow. (Of course, I'm doing some works in my home. But not that much.) During busy days, I haven't had much time to look out of window and thought how beautiful the nature is.

I do have to go to the office next week by any means, but now I'd like to enjoy this slow time and relax myself. At the end, I hope you all have happy and peaceful holiday with your family, friends, and loved ones.

Our Healthy Gift Recommendation

Holiday season is coming soon! Are you looking for healthy gift idea for your loved ones? We have an excellent suggestion.

"Healthy Green Tea Gift"

It surely pleases tea lovers of any ages. In Japan, we have a variety of gift-giving occasions, and green tea is one of the most major gift for any generation. Today, a lot of people in the U.S. recognize health benefits green tea offers and start drinking green tea. This is the best timing to ask your loved ones to start healthy life. The following is our suggestion for you.

Gift set of 3 varieties of traditional Japanese green tea leaves
Set of Sen cha, Hoji cha, and Genmai cha tea leaves. If your friends or family are tea lovers who have tea pots, this tea leaves gift will be the perfect gift for them.

Gift set of 3 varieties of traditional Japanese green tea TeaPac
If your friends or family just start drinking green tea for their health, this TeaPac gift will be the perfect gift for them.

TOKONAME Tea Pot "Cherry Blossom"
Not so many people have a traditional tea pot specially design for Japanese green tea. This will be very special gift not only for the person who just start drinking green tea, but for the person enjoying tea daily.


There are a lot more healthy gifts suggested in our website. Choose the best gift for your family, friends, and loved ones and spend healthy holiday season.

Northwest Tea Festival 2008

Northwest Tea Festival was held for the first time ever to provide Northwest people with educational opportunities regarding to a variety of teas. I'm very proud that we could participate to the event as a representative of Japanese green tea companies. In spite of bad weather, there were so many visitors; one of the organizers said the number of visitors was more than double of what they had expected. I'm very happy that there are so many tea fans in this Northwest area.

This event was established to provide people with information or education regarding to teas from all over the world, not for business purpose. On the 1st day, I had a presentation about Japanese green tea and was so surprised that many people were very knowledgeable about teas. During my presentation, some of the audience asked me questions, and their questions were very sophisticated.

This event gave me a special encounter with Mr. James Norwood Pratt, who was one of the judges of World Tea Championship. Because we displaied the torophy of the World Tea Championship, he told us he was one of the judges. I had a great time to talk with him.

JapanFest Atlanta 2008

This was our first time to participate to the JapanFest Atlanta, and I was so surprised that so many people were interested in Japanese culture and visited to the event. In Seattle, we have similar Japanese cultural events such as Cherry Blossom Festival and Aki Matsuri (Autumn Festival), but JapanFest Atlanta was much much bigger than these events. In addition, people in Atlanta were facing to the gasoline shortage, and many of gasoline stations closed during the event. In spite of the unusual situation, more than 14,000 people visited from not only Georgia state, but also from other neighbor states.

In 2nd day, I had a 30-minute presentation about "How to enjoy the Japanese green tea." I hadn't expected so many people came to listen to my presentation. I was very happy and excited more and more people in the U.S. started drinking green tea and study about the tea. I hope my presentation could provide the audience with a little bit ideas of enjoyment of Japanese green tea.