Ikedoki Tea

Nagasaki Ikedoki Tea Project supports and promotes Sonogi cha, the delicious yet relatively unknown teas grown locally in the Higashisonogi region.

Ikedoki means 'tea break' in the Nagasaki dialect. Please enjoy a peaceful tea break with Sonogi Cha.

05/06/2026

This afternoon we visited Kitamura in Saza, who have been farming organically for 55 years.
During our first visit last month, Kitamura was extremely busy with first harvest season, today he had more time to talk with us. He’s definitely a practiced storyteller, eager to share lots of information about tea or history.
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Some of his crew were harvesting and processing Karibancha when we visited the factory. Karibancha, not a term often talked about, is an ‘in-between harvest’.
After first harvest, the remaining shoots on the tea tree will still grow. Usually this is trimmed off before second harvest to ‘set the table’ (get a neatly trimmed base layer), so that the new shoots for nibancha season can evenly grow above that base level.
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Sometimes the ‘kariban’ trimmings are just left with the plants as mulch and recycled back into the soil, but other times farmers make a more rustic, everyday tea out of it.
A lot of Kitamura’s karibancha harvest will go to companies that make bottled green tea.
The smell in the factory was fabulous, and the just processed tea smelled wonderfully sweet!
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We’re still in the process of receiving some samples to decide which of Kitamura’s teas we can add to our selection.
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We already knew we definitely wanted their hōjicha which is just phenomenal. A blend of different harvest seasons and many cultivars, it’s one of the most fruity (plum!) and sweet (honey) hoōjicha I (Marjolein) have ever had.
Unfortunately we have to wait till September to get stock as they’ve run out.
We snagged the very last five packs from the shop, so if any big hōjicha fans read this and are intrigued - send us a message to reserve a pack for your next order ;)

04/06/2026

It’s been stormy & rainy the last few days, which always brings its own charm to the tea fields!
🌧️🌫️🌱

03/06/2026

Last year we rented an abandoned tea field.
It was left abandoned for probably around 20 years.
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Matsu has slowly been trimming down some of the trees to allow us to pick some tea.
We now have 4 rows cleared and have been able to pick some tea to experiment with ourselves - especially Matsu has been dedicated to experiment with black tea processing - trying to find the best way with a limited time to process black tea (for the sake of the Master Course this month).
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Yesterday morning the team went out to do weeding - it’s almost impossible to keep up with the current warm and wet weather: the weeds are shooting up so fast!
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In the first picture our new team member Mika is almost hidden amongst the tea bushes trying to pull out all the weeds 🌱
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Matsu managed to conquer the tree in front of the field and fulfilled his wish to cut it down and create more space in the future to do tea events at our tea field.

02/06/2026

We’ve been working on an updated logo for Ikedoki Tea 🌱
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We’re excited to show the result with you!
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Our mission is to share a peaceful world through Japanese tea from Nagasaki.
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We strongly feel tea brings people together and is a great way to connect cultures. All over the world tea is an integral part of hospitality and an unofficial but widely recognised symbol of feeling welcomed.
Being based in Nagasaki, with its history connecting to the atomic bombing, there is a strong movement for peace.
We also feel that the older history of Nagasaki region, which has always been the gateway of Japan to connect with other cultures and has been very accepting of sharing culture, knowledge and trade connects well to the message of peace.
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The paper crane in Japan is very much connected to the message of peace in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki region. We linked the paper crane to the classic symbol of peace: a dove with an olive branch - but instead made it a shoot of tea leaves.
The pattern inside the crane shows the unique feature of many of Nagasaki’s tea fields: tea fields overlooking the ocean.
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What do you think?
(Isn’t it cute? 🤗☺️)

30/05/2026

Young shoots for nibancha (second harvest) season are growing steadily in the warm weather.
🌱🌱
It’s always interesting to see how the colour of the young buds changes from first harvest to second harvest. Whilst only about a month later, the buds for nibancha often have a redder hue compared to first harvest.
This is largely due to the young buds for second harvest season accumulating more anthocyanins. Anthocyanins protect against excess light and UV radiation. As the days grow longer and UV intensity increases with the hotter summer days, the plants react to protect the young shoots by increasing the anthocyanins.

