An agricultural cooperative in the Shimizu district of Shizuoka City, best known for Machiko — a rare cultivar carrying the scent of sakura mochi. Once dismissed as a defect in green tea, that aroma became a brand through years of work by growers, local government, and retailers together. Cultivation stays within Shimizu, and every batch is inspected by hand; if the sakura character isn't there, it isn't sold as Machiko.

A third-generation finishing merchant founded in 1955, working close to the Shizuoka tea market at the heart of the trade. Their signature method sorts each lot into three grades by leaf size, fires each at its own temperature, then blends them back together — a slower approach that gives the finished tea real depth. Their range includes hand-picked tea from Umegashima, the highest-altitude district in Shizuoka City.

For 47 consecutive years, this house has paid the highest price for tea from Ryogauchi in Shizuoka City. They still fire their tea over charcoal — a method almost no merchant practices today — using infrared heat to reach deep into the leaf rather than searing its surface. Sourcing follows a principle handed down from the founder's grandfather: choose the person, not just the tea.

A specialist in the light-steamed Honyama teas grown in the mountain valleys of Shizuoka City — Ashikubo, Miwa, Okawa, Kiyosawa and beyond. Unusually, they roast their own hojicha in heated sand rather than over direct flame, a technique used by perhaps one roaster in ten. Their hojicha is made from first-flush leaf, giving it a sweetness and depth that late-season hojicha can't reach.

The oldest tea merchant in Shizuoka City, with roughly 160 years behind it and a tea master holding the tenth dan in tea assessment. Buying begins before dawn, when growers deliver aracha processed through the night. Every lot is finished on its own, with firing temperatures adjusted a single degree at a time.

Founded in 1848 and now in its sixth generation, Suzuwa built its reputation on blending. Rather than pushing a tea's individuality, they aim for something you could drink every day without tiring of it — as they put it, they'd rather two people drank ten thousand cups than ten thousand people drank one. They also commit to buying entire annual harvests from small growers, including one in Ryuso, a district down to just five remaining farms.

Five people from outside Shizuoka who moved to the mountain village of Okouchi and took over a tea factory that was about to close. None came from farming families, and they use that outsider's view deliberately — designing fertilizer to keep nitrogen low so the plant produces more aroma on its own. Their range includes black tea aged in whisky barrels and black tea fermented with koji.