Buying Tea in Japan: A Field Guide

Department-store tea floors, tea-town shops, airport shelves — what to look for on the label.

Labels reward a few checks: harvest year and season (shincha = first flush of that year), cultivar if stated, region, net weight, and a best-before date — fresher matters more for matcha than for roasted teas. Tea shops in producing towns usually offer tastings and vacuum or nitrogen packing for travel. At airports, stick to sealed packs from named regions (Uji, Shizuoka, Kagoshima, Yame) and buy matcha last, closest to your flight home, then store it cool.

Sources: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) crop statistics; Ministry of Finance trade statistics; Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); prefectural and municipal official information. Checked 5 November 2026.