Kawane Green Tea and Home-stay
Kawane-honcho is located at the mountain area in the center of Shizuoka prefecture, with about 94% of the area covered by forest. Currently the Oigawa Railway main line is closed between Kawane Onsen Sasamado Station and Senzu Station due to damage caused by a typhoon in 2022. But there are Municipal Bus at Ieyama Station traveling beyond Kawane Onsen Sasamado towards Senzu. This time tourists used Oigawa Railway and Bus to get to Shimoizumi Station. If you have a car, it takes less than an hour and half from downtown Shizuoka city.
We met at the station and walked minutes to a small restaurant called Mitsuboshimura for lunch. Ladies at this village make great Soba noodle meal and many kinds of Yuzu(citron) products. It was a very hot day, so I had some cold soba noodles and a cup of Yuzu-soda. It was delicious! Also we got free cold green tea. http://kawanelife.org/mitsuboshi/
After the meal break, we walked slowly to Satomi Tea Farm, enjoying the scenery. Cross the Oigawa river and pass through the tea fields, the farm appears there. You can find the farm easily from Koinobori(carp-shaped streamer) fluttering in the tea fields.
Satomi-san, the owner of Satomi Tea farm, gave us a lecture on tea and tea tastings. First we tasted his unique own way of drinking green tea that he mixed tea leaf, ice and a little bit of matcha powder in a cocktail shaker and shake a lot. I’ve never tasted that kind of green tea before, it’s Mousse-like and just a little sweet.
Next, he poured hot tea from a teapot into a tiny glass with an ice cube inside. It had a refreshing smell like a breeze blowing and a clean taste. We had tea with the sweet potato he served us. Whenever someone comes over, he always serve something sweet with tea.
Lastly, he let us taste his different types of tea, just like in a tasting competition. The different types of tea are grown at different altitudes and there are three types. We tasted the difference and picked the favorite one. I was really surprised because I didn’t know there was such a big difference in taste. His tea are all great and tasty.
After the tasting, he took us to his tea plantation which is right there by the building. He made a pouch in the middle of the farm for visitors to see the great view. Two of us got a chance to do tea pruning, using shallow mower for tea tree. We won’t have that opportunity often because they only do that few times a year. We had fun time doing tea pruning and one of them did a great job, Satomi-san got really surprised to see the great work.
Coming back from the tea plantation, host families came to pick us up at the farm. Ogawa-san from NPO Kawane Life introduced each hosts to tourists and they introduced each other. Then they left to each host home, afterwards it depends on host families. Some went to a day trip hot springs nearby, some went to a famous suspension bridge, and everyone had great Japanese foods their hosts made for them or even better cooked together! Please check the further blog for more information about homestays.
