Producer & Buyer Stories

People Behind the Tea

Every lot we source has a name and a face behind it. These are the stories of the producers who grow it, and the buyers who cross the world to meet them. Some of these journeys started with nothing more than a single email. Yours could be next.

Yoshiaki examining a tea leaf in his organic tea fields in Wazuka, Kyoto

Producer Story

Yoshiaki Wada · Wazuka, Kyoto

Plants Grow Best in Harmony with Nature

A schoolteacher who returned to his family's fields to build a rare pesticide-free organic farm, and the flyer-turned-coincidence that connected his matcha to a shop in Cologne, Germany.

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Akira in his tea fields in Shigaraki, Shiga

Producer Story

Akira Katagi · Shigaraki, Shiga

Let Nature Thrive, and Exceptional Tea Follows

A sixth-generation tea producer's 1975 gamble on pesticide-free farming, still shaping every cup fifty years later.

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Yoshihiro tending a tea field in Kyotanabe, Kyoto

Producer Story

Yoshihiro Dejima · Kyotanabe, Kyoto

Tea Unites People

A fourth-generation Kyoto tea producer who refuses to blend cultivars, and the Bangalore buyer who crossed the world to meet him.

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Elodie in the tea fields of Shizuoka, Japan

Buyer Story

Elodie · Rennes, France

Japanese Tea Deserves to Be Known Beyond Matcha

The founder of Chanokazé, working directly with small Shizuoka producers to bring sencha, genmaicha, and more to French buyers who know matcha alone.

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Vibeke and a friend visiting WTEA's tea fields in Wazuka, Kyoto

Buyer Story

Vibeke · Oslo, Norway

Choosing Tea by the Story Behind It

A specialty coffee shop in Oslo, already built on direct-trade sourcing, brings that same standard to Japanese tea after a visit to WTEA's fields in Wazuka.

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Your Story

Start Your Own Story

Every story on this page started with someone reaching out first. Tell us what you're looking for, and we'll help you find your own connection to a producer in Japan.

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