Protected local food
Kikugawa Deep-Steamed Green Tea
深蒸し菊川茶
A deep-steamed green tea (fukamushi) from Kikugawa in Shizuoka, where the style was born. It brews a deep yellow-green and tastes mellow and rich.
Key facts
- Registered as a protected name
- 31 March 2023
- Region
- Chubu
- Official name in Japanese
- 深蒸し菊川茶
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 静岡県
Where deep steaming began
Tea from around Kikugawa in Shizuoka was once known for being astringent. From about 1952, local research found that steaming the leaves for longer made a far better tea. Kikugawa is now known as the birthplace of fukamushi, deep-steamed tea, and its growers helped spread the style across Japan.
Green, mellow and rich
The longer steaming breaks the leaves into finer pieces, so the tea brews a deep, cloudy yellow-green. It tastes mellow, with a full aroma, umami and body, and less bitterness than lightly steamed sencha.
How to brew it
Because the leaves are fine, fukamushi brews fast. Use hot but not boiling water and steep it briefly. A teapot with a fine mesh filter helps.
Good to know
- Shizuoka is Japan's biggest tea region. Tea fields and tasting rooms are easy to visit from Kakegawa station on the Tokaido Shinkansen.
- Compare it with Yame Traditional Gyokuro, a shaded tea from Fukuoka.
Questions travellers ask
What is fukamushi?
Deep-steamed green tea. The leaves are steamed longer than for regular sencha, which makes the tea greener and mellower.
Where is Kikugawa?
In western Shizuoka Prefecture, between Tokyo and Nagoya.
Where it comes from
More protected foods from the same area
Crafts from the same area
Heritage stories from the same area
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.