You would never accept this standard for wine.
A Burgundy label guarantees origin.
A Champagne label guarantees method.
But Japanese tea origin names do not always work in this way.
"Uji tea," Japan's most prestigious tea name, does not necessarily mean tea grown in the town of Uji. It can be made from tea leaves grown in Kyoto, Nara, Shiga, or Mie, as long as it is finished by a Kyoto-based processor using methods associated with the Uji region.
Until 2019, tea grown anywhere in Japan could be labeled as "Shizuoka tea" if it was finally processed in Shizuoka. Today, the rules are stricter: "Shizuoka tea" requires 100% Shizuoka-grown leaves, while blended teas must be labeled differently.
Even within the same origin, teas can vary in price by a factor of twenty or more.
Origin matters.
But origin is not a quality certificate.
Japanese tea has never had the appellation system it deserves.
mirume was created to fill that gap.
The Standard
Before explaining how mirume selects tea, one common assumption needs to be addressed.
For decades, Yabukita accounted for nearly 80% of Japanese tea cultivation. Even today, it remains overwhelmingly dominant.
This is not a sign of monotony. Yabukita became dominant because it is genuinely excellent.
Japanese green tea has never competed primarily on cultivar. It has competed on craft.
National tea competitions in Japan are not divided by cultivar. They are divided by method: deep-steamed, light-steamed, and pan-fired.
The history of Japanese green tea is a history of transforming similar raw material through different techniques.
What matters is not only what was grown. What matters is how it was made and by whom.
Most tea is selected by name. mirume selects by criteria.