28/05/2026

We’re nearing the start of nibancha season (second harvest). This week the days have been hot & wet.
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Here is the famous Omura Bay ocean view that we visit with guests that join our tea tours.
Usually we can enjoy the beautifully vibrant blue & green views of ocean, sky & tea fields, but on rainy days it turns mystical. Yesterday we experienced a thick mist, and whilst there was no more views of the ocean bay, it was a special & magical moment. (It’s also perfect for the tea plants that really love the wet misty weather alternating with hot sunny days)

26/05/2026

Early this month we welcomed a spectacularly wonderful group of tea students from Brazil’s 🌱
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We custom built a full day educational tea program for the tea school’s students to learn all about Nagasaki tea region.
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Starting the day symbolically at the root of the region’s tea cultivation at the 360 year old tea tree in Ureshino, continuing to a visit to the tea museum in Ureshino, visiting the scenic tea fields, as well as visiting both a tamaryokucha factory as well as a tencha factory, and drinking lots of tea whilst learning about the region and its history.
Even the bento lunch box included in the tour had a tea theme, with rice mixes with tea leaves and a tea miso sauce.
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Thank you for visiting & sharing these fantastic photos, thank you to the enthusiasm of all the tea students, and also a huge thank you to the team & volunteers who helped make this special event possible!
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Muito obrigado!
🍵🍵🍵

21/05/2026

Last Sunday we visited kamairicha producer Uenohara in Saza.
We hoped to see Uenohara in action with spring harvest & processing, but due to the warm weather the previous two weeks, he finished processing a few days earlier than expected and we were exactly 24 hours too late.
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Instead we arrived to a completely s***k & span, thoroughly scrubbed and clean factory.
We were lucky that due to processing having finished, we had time to sit down with Uenohara and his wife for a few leisurely cups of tea.
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First and third photo show Uenohara & Marjolein amongst the different spring kamairicha batches.
As Uenohara does all the shiage (refining) processing himself, the aracha (unrefined) tea was waiting for end of production for Uenohara to have time to do the final refinement processing.
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We will visit Uenohara this weekend again to get some samples of the new shiage (finished) spring tea.
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Unfortunately from this year Uenohara will not make his summer sanbancha kamairicha anymore (his plants need more rest to recover from insect damage), which means that we’ll have to replace our sanbancha kamairicha with another kamairicha option.

20/05/2026

A peek at the stunning organic tea gardens and landscape at Kitamura Seicha in Saza (western Nagasaki).
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Through a random encounter on Sunday when having lunch after visiting farmer Uenohara in Saza, we got introduced to Kitamura Seicha. Sometimes things happen fast, and we suddenly found ourselves invited yesterday to visit Kitamura family’s organic tea gardens on their last day of spring harvest.
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Lush green fields at over 300 meters altitude - the highest point being at 360 m. The family cleared the land and cultivated the fields themselves since 1954. At that time there was no water or electricity at the top of the mountain, and they walked down to town daily (1,5 hour down - 2,5 hour up) to carry water up to their tiny home at the top of the hill.
By hand they hammered down the huge boulders at the top of the hill to clear the land.
For 55 years they have been pioneers in organic tea farming and despite a terribly difficult start where the first 8 years of pesticide-free farming gave them no harvest at all, they believed in their mission and have held steadfast to their principles.
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We have a bag full of samples to taste in the coming weeks, but we’re sure we will add a tea or two (or more!) to our selection!
We’re quite excited as we discovered Kitamura family produce not only tamaryokucha, but they also produce sencha! We may finally be able to offer a rare, elusive Nagasaki sencha to our selection.

16/05/2026

With perfect sunny weather today, the Sonogi Chaichi (Sonogi tea festival) was extremely busy & lively.
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By midday many stands had sold out many of the teas they’d brought (and many sweets and food stands ran out of a lot of their merchandise too).
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A lot of tea producers will be packing more tea into bags tonight for tomorrow’s last day of sales at the festival.
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Some producers, like the one on this photo, just simplify things by placing tea chests full of tea at the stand and then filling each bag as it’s bought!
Some will seal it directly when bought, but we also saw overflowing packs of genmaicha being handed over in another bag - in a way a similar gesture of generosity as when a cup of sake is poured to overflow in the wooden masu box containing the cup.

住所

102 Sonogishukugo
Higashisonogi-gun, Nagasaki
859-3807

ウェブサイト

https://ikedokitea.com/

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