Nishio-No-Matcha (Nishio Matcha)
Introduction
Nishio-No-Matcha is one of the most famous area brands in Japan when it comes to Tencha, which is the name of the high-quality crude tea used to produce Matcha.
This special focus on Matcha makes Nishio-no-matcha a very unique area brand. Of the 200 ha of land dedicated for tea farms in Nishino-City, a dominant 96% is dedicated for this type of tea.While there are many area brands of tea in Japan, not many focus on Matcha like Nishio-no-Matcha does. IT is said that about 20% of Japan's tencha production is Nishio-no-Matcha.
The quality of the tea is high as well, as seen in the results of the Annual National Tea competitions. For the most recent 2019 result, Nishio-no-matcha won the most prestigious "Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries award" for Tencha. It also landed 2nd place after Ujicha for the "Area award" for Tencha.
The actual definition of Nishio-No-Matcha is very strict. It must be tea made from tea leaves grown and manufactured in Nishio-city or surrounding areas of Anjyo and Hazugun Kira-town. It also must take specific traditional methodologies to produce the tea, especially the usage of the stone mill to ground it into a powder form.
Area and Characteristics
Nishio-city, Anjyo-city, and Hauzgun Kira-town are all located in the southern most part of Aichi prefecture, right where the great Yahagi river meets the Mikawa Bay. This Yahagi river plays a great role in the production of quality tea. It had historically provided abundant water, river fog, and land of high water-drainage, allowing for a good environment to grow tea leaves. The warm climate is a key factor as well.
Nishio-no-Matcha's Ichibancha will be plucked and start to circulate around Mid May.
History
It is said that the first seed of tea tree was planted in the 13th century by a monk in Nishio. This original tea plant can still be viewed at the Koujyuin Temple located in Nishio-city.
In the Meiji-era, tea production started to increase. However, as Aichi prefecture was located in between the tea production giants of Ujicha and Shizuoka-cha, both of which are considered the "Three Great Teas of Japan", they had to find their niche to survive.
They steered towards focusing on high-grade tea, and by early Showa era (1926 - 1989), most of their production was centered around Tencha.
In 2009, the term Nishio-no-Matcha was registered as a area trademark, in an effort to revitalize the local economy by branding the tea produced in this area.
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