If there’s one thing visitors to Japan should take home with them, it’s got to be a pack of quality tea leaves. Nestled among the cool shops and cafés in the Kuramae neighbourhood, Nakamura Tea Life Store is the Tokyo outpost of the Nakamura Tea Farm in Shizuoka prefecture, which has been growing tea for over 100 years.
The shop’s organic tea leaves are all grown in the Shizuoka city of Fujieda and information is offered on each variety. The labels include the date the leaves were harvested, the field in which the tea was grown and the methods used when cultivating the tea.
The wide assortment includes sencha (steamed green tea), genmaicha (brown rice tea), kocha (black tea), kukicha (twig tea) and hojicha (roasted green tea) as well as matcha tea powder. The shop also carries a curated selection of brewing equipment including beautiful ceramic teapots and utensils such as teaspoons.