Yamecha facts for kids

Yamecha is a special kind of tea grown in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. It comes from the city of Yame and nearby towns. Yamecha is very popular and makes up a small part of Japan's total green tea. But it's a big deal for a fancy tea called gyokuro. This region was one of the first places in Japan to grow tea. A Zen priest named Eirin Suzui brought the first tea plant here from China.

Where Yamecha Grows

Yamecha grows in the southern part of the Chikushi Plains. This area is near the Chikugo and Yabegawa rivers. These rivers bring rich soil full of good stuff for plants. The Chikushi Plains have been famous for growing tea for a very long time.

This plain is the biggest one in Kyūshū, which is a large island in Japan. Most of the Yamecha tea fields are in Yame city. About 1560 hectares of land are used to grow this tea.

Perfect Weather for Tea

The weather in Yame is great for growing tea. It gets very warm during the day, but then it cools down a lot at night. This big change in temperature helps the tea plants grow well. The area also gets a lot of rain, between 1600 and 2400 mm each year.

Fog and mist are common in the mornings, especially near the rivers. Many Yamecha fields are on gentle mountain slopes. These slopes are often covered in fog. The fog acts like a shield, protecting the tea leaves from too much sunlight. This helps the tea leaves develop a richer and sweeter taste.

Because of this special environment, Yamecha has many good-tasting parts. These include things like theanine, glutamic acid, and arginine. Tests show that tea from this area has a strong and sweet flavor.

Kinds of Yamecha Tea

There are different types of Yamecha tea plants, called cultivars. Some common ones are yabukita, kanayamidori, and okumidori. Yabukita is the most common, making up about 77% of the tea plants grown here.

Yamecha Gyokuro

The natural gyokuro tea from Yame has been highly valued for a long time. Yamecha Gyokuro makes up about 45% of all gyokuro tea made in Japan. This means that Yamecha growers have a big say in how much gyokuro costs. Yamecha Gyokuro is well known in Japan for its excellent quality.

History of Yamecha

• 1406: A Zen priest named Eirin Suzui brought tea to the area we now call Yame. He started Reiganji Temple and planted the first tea seeds there.
• 1751-1788: People in Yame became interested in wild tea growing on the mountains. They started collecting it to sell and make money.
• 1863: More and more people wanted Yamecha. Foreign traders in Nagasaki Prefecture started buying it, which made sales go up.
• 1887: Sales of Yamecha to other countries went down. This happened because the United States made new rules for checking the quality of goods they bought. Some types of Yamecha could no longer be sent to the United States.
• 1914-1937: Yamecha tea farms went through changes to make their products even better. They focused on growing higher quality tea.
• 2001-2012: Yamecha gyokuro won a big national tea award! It was chosen as the best gyokuro tea for 12 years in a row. Another tea from Uji finally won after that. But Yamecha gyokuro still wins this award very often.