See all of tea from its leaves to the products laid out in the store
Grinpia Makinohara, under the concept of tea and health, is a farm where you can experience a factory tour and even tea-leaf picking. The large Makinohara farm is right in the center of Japan where 20% of the nation’s tea is cultivated. It is a unique facility within the country in that everything from the processing of the leaves to sales is handled in one place. During the factory tour, the finishing process up to the packaging of the tea can be observed for free, and the tea can then be purchased at the direct sales shop Ippin-kan.
Experience tea picking while wearing the uniforms of tea women from long ago!
You can experience tea picking in the large farm from May to early October. You can also reserve and rent out an old-fashioned uniform that the tea-gathering women wore for a fee. This is a very popular program since even within the tea-producing Shizuoka Prefecture, the ability for tourists to experience tea-picking is rare. The tea leaves that are picked can be taken home and recipes for tempura and pot-boiling Sencha tea can even be provided. Also, the Tea Seminar using high-grade tea leaves is also a hit with tourists (fee required). You can master how to pour delicious tea and taste it with some Japanese sweets.
Eat creative cuisine with gusto and enjoy the full nutritious benefits of tea
At the restaurant Marunobara, you can enjoy distinctive tea cuisine all year. There is so much of this cuisine that you can only taste here such as tempura of the fresh buds of tea with Sencha Teshio salt, tea soba using Sencha, and tea boiled in soy sauce and mirin. Also, there is a notable building with a 140-year-old history which has come into use again as a farmhouse near Grinpia so that you can fully enjoy its appearance that is brimming with atmosphere.