JAしみず

JA Shimizu

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JAしみずは、静岡市清水区のお茶を扱う農業協同組合です。看板となるのは、桜餅のような香りを持つ希少品種「まちこ」。かつて緑茶の世界では欠点とされていたその香りを、農家・行政・小売店が手を組んでブランドへと育て上げました。世界緑茶コンテスト最高金賞、静岡県「富士の国 山のお茶百選」認定と、評価も重ねてきました。

栽培は清水地区に限定し、苗木は組合から農家へ無償で配布して少しずつ広げてきました。ただし数を増やしすぎることはしません。出来上がった荒茶は一つひとつ組合で審査し、桜の風味が基準に届かないものは「まちこ」として扱いません。使うのは一番茶のみです。

商品は、有機まちこ・まちこの緑茶を中心に、良質な一番茶の茎を使ったほうじ茶「こじまっ茶」、まちこをブレンドした清水紅茶、食品加工向けの抹茶、そして海外向けのフレーバーティー「サンルージュ」まで揃えています。

JA Shimizu is an agricultural cooperative handling tea from the Shimizu district of Shizuoka City. At the heart of our range is Machiko, a rare cultivar with the scent of sakura mochi. That very aroma was once considered a flaw in the world of green tea — until growers, local government, and retailers came together to turn it into a brand. It has since earned the top gold prize at the World Green Tea Contest and a place among Shizuoka Prefecture's "100 Selected Mountain Teas."

Cultivation stays within Shimizu. We supply seedlings to growers free of charge and have expanded slowly and deliberately, keeping numbers in check. Every batch of unrefined tea is inspected by us, and any lot that falls short of the sakura character is not sold as Machiko. Only the first flush is used.

Alongside organic and standard Machiko green tea, our range includes Kojimaccha — a hojicha made from the stems of premium first-flush leaves — Shimizu black tea blended with Machiko, matcha for culinary use, and Sunrouge, a flavored tea made for overseas markets.

Timing Is Everything

With most green tea, the youngest, softest new shoots command the highest quality and the highest price. Machiko doesn't work that way. The sakura aroma comes from coumarin — the same compound found in sakura mochi — and through research with Shizuoka University we identified the precise window when coumarin peaks in the leaf. We harvest according to a manual built around that window, not around leaf tenderness.

Coumarin is volatile and easily lost, so the finishing process demands equal care. Over the years we've developed our own methods for holding that aroma in the leaf. Those techniques stay in-house.

Not every Shizu-7132 grown in Shimizu becomes Machiko. Every batch of unrefined tea passes through our inspection, and we turn some away. We don't judge by appearance — we brew it, and we check the aroma and the taste. If the sakura character isn't there, it isn't Machiko. And we only ever use the first flush; second flush and beyond are never used.

To Tea Lovers Around the World

A Message from the Maker

We hear that in France and Australia, flavored teas are popular — as are teas withered to bring out strong, floral aromas. Machiko may find a natural home among them.

There's a reason we call Machiko a tea of happiness. This was a tea nobody wanted, dismissed for the very quality that makes it special. Through the work of our growers and everyone who believed in it, it finally found the light. We hope you'll drink it on bright days and happy occasions, and share that happiness with someone who matters to you.

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