Sayama

Sayama in Saitama Prefecture is Japan's northernmost major tea region — the cool climate produces only one or two harvests per year (vs. three or four further south) and the leaves grow thicker as protection against cold. Sayama's signature is the sayama-bi finishing technique: a heavy final firing that gives the tea a richer, deeper, more roast-tinged sweetness than Shizuoka or Uji sencha. There is even a regional saying — Shizuoka for colour, Uji for aroma, Sayama for taste — that captures the tradeoff.