2023 Unique Experiences for Tea Lovers in Japan, from hot spring to tea picking

From April 20th to June 20th, 2023, KAI Kirishima, a hot spring inn surrounded by magnificent nature overlooking Sakurajima, offers an accommodation plan to discover the charm of Kirishima tea at the teahouse.

During your stay, you can pair Kirishima tea with shochu, which is also made in Satsuma, and enjoy a program unique to a hot spring inn that combines a hot spring stay with Kirishima tea. The next day, the resort will pick new tea leaves from the tea plantation surrounded by the Kirishima mountain range.

It is an experience to fully enjoy the charm of new tea in a refreshing spring tea plantation, such as roasting freshly picked fresh tea in a kettle and enjoying the aroma, comparing fresh and aged tea on the terrace overlooking the tea plantation.

Kagoshima Prefecture, where KAI Kirishima is located, is one of the leading tea-producing areas in Japan and receives high praise at annual Japanese tea fairs. Among them, Kirishima tea is grown in the unique natural environment of Kirishima, where the temperature difference between day and night is large despite the warm climate of the southern part of Kyushu, and where the morning fog rises. Its taste is nutritious, fragrant and characterized by the clear color of the water. Kirishima tea is still not very well-known nationwide.

Pairing of 8 types of Kirishima tea

Eight kinds of Kirishima tea are combined with shochu produced by four shochu breweries in Kirishima City, and you can enjoy Kirishima tea in various ways. Kirishima tea for pairing uses 8 types of “Gensen Kirishima tea” certified by Kirishima City’s gastronomy brand “Gensen Kirishima”. The tea leaves are extracted at the optimum temperature and time to bring out the original flavor of the tea leaves. The shochu to be paired with the tea is selected by the four chief brewers of each shochu brewery according to the tea leaves. The tea is prepared by boiling fresh tea and Kagoshima’s specialty brown sugar.

Henta Seicha Organic Matcha No. 6 x Kokubun Sake Brewery Manu Genji Unblended Sake

Kirishima Tea x Hot Spring Stay

This is an experience unique to a hot spring inn where you can enjoy a variety of Kirishima teas according to the occasion, such as iced tea bottles that allow you to rehydrate while soaking in the hot springs, roasted tea before bedtime, and hand-dripped Japanese black tea when you wake up in the morning.

Hydrate while bathing with a cold tea bottle of new tea “Saemidori”

Saemidori is characterized by its aroma, created by adopting a black tea manufacturing method called “Icho”, which is not usually used for sencha. By extracting with a method called “cold tea”, which is extracted with hot water and then cooled, the aroma stands out firmly even though it is cold tea. Drinking green tea while bathing is said to increase the absorption rate of catechins, so you can expect positive effects on your body.

At night, drink Hojicha, which has a highly relaxing effect, to warm your body, burn Kukicha in the tea incense burner, and go to bed while being soothed by the scent of roasted tea leaves. Kukicha is a type of tea that uses the stem part of the tea leaves, and is mainly used as an ingredient in hojicha (roasted green tea).

Wake up refreshed with Japanese black tea “Benifuuki” brewed by hand drip

When you wake up in the morning, you can enjoy a hand-drip brew of Benifuuki, a Japanese black tea produced by Arimura Seicha, a tea farmer in Kirishima City who puts a lot of effort into producing Japanese black tea. 

New tea picking and kettle roasting experience in a tea plantation

At the tea farmer “Henta Seicha” located at the foot of the Kirishima Mountains, you can enjoy the view of the tea fields and the Kirