To celebrate the release of Awaken (Yame Matcha, Saemidori さえみどり), I’d like to share the story behind it.
First, I want to thank the people of Yame who made this possible.
- The master of Kaze, an izakaya in Dobashi Market, who introduced me to many tea farmers.
- Atsushi-san, a 5th-generation tea farmer from Yanajima 柳島, Yame.
- Machiko-san and her team in Yamauchi, who handled packing to preserve the matcha’s aroma and freshness.
- Rie-san and Eshima-san, who shared their knowledge of traditional Tencha furnaces（伝統的な煉瓦の碾茶炉).
- The team at a disability support facility in Yame City, who inspected Rebel Bunny tins and applied labels for export.
- And the welfare project members supporting this work.
From farming to Tencha production, matcha processing, packaging, inspection, and export this project was supported by more than 30 people in Yame.
Thank you our Yame friends
Atsushi-san, a 5th-generation tea farmer in the Yame plains, with his parents. My late grandfather, a traditional Yame handmade washi craftsman, used to buy rice and vegetables from Atsushi-san’s great-grandfather.
Yame is divided into two worlds: the plains and the mountains.
Locals have long called them “the people of the mountains” and “the people below.”
What most people don’t know is this:
Until the municipal merger in 2015, the plains of Yame had no tencha furnaces capable of producing matcha.
The name “Yame matcha” itself has a history of only about 16 years.
But in the mountains, the story runs much deeper.
Hidden in misty valleys, small brick tencha furnaces（伝統的な煉瓦の碾茶炉） have existed quietly for decades.
Some are over 90 years old — including one of the oldest remaining in Japan.
These furnaces were never promoted.
That was intentional.
Craftsmen in Yame chose not to rely on history or trends — even during the global matcha boom.
Instead, they continued to quietly produce high-quality Tencha every spring.
Their belief is simple:
Let the tea speak through its quality.
The tea farmers’ cooperative in Yame chose a traditional brick tencha furnace（伝統的な煉瓦の碾茶炉） — even though it takes over 6× longer than modern machine dryers. I visited more than 10 times, and every time, Rie-san and the craftsmen took the time to patiently explain everything. Deep respect and appreciation for their craftsmanship. Thank you for bringing Awaken matcha to life.
Today, over 80% of mass-market “matcha” in Japan is produced using industrial drying systems.
Much of it is simply powdered green tea — sold globally as matcha and widely used in cafés and restaurants.
Awaken is made from tencha produced in a traditional brick furnace in Yame — a furnace built seven years ago to revive authentic craftsmanship.
The leaves are grown using the same shading techniques used for Yame Gyokuro (八女伝統本玉露).
Yame’s top tea farmers don’t just grow exceptional leaves for matcha — they also have the expertise to produce the highest-quality tencha. In autumn 2025, I joined a Yame Gyokuro training session with farmers from Yame City, Chikugo, Kurogi, Hoshino Village, Joyo, and Yabe. Grateful for the experience and everything they shared.
In Japan, the highest expression of tea is Yame Gyokuro.
Yame’s traditional Hon-Yame Gyokuro, grown under hand-built straw shading to create its signature ooika aroma, has won top national awards for 26 consecutive years.
While this tradition was lost in the plains about 10 years ago, Its core technique remains alive.
The same shading method used for Yame Gyokuro is used to produce tencha — the foundation of true matcha.
Rebel Bunny is documenting every directly sourced tea field in Yame through drone footage, while researching the untold history of each area. More to come soon.
Awaken is grown in a place almost no foreign visitor will ever see.
A tea field in Yanagima, Yame, where the Yabe River meets the Hoshino River.
This land is fertile, quiet, and deeply rooted in Yame’s history.
For the people of the plains, this place marks a turning point — a return to their roots and a step toward rebuilding traditional tea culture.
Awaken is the result of that effort.
It brings together:
- Yame’s highest-level shading techniques
- Tencha produced in one of the few remaining brick furnaces in Japan.
All shaped by the people of Yame.
A Yame-plated tractor in action, driven by Daiki-san and Atsushi-san. They’re using it to build new tea fields and bring abandoned ones back to life. The Rebel Bunny kit is now part of their daily routine.
Yame’s tea-growing region spans 262 square miles.
For comparison:
Chicago (227), New York (302), San Francisco (47), Toronto (243), Tokyo (240), Singapore (287), London (607), Paris (41)
From this vast region, Awaken is sourced from just 0.245 acres — a single, carefully selected plot.
The cultivar is Saemidori（さえみどり）, and the leaves come from a farmer whose tea won first place in a Yame tea competition.
I sourced this tencha directly from an individual farmer in Yame.
It was stored under optimal refrigerated conditions and aged for one full year.
We waited until spring to release it — only when it reached its peak.
Awaken is not about scale.
It’s about intention, precision, and respect for craft.
