The Earliest Outdoor Shincha Tea-Picking Experience in Japan
Kisakuen and Marushichi Seicha are co-hosting Japan's earliest outdoor Shincha (first flush tea) picking experience at Grinpia Makinohara in Shizuoka from April 11, 2026. Participants can take home the tea leaves and enjoy a tea picker costume plan.
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- 📰 Published: April 7, 2026 at 02:44
- 🔍 Collected: April 6, 2026 at 18:00
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 21, 2026 at 00:22 (342h 22m after Collected)
Co-hosted by Kisakuen and Marushichi Seicha
## What is Shincha?
Tea trees stay dormant during the winter, and when the warm spring climate arrives, they shed their small leaves like a thick coat and grow new buds. Among the tea harvested several times a year, only the Shincha picked in spring is made solely from new buds packed with nutrients stored from autumn through winter, which are the source of its delicious taste. Even in the same field, about 50 days after picking Shincha, new buds will grow again, and we pick the second flush tea (Nibancha). Though it also becomes tea, it is not called Shincha and has a slightly bitter, less delicious taste. That is why tea picked in spring has long been prized as the most delicious. So, it's not just about being single-origin, but *when* it was picked that is very important. In Shizuoka, it has long been said that the Shincha of the 88th night from the beginning of spring, around May 2nd, is at its peak and tastes the best.
Would you like to enjoy these valuable fresh Shincha leaves as tea in the tea fields a step earlier than the general public?
## Tea-Picking Experience
In Shizuoka and Kyoto, Shincha harvesting has been taking place since the beginning of the year through forced greenhouse cultivation, but at our tea plantation, you can experience the earliest outdoor tea picking in Japan, fully bathed in the warm spring sunlight.
The reason we can pick Shincha at this time is that our plantation grows a very rare variety called 'Inzatsu'. It is a tea variety born in Japan, but as the name suggests (meaning 'Indian hybrid'), the mother was born in India, and the father is an unknown hybrid. Only the tea plants of this Inzatsu variety sprout new buds exceptionally early every year, despite the cold. Please take a deep breath feeling the warm spring breeze and enjoy the scent of young leaves drifting in the natural wind. We hope you will savor the rapidly growing new buds, which have a bittersweet taste and a subtle umami flavor.
Dates: April 11, 2026 (Sat) to early May (planned)
Time: Approximately 30 minutes between 10:00 and 15:00 on weekdays (excluding lunch hours and when group buses visit)
Price: Adults 1,000 yen, Children 800 yen (Children in elementary school and under must be accompanied by an adult)
* You can take home the newly sprouted tea leaves after harvesting and enjoy them as Shincha tempura at home. (Recipe included)
* A set plan including a female-only tea picker costume and the tea-picking experience is 2,500 yen for adults and 2,300 yen for children. However, as the number of tea picker costumes is limited, advance reservations are required. (Please also prepare a T-shirt). For this set plan, the morning schedule is changing at 10:30 and tea picking at 11:00, and the afternoon schedule is changing at 13:30 and tea picking at 14:00, so please arrive in time for your reservation.
## Location
Facility Name: Grinpia Makinohara & Nanaya Ochachoco Village
Operator: Kisakuen Co., Ltd.
Location: 1151 Nishihagima, Makinohara, Shizuoka Prefecture
Representative: Naruhiko Suzuki, President and CEO
Business Overview: Manufacturing and sales of Japanese tea and tea products, operation of tea-picking experience farms and tea cuisine restaurants, sales of Shizuoka local products
URL: http://grinpia.com/
The Ippinkan also features 'Nanaya Sud-ouest Makinohara Store', which sells gelato and various matcha sweets.
## What is Shincha?
Tea trees stay dormant during the winter, and when the warm spring climate arrives, they shed their small leaves like a thick coat and grow new buds. Among the tea harvested several times a year, only the Shincha picked in spring is made solely from new buds packed with nutrients stored from autumn through winter, which are the source of its delicious taste. Even in the same field, about 50 days after picking Shincha, new buds will grow again, and we pick the second flush tea (Nibancha). Though it also becomes tea, it is not called Shincha and has a slightly bitter, less delicious taste. That is why tea picked in spring has long been prized as the most delicious. So, it's not just about being single-origin, but *when* it was picked that is very important. In Shizuoka, it has long been said that the Shincha of the 88th night from the beginning of spring, around May 2nd, is at its peak and tastes the best.
Would you like to enjoy these valuable fresh Shincha leaves as tea in the tea fields a step earlier than the general public?
## Tea-Picking Experience
In Shizuoka and Kyoto, Shincha harvesting has been taking place since the beginning of the year through forced greenhouse cultivation, but at our tea plantation, you can experience the earliest outdoor tea picking in Japan, fully bathed in the warm spring sunlight.
The reason we can pick Shincha at this time is that our plantation grows a very rare variety called 'Inzatsu'. It is a tea variety born in Japan, but as the name suggests (meaning 'Indian hybrid'), the mother was born in India, and the father is an unknown hybrid. Only the tea plants of this Inzatsu variety sprout new buds exceptionally early every year, despite the cold. Please take a deep breath feeling the warm spring breeze and enjoy the scent of young leaves drifting in the natural wind. We hope you will savor the rapidly growing new buds, which have a bittersweet taste and a subtle umami flavor.
Dates: April 11, 2026 (Sat) to early May (planned)
Time: Approximately 30 minutes between 10:00 and 15:00 on weekdays (excluding lunch hours and when group buses visit)
Price: Adults 1,000 yen, Children 800 yen (Children in elementary school and under must be accompanied by an adult)
* You can take home the newly sprouted tea leaves after harvesting and enjoy them as Shincha tempura at home. (Recipe included)
* A set plan including a female-only tea picker costume and the tea-picking experience is 2,500 yen for adults and 2,300 yen for children. However, as the number of tea picker costumes is limited, advance reservations are required. (Please also prepare a T-shirt). For this set plan, the morning schedule is changing at 10:30 and tea picking at 11:00, and the afternoon schedule is changing at 13:30 and tea picking at 14:00, so please arrive in time for your reservation.
## Location
Facility Name: Grinpia Makinohara & Nanaya Ochachoco Village
Operator: Kisakuen Co., Ltd.
Location: 1151 Nishihagima, Makinohara, Shizuoka Prefecture
Representative: Naruhiko Suzuki, President and CEO
Business Overview: Manufacturing and sales of Japanese tea and tea products, operation of tea-picking experience farms and tea cuisine restaurants, sales of Shizuoka local products
URL: http://grinpia.com/
The Ippinkan also features 'Nanaya Sud-ouest Makinohara Store', which sells gelato and various matcha sweets.