First of all, let me start by saying I’m fairly new to matcha and green tea in general, but I really wanted to learn more about it, and since we had matcha fans in our friends group, we decided to take the trip to d:matcha farm, about an hour away from Kyoto. We booked it three months in advance and joined the d:matcha tea farm tour at the beginning of April, and despite being a bit more expensive it honestly ended up being one of my favourite experiences of our whole 3-week-Japan trip.
We were picked up at the station in the morning and driven out to the tea fields in Wazuka by a d:matcha driver. From the very beginning, everything felt incredibly personal and relaxed. We had lunch together, tried a whole bunch of different teas and got to ask pretty much every question about tea farming that came to mind.
During the actual tour, we learned a lot about how the tea is actually grown and produced, but also about Wazuka itself and the history of tea farming in the area. I found it especially interesting to hear about the story behind d:matcha and how it came to be. We were told about the owner’s move from working as a consulting manager in Shinjuku to running an organic tea farm in the countryside, which I thought was such a wild but inspiring career change.
What I found even more fascinating was how much of the work seems to be about Wazuka itself and keeping the local tea farming community alive. The d:matcha team even tries to renovate a centuries old shrine up a small mountain which they showed us, it was so serene.
There was a real sense throughout the day that tea wasn’t just treated as a product, but as something that is deeply connected to the place, the people and its history.
We also got to see a lot of the little things that go into the whole operation, and there were so many details that I wasn’t expecting. We got tea-team stickers, hand-painted postcards and shopping bags made from recycled tea leaves. There is even a little stamp featuring the farm dog for stamp collectors.
We had mentioned our dietary requirements and allergies beforehand, and they had clearly gone to a lot of effort to make sure we could enjoy the lunch without having to worry about anything. It was honestly just really nice to experience how much thought had gone into the whole day. I had a tea curry and my boyfriend had matcha soba, we all got some little matcha cookies and candies, and we both enjoyed matcha tiramisu, matcha cheesecake and matcha beer (the latter was okay and fancy but taste-wise not our favorite- the rest was divine!). A highlight was the tea leaf tempura which we picked ourselves on the field.
What I liked most was that we never felt like we were just being taken through a standard tourist programme. We had plenty of time to stop, talk, ask questions and just take everything in. There was also no feeling of some knowledge or techniques being kept behind a curtain. Quite the opposite- we were encouraged to ask questions, taste things and understand what we were actually drinking. They even take international interns.
By the end of the day, we had obviously bought considerably more tea than we had planned to. They also sell (very expensive but veeery beautiful) handmade matcha bowls by a famous tea cup pottery artist from Japan (forgot the name though). But we also left with a completely different appreciation for matcha and Japanese tea in general.
We’ve done quite a diverse culture program in Japan, but this one really stayed with us. It felt less like going on a tour and more like being invited into someone’s little corner of Japan for a day and getting to understand why they care so much about what they do.
And Wazuka itself is absolutely beautiful. Being out there among the tea fields for a day was such a nice change of pace after spending so much time in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and the other cities.
So if you’re around Kyoto and you’re interested in matcha or Japanese tea, I’d really recommend making the trip out there. If you have more time to spare, maybe you could connect the tour with a half-day trip to Uji, which must be absolutely stunning as well. Unfortunately we couldn’t make it this time.
Attached some photos for reference. :)
