The complete guide to Murakami-cha

Back to Area Brands of Japanese Tea

This article was last modified May 30th, 2024. by Yuki

The Murakami-cha is known to be the "Northernmost Tea" of Japan.

Murakami City, located in the upper part of Niigata Prefecture, is home to this tea. Have you ever gone Skiing at Gala Ski Resort, a quick one-hour ride away from Tokyo on the bullet train? Well, that's Niigata Prefecture!

The Niigata prefecture is on the northern side of Japan's main Honshu island. From a tea plantation perspective, this is significantly north! Can you believe tea can be grown in areas with such high snowfall?

The latitudinal position of a tea plantation has significant implications. Warmer climates are better conducive to nurturing tea plants.
However, Niigata is extremely cold in the winter and experiences heavy snow during January or February. Therefore, it's not the best place for efficiently growing tea plants.
Despite the harsh winters and heavy snowfall, Murakami-cha has been a beacon of resilience, starting its journey around 1620. Today, it proudly boasts a history of about 400 years of tea production.
While not a large-scale tea producer, they have converted their disadvantages into advantages. The long winters and the shorter sunshine hours contribute to reducing the astringency of the tea. You can enjoy a mellow-tasting green tea with Murakami-cha.

While it markets itself as the "Northernmost Tea of Japan," some tea farms are even north of Murakami City, and some plantations extend to the Iwate prefecture on the Pacific Ocean side of Honshu island.
Even on the Japan Sea side, there are other farms as well. It's just that these farms that produce tea are not businesses and build tea more for local or personal use. The accurate articulation would be that Murakami-cha is the "Northernmost Tea of Business Scale in Japan on the Japan Sea Side." The Murakami-cha is impressive, nonetheless.

The climate is not favorable to tea cultivation compared to other areas. Firstly, daylight time is shorter. In January and February, snow will cover the tea farms, and the tea plantations will turn white.

Understandably, under these conditions, the production volume is low. Murakami-cha only accounts for 1% of Japan's tea production, with only about 20 ha of tea farms (2013).

Murakami-cha is known for its low astringency and strong Umami. Interestingly, its unideal climate for scaling tea contributes to the growth of delicious quality tea.

The snow reduces the tea's sunlight exposure, lowering its astringency. This natural shading is similar to how tea farms produce tea such as Gyokuro or Kabuse-cha to reduce astringency. Gyokuro and Kabuse-cha are high-end Japanese teas carefully grown and hidden from sunlight to create an extra-rich umami taste. You can say that some of this occurs naturally for Murakami-cha.

In addition to the lower amounts of exposure to sunlight, tea leaves will accumulate nutrients through the cold winter under the snow, and the Umami and sweetness will result in exceptional. It is enjoyed widely for this taste. Ultimately, Murakami-cha successfully established a brand as the "northernmost tea plantation" in Japan.

Murakami-cha combines unique varietals of tea trees, especially ones more tolerant to the cold. As a result, Murakami-cha tends to have different tastes from teas from other area brands. In addition to their unique cultivars, popular and new breeds such as Yabukita, Fukumidori, and Tsuyuhikari are becoming more common nowadays.

The Ichibancha, the first flush of leaves harvesting, is very late, happening around mid-May. Again, this is due to the geographical positioning of the area.

While Sencha is the primary produce, if you can go to the Murakami area, you should also try the Genmaicha. Genmaicha is a tea that mixes brown rice kernels with green tea. The quality of the rice is a huge determining factor for the tea. The Niigata prefecture is famous for the fantastic quality of its Japanese rice. Niigata produces the highest quantity of rice in Japan, surpassing Hokkaido. They are also highly innovative in rice, generating several renowned rice varietals such as the Niigata Koshihikari and Shinsuke. The Genmaicha in Niigata mixes fantastic rice to make exceptional tea. It's a must-try!

The Murakami-cha has been around for a deceptively long time.
During the early Edo period, around 1620, Tokumitsuya Kakuzaemon is said to have bought and brought the tea seed to this area and developed it into a business.
In the Meiji Era, the plantations grew to 400 ha, and the tea business blossomed to even ship overseas, including New York and Vladivostok.
In the Taisho Era, Murakami-cha vastly expanded. At its max, it was about 650 ha.
Since then, it has reduced its farmland to only 20 ha, based on 2013 statistics.

Let's learn about the town of Murakami as well.

Murakami City is a historical Castle town of the Castle of Murakami.

This castle was of the Murakami Domain, a feudal domain under the Tokugawa Shogunate of the Edo period.

Murakami's water is famous for being one of the best in Japan.

It was chosen as one of Japan's "Selected 100 Exquisite and Well-conserved Waters" by the Ministry of Environment.

The quality of this water contributes to the great tea that is brewed.

If you have a chance to venture into the depths of Niigata prefecture, try to find yourself a cup of nice, warm Murakami-cha.

[reference]

https://www.sake3.com/contents1689.html