Inside Japan’s Matcha Harvest: A Season in Hoshinomura
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Time to read 3 min
The 2026 tea season is in full swing. Minami and I recently spent time visiting producers, each deep in the intensity of peak harvest. The unrelenting schedule of processing the new year’s harvest means that although we have less time to chat, we get more time to observe the rhythm of the harvest. These weeks come only once a year. 2026 marks my 16th season witnessing it—returning to many of the same fields I visited for the first time in 2010—and to new producers whom we have just begun working with. We were also privileged to participate in Tezumi (hand harvesting) this year.
Our first stop was Fukuoka prefecture for Tencha harvest. The area of Yame holds particular weight for us. It was the first region where I began working in Japan, and it remains the source of many teas that have come to define Kettl. In the mountains of Okuyame, the village of Hoshinomura now feels as familiar as home. This year brought a small but telling shift: the town’s first 7-Eleven. Even in the middle of harvest, it was a subject of conversation.
This garden is owned and operated by Yamashina-san and his family, and its total output is contracted to the Yamaguchi family, with whom we work directly. Watching the harvest at its speed and precision is striking. Picking alongside them, even briefly, makes clear how much skill is required to move that quickly without compromising the leaf. It’s both a testament to their ability and a clear expression of scale. Gardens like this are small by necessity to maximize quality. To truly understand why high-quality Matcha is limited, one could simply stand in the very field where it is grown. The scale, labor, and care required become immediately apparent. And Yamashina-san has built his work around quality, not volume. You feel it immediately—the leaves are soft, almost weightless in the hand— perhaps the greatest indicator of quality in the leaf. While color and sheen are important, I have learned through experience that the soft pliability of a tencha leaf ensures an exquisite tea.
After harvesting, we took our leave at lunch time to head to the Tencha factory to observe the new leaves being processed.
Tea Picking and Transport to the Tencha Factory
After harvest, the fresh leaves are transported to the tencha factory and loaded into large wheeled bins. Each bin is labeled with the garden name, cultivar, and total batch weight. To keep the harvested leaves fresh, the bins are connected to a cold-water misting system — similar to the way vegetables are misted at a grocery store, though in this case the moisture is introduced from the bottom of the bin rather than sprayed from above. The bins are then parked and processed in the order they arrive. The time fresh-harvested tea leaves sit before processing can vary, but with proper moisture control, and in some cases, refrigeration, the leaves can remain stable for several hours without impactful oxidation.
From here, the leaves are loaded onto a conveyor belt and carried through the factory in the following order:
Primary Tencha Processing Machines — Aracha Production
蒸機（じょうき / Jōki） — Steamer
The steamer halts oxidation immediately after harvest. This is one of the most critical stages in the entire process; if done incorrectly, the entire batch can be ruined. While steaming time is often associated with light versus deep steaming—and the resulting differences in flavor and texture—producers tend to focus more on the steamer angle and the condition of the leaves after steaming than on timing alone.
粗熱取り機（あらねつとりき / Aranetsu-toriki） — Cooling / Pre-drying machine
After steaming, the leaves pass through tall netted columns with blowers at the base that suspend them in the air, removing excess heat and surface moisture. Typically, there are three to four columns. After passing through them, the leaves land on the conveyor belt leading into the tencha-ro.
碾茶炉（てんちゃろ / Tencha-ro） — Tencha drying furnace
This is the defining machine of tencha production. The leaves are dried in a long, low structure using indirect heat — traditionally from a brick furnace below, with conveyor belts carrying the leaves above. As the brick heats, it produces strong infrared-spectrum heat that gently and evenly bakes the leaf.
乾燥機（かんそうき / Kansōki） — Final dryer
The final dryer reduces any remaining moisture in the leaf to a stable level, preparing it for sorting, finishing, and eventual milling into matcha.
While much of tencha production was codified in Uji — and the machines used today remain largely the same across Japan — there are subtle regional differences in how tencha is produced in Yame, particularly in firing temperature and drying length, which I plan to explore in more detail in a future post.
After a day in the factory, Minami and I returned to our hotel, talking about how Hoshinomura, despite its incredibly small size, continues to have an outsized influence on us, our customers, and the Japanese tea industry as a whole. To witness a region so singularly committed to quality firsthand is always inspiring. It serves as a reminder of how rare and meaningful it is to dedicate yourself fully to craftsmanship and never compromise.
