Executives of the tea industry association serve as judges of the exclusive competition. They strictly judge and critique the contributed teas to provide feedback to tea farmers and producers in order to improve Japanese tea. Contributed teas are judged on appearance, aroma, flavor, color of the brewed tea infusion, used tea leaves, and so on for each category: Gyokuro, Sencha, and Matcha. In the case of Matcha, Tencha, which is the form before being ground into powder, is evaluated.

Toward the end of the competition, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries selects the most excellent tea in each category: Gyokuro, Sencha, and Matcha. All teas contributed to the exclusive competition are generally of premium quality. And, if the judges find any defect, imperfection, or area that needs improvement, this information is passed on to the tea farmers so that they can improve their agricultural techniques.

When the judges evaluate the tea's appearance, the tea leaves are checked for uniformity of shape and color: bright, deep green, etc. More healthy and vigorous tea leaves are bright and deep green. And the most unique feature of teas contributed to the competition is that they are quite short and fine, like tiny green needles, because they are harvested as very young tea sprouts and processed accordingly. Although generally the best time to gather tea leaves is when the tea tree has five sprouts, and three sprouts for even the highest grade tea, these tea leaves are picked when the tea tree has only one or two sprouts. It is quite different from general teas which are not so fine like needles. And farmers specially process the tea so the leaves retain their fine needle shape for the exclusive tea competition.

When the judges critique the color of the brewed tea infusion, teas are evaluated for color brightness and imperfections. Tea which is healthy and vigorous has a very bright color. If the tea leaves have any imperfections, even if quite small, the imperfection can be identified in the brewed tea infusion. Negative indications include a red or black tint to the brewed infusion or an infusion that is too yellow, along with turbidity, strength or intensity, deposition condition, and so on.

As for the aroma and flavor, teas are evaluated for generous, smooth, and mellow flavor and aroma, and various imperfections. Teas contributed to the National Tea Competition usually have a full and generous flavor that is smooth, mellow, and deep, along with the fresh aroma of young sprouts. Gyokuro and Matcha have an especially noble aroma created by shading the tea plants from sunlight for more than 20 days before harvest.

As above, teas contributed to the competition are harvested when the tea tree has only one or two sprouts. In general, the flavor of the tea becomes more intense when the tea tree produces two to five sprouts. When the tree has only one or two sprouts, the flavor is usually quite weak because the tea tree is unable to fully absorb nutrition from the soil. Therefore, to grow tea for the National Tea Competition, farmers must encourage the tea trees to absorb much more nutrition from fertilizer when the tea tree has only one or two sprouts. It is common for even the highest grade teas to be harvested when the tea tree has three to five sprouts. It is very difficult and requires knowledge and wisdom accumulated through time and tradition and daily great efforts. The knowledge accumulated through growing teas for the National Tea Competition not only helps to improve the farming and production of high grade tea, improved techniques learned through tea production can often be used in other areas of agriculture, all around Japan.

We have arranged to add three limited edition Competition Grade teas and two limited edition Belended Sencha teas.

Competition Grade Tea is extremely rare and available only at the National Tea Fair of Japan, attended by those within the Japanese green tea industry. The flavor is unique only to teas contributed to the exclusive competition and quite different from usual tea.

Belended Sencha has concurrently two different characteristics: the aroma of Sencha and the taste of Gyokuro. They are composed of fine and unique breeds of tea with special characteristics. Each individual tea is more sweet and mellow than basic Sencha, characteristic of Gyokuro. But, it has a more refreshing aroma than Gyokuro, characteristic of Sencha.

Competition Grade Tea is limited edition of just 650 packages each and Blended Sencha is limited edition of just 850 packages each ONLY AVAILABLE this winter season.