'Katie' Houjicha Kuki

Ryo Miyazaki, or ‘Cultivar King’, as he is known due to the more than 20 cultivars at Miyazaki Sabou Tea Garden, is a passionate tea farmer. Miyazaki Sabo is characterised by its focus on traditional tea specialities from the region, including wakocha black tea, sannen bancha and especially kamairicha. A rare style, influenced by Chinese tea making, distinct from other Japanese teas because its leaves are pan-fired in a wok-like pan instead of being steamed.Due to the high altitude, 600m above sea level, the tea fields have a climate with large temperature differences depending on the time of day and season, and even snow sometimes falls in large quantities in winter despite the southern location.
Miyazaki Sabou boast some of the best award winning all organic tea in Japan. The conversion to organic, pesticide-free cultivation took place in the early 1980s, which means that the farm can be counted among the pioneers of organic cultivation in Japan.

The prefecture enjoys a warm climate and has the largest number of sunny days in Japan! The old name of Miyazaki - Himuka, even means the ‘place, where the sun goes’. It is home to the alluring Takachiho river valley, dotted with a number of waterfalls; yellow sandy Nichinan beach; and a range of mountains, highest of which are over 1700m. The mountainous areas result in a lot of highlands, great for producing tea.
The main tea made here is sencha, but Miyazaki is also the largest producer of kamairicha - pan-fired tea. Tea is made widely across the prefecture, with some areas by the sea and some high in the mountains reaching an elevation of up 700m.
Now ranking 4th in tea production in Japan, Miyazaki is an up and coming region with plenty of rare styles, like the aforementioned kamairicha, oolong and sannen bancha (aged bancha).