There is a tea farmer located in Hiroshima that I have always wanted to meet.
His name is Genki Takahashi, and he founded TEA FACTORY GEN. At the “Tea for Peace” event (see here for the article [Japanese only]) last year in Tokyo, I was able to speak with him at TEA FACTORY GEN’s booth while enjoying a cup of their tea. However, the more I experienced his tea and got to know Gen-san (as I have come to refer to him as) personally, the more I wished to visit his tea farm for myself.

According to the information I was able to find online and from various other sources, I learned that Genki Takahashi grows his tea plants in the town of Sera, which is roughly located in the center of Hiroshima Prefecture. The plants in his fields range from 60 to 70 years old, and he grows them without the use of fertilizer or pesticides. There are people who say that you can get tea there “that can’t be found anywhere else.” So, just what kind of place does this unique tea come from?

In the sweltering days of early August, I paid a visit to TEA FACTORY GEN’s processing plant and tea fields in search of the answer.

A desire to create teas that look alive

The town of Sera is located in Hiroshima Prefecture’s Sera District, about 70 km (just over an hour by car) from Hiroshima City. The Sera region is known for its agricultural products, including pears, matsutake mushrooms, rice, and various other crops. Sitting at an altitude of approximately 400 meters, the area also features plenty of snowfall.

The cultivation of tea as a crop began to flourish around 90 years ago, with Hiroshima becoming known for its “Sera tea.” However, the tea industry in Sera began to decline around 1990. When Gen-san started growing his tea eight years ago in 2016, many of the tea fields had been abandoned, and the processing plant was basically in ruins.

Gen-san tells me that TEA FACTORY GEN’s processing plant was originally known as the Tsukushi Tea Factory, and it was built approximately 70 years ago.

“I recently found a document that describes the history of Sera tea, which states that sencha production first started in the Taisho era (from 1912 to 1926）. The Tsukushi Tea Factory was built in 1955, when tea production in Sera was at its peak. I first discovered the building in 2019. Someone at city hall introduced me to the location and told me there was a factory there, but it was no longer in working condition. I decided to take over the place that very day.”

Gen-san has been growing tea in Sera since 2016, but for the first three years, he rented another processing plant to produce his tea. This ended up causing various challenges, however, so it was his dream to one day have his own tea processing plant. Moreover, the plant he took over contained large amounts of scrap, meaning that he had to renovate the facility and basically start from the beginning. There was also not much time until the tea growing season started, so it was a difficult period for him and the company. You can get a good idea of Gen-san’s personality by the way he laughs away these genuine hardships, much as if he were telling a funny story.

“Shall I pour you a cup of tea?” asks Gen-san. First, I start with a cup of Japanese black tea native to Hiroshima.

The tea’s gentle sweetness fills my mouth, followed by a fragrant aroma, the combination of which leaves a sweet aftertaste lingering on my tongue. The sensations feel as if they are virtually floating throughout my entire body.

Once my mind and body have had time to recover, I ask Gen-san about his career.

He is originally from Hiroshima City. He was not born into the tea business and only gained a proper awareness of tea once he reached the age of 20. That was when he decided to take another look at Japanese culture after spending some time studying overseas. He learned about many of the great names in the history of Japanese tea, including Sen no Rikyu, Hechikan, and Okakura Tenshin. Through his studies, he developed a fascination with Japanese tea culture. As he was preparing to start his career, he searched for ways to balance his love of tea with his daily life, and eventually went to work for Ippodo Tea, which was a longstanding tea shop in Kyoto. However, after spending a year and a half working at a shop located in an Osaka department store, he started to feel like his dream of making a living from tea was destined to end in fantasy. Gen-san quit his job and moved back in with his parents, where he quietly spent the next six months helping out at his brother’s okonomiyaki restaurant.

“When I quit my job, I figured I wasn’t meant to work with tea. However, once I started helping my brother, I realized that okonomiyaki definitely wasn’t for me (laughs). I realized that I wanted to open up my own tea shop. Although, when I told my father, he said, ‘Don’t make me laugh. I’d never buy tea from you. You’ve never even grown tea before; do you even know what you’re doing?!’ I had to admit that he had a point. I realized that I needed to get involved with tea from its initial production phase and learn everything from the ground up. That’s when I was introduced to Nishi Tea Factory in Kagoshima.”

Nishi Tea Factory is a large tea processing plant located in Kirishima City, Kagoshima Prefecture that produces organically grown matcha and various other kinds of tea. Gen-san says he initially made the journey to Kagoshima simply to visit, but he was surprised by the quality of the organic matcha that was served there.

“It was so delicious that I had to keep asking if the tea was really organic. I asked right then and there if I could work for them. They responded, ‘You can start tomorrow.’ However, they quickly added, ‘You’d better be prepared to work hard though.’ I eagerly told them that I’d do my very best.”

Nishi Tea Factory refuses to compromise when growing its organic teas, and Gen-san spent many days of backbreaking work covering everything from tea production to facility management. Although it sounds grueling just listening to his story, you can tell that he found the entire experience to be extremely rewarding.

“If I hadn’t had that experience working at Nishi-san’s, I think I would’ve kept that somewhat romantic image of tea that I had in my mind and probably never would’ve developed an appreciation of everything that goes into it. I experienced first-hand just how hard it is to be a tea grower. The life of a tea farmer isn’t as romantic as you might think,” explains Gen-san.

That experience helped him decide to make his dreams of working with tea a reality, and also forced him to look inward at his own tea-making process. That was when he was introduced to the process of growing tea using all-natural cultivation methods.

“At the time, I was constantly drinking a variety of different teas, but once I tried an organic tea that was grown free of fertilizer and pesticides, I was in for yet another awakening. I thought to myself, ‘What kind of tea is this? ‘ It didn’t have the usual flavor, but it went down smoothly, just like water. As I continued to learn about natural farming methods, I realized that this was the type of tea that I wanted to grow.”

Upon leaving Nishi Tea Factory, Gen-san studied at the International Nature Farming Research Center in Nagano Prefecture. He also visited various natural tea farms around the country to deepen his knowledge of the subject. All of this led to him discovering a tea field in his hometown of Hiroshima that was ideally suited to the natural farming techniques that he wished to employ.

At this point, he brewed me another interesting cup of tea. As the vacuum-sealed pack was removed from the freezer, I realized it contained fresh tea leaves harvested two years ago and immediately frozen. He removed these “fresh” leaves and then proceeded to pour hot water over them. I was immediately taken in by the rising steam which carried a distinct, refreshing fragrance.

It is notable that simply by placing tea leaves in hot water, you can create something that smells amazing. As I take a sip, I notice hints of a refreshing, minty flavor. Although the tea itself was warm, I feel a cooling sensation throughout my body.

“This one is definitely the most delicious!” Gen-san claims excitedly. While it feels like the sense of humor you might expect from a tea grower, you can get a glimpse of Gen-san’s perspective on tea.

“This is ‘tea,’ just as gyokuro and matcha are also ‘teas.’ I find that to be extremely interesting. When I first came into the industry, I really only thought of sencha, gyokuro, and matcha as being proper ‘tea.’ However, once I got to see different teas up close, I began to realize that tea is both luxurious and also interesting on so many different levels. Before I visited the tea fields, I never paid much attention to things like weeds or the tea plants getting sick.”

Just as the tea plants themselves are alive, that means they are also surrounded by other living entities such as weeds and insects. And within that realization lies one of the most important things to know about Gen-san’s approach to growing tea.

Gen-san’s battle against weeds during the height of summer

Together, we got in the car and took a drive to the tea fields from the processing plant. TEA FACTORY GEN only uses first-harvest tea leaves. In other words, only the new buds are picked in the early days of summer, with no additional harvesting taking place thereafter. Furthermore, when utilizing natural farming methods with no added fertilizer, it is vital that the farmer not harvest too much at one time.

As such, what keeps Gen-san occupied in his fields during August once the harvest is complete? It is simple: he is constantly fighting against weeds.

These weeds, which include ferns and bamboo, can grow so densely that they cover the tea plants entirely. Although the ferns are easily removed, bamboo features deep, strong roots and is impossible to pull out by hand. You need to use a sickle to cut it down by the roots.

“Amazing, isn’t it? In just the span of two weeks, the weeds have completely altered the landscape of this field. If the weather were a little cooler, I could probably tolerate it, but sometimes I often feel it’s best to wait until autumn. Nature’s power to revert itself into an untamed forest is quite remarkable. Still, the fact that so many weeds are capable of growing here means that tea plants can grow here, too. So I tend to think of it as a positive thing overall.”

Naturally, Gen-san doesn’t bring outside compost or even fallen leaves to spread on the fields. Instead, he simply cuts down the weeds growing around the plants and lays them on top of the soil there. In regards to farming with such natural processes, Gen-san definitively states, “Anybody can do it.” I cannot think of a more perfect example of the difference between theory and practice.

“At first, no matter what form it actually took, I simply wanted to be the owner of my own tea farm. Therefore, I felt like I could do pretty much anything I wanted. However, knowing how difficult it is now, I would probably have second thoughts about everything.”

Gen-san laughs as he says this, but naturally, he has no intentions of giving up on his “tea that can’t be found anywhere else.” Instead, he aims for just the opposite: to continue producing teas that only he can create.

“I must be aware of those things that only farmers can do. Otherwise, I’ll lose my reason for doing this, so it’s important that I take on challenges as they arise.”

I am eager to try more of these fascinating teas that Gen-san is producing. In the second half of this feature, I journey to TEA STAND GEN, a teahouse he runs in Onomichi City, to learn more about his unique tea-making process.

Genki Takahashi
Born in Hiroshima in 1988. He established TEA FACTORY GEN in 2016, which grows and produces native tea varieties in the Sera District of Hiroshima Prefecture. In 2019, he opened TEA STAND GEN in Onomichi City, followed by his second shop, TEA STAND GEN YAMATE, in 2023.
tea-factory-gen.com
instagram.com/tea_factory_gen (TEA FACTORY GEN)
instagram.com/tea_stand_gen.onomichi.yamate (TEA STAND GEN YAMATE)
instagram.com/ochatotaiyaki_mirume (TEA AND TAIYAKI MIRUME)

Photo by Yuri Nanasaki
Text (originally in Japanese) by Yoshiki Tatezaki