Tasting profile
Primary tasting notes
- Kombu DashiFull of brothy umami without being overly heavy.
- Korean PatchouliThe slightest tinge of a cooling sensation intermingled with the savory depths.
- VioletSubtle herbaceous florals brighten the cup.
About Ōmi Shincha
The story of tea in Ōmi begins on the slopes of Mount Hiei. Around 805 CE, the monk Saichō — founder of the Tendai school of Buddhism — returned from Tang Dynasty China carrying tea seeds, which he planted near his monastery at the mountain's summit. Mount Hiei looks out over Lake Biwa, and its foothills reach into what was then called Ōmi Province. Tea here was not commerce at first — it was practice. Monks brewed it to sustain focus through long hours of meditation and sutra, treating it as an offering as much as a remedy. From those monastery gardens, cultivation slowly spread into the surrounding valleys, tended by communities who understood the plant's rhythm long before it became a trade.
Ōmi sits in an inland basin surrounded by mountains on multiple sides, with Lake Biwa — Japan's largest and oldest lake — at its center. The lake moderates the local climate, keeping temperatures stable and humidity consistently high throughout the year. Winters are cold enough to give the tea plant a full dormancy period; spring warms gradually, which slows bud development and allows amino acids to build up in the leaves. The soils are alluvial, well-draining, and mineral-rich from centuries of runoff from the surrounding ranges. These conditions have produced sublime tea for over a millennia.
About the Saeakari Cultivar
Saeakari (さえかり) is a cultivar developed in Shiga Prefecture and grown almost exclusively there. The name translates roughly to "vivid clarity" — a fitting description of its bright, transparent liquor. Bred from local selection over many years, Saeakari has become closely associated with the character of Ōmi: it buds early in the spring season, making it ideal for shincha harvest, and it produces leaves with high levels of theanine, the amino acid responsible for the sweet, umami-forward quality that sets it apart from more widely grown cultivars like Yabukita. Whether by design or by the nature of the land, Saeakari expresses Ōmi distinctly — clean, sweet, and smooth in a way that's become a signature of the region.
