---
title: Shizuoka green tea
url: https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/shizuoka-green-tea/
lang: en
journey: https://karigurashijourney.com/en/episodes/hamamatsu/
---

# Shizuoka green tea

A little of each town’s story　/　Hamamatsu, Shizuoka

Shizuoka has the largest tea-growing area in Japan: 11,600 hectares in 2025, or 34.7 percent of the national total, and it also leads in the value of crude tea produced (9.9 billion yen in 2024, 31.5 percent). In Hamamatsu's Tenryu Ward, Tenryu tea is grown along the Tenryu and Atago rivers, where the tea trade has flourished since the Meiji era; tea from these misty mountain gardens is known for its aroma. I don't know exactly where the tea I drank came from.

## This moment in the journey: Tea and a special dried persimmon

Back at the house, I had a snack at the table by the window: Shizuoka green tea and the house's special dried persimmon. On a small plate beside the teacup sat a single persimmon the color of amber. Such a beautiful color.

Split with the fingers, the inside was soft and syrupy. A moist texture, a rich flavor, a gentle sweetness. Drying makes it keep longer, and makes it this much more delicious. Somewhere between fruit and confection; the prototype of sweets, perhaps.

Beyond the shoji, the afternoon mountains. I sat at the window and looked out for a while. Outside, the Shiba dog sat in the middle of the lane, watching me.

![An amber dried persimmon on a plate beside the teacup](https://karigurashijourney.com/img/hamamatsu/s74-1200.jpg)
- Sources: https://www.pref.shizuoka.jp/kensei/information/myshizuoka/1002256/1040939/1011293.html
- Sources: https://www.city.hamamatsu.shizuoka.jp/foodpark/hamamatsu-foods/tenryucha.html

Read this scene in the full journey: https://karigurashijourney.com/en/episodes/hamamatsu/