Tsuchiyama, Shiga Matcha

Tsuchiyama is a tea district in Shiga prefecture's Koka City, where tea has been grown since the 14th century but matcha production is a recent (and rapidly improving) development.

Tea cultivation in Tsuchiyama traces to 1356, when the monk Jomyoji brought tea fruits from Kyoto's Daitokuji temple and planted them at a local temple. Because Tsuchiyama sat on the Tokaido, the main highway between Edo and Kyoto, tea here was sold in large volume to passing travelers. Production expanded well beyond what most rural growing areas reached during the Edo period.

For most of its history, Tsuchiyama produced sencha, not matcha. That changed in 2018, when the cooperative Green Tea Tsuchiyama opened the first dedicated tencha factory in Shiga prefecture. Output is still small relative to Uji or Yame, but the quality has climbed quickly. Tsuchiyama and the nearby Asamiya area (one of Japan's "five famous teas," with cultivation traced to the 9th century) share growing conditions: big day-to-night temperature swings, mineral-rich mountain soil.

Kettl carries four single-origin Tsuchiyama matchas in our database (Kasumi, Kogetsu, Tsuchiyama, Shiromatsu). The flavor leans toward bright aromatics with less heavy umami than Uji, closer to a modern, lighter ceremonial profile.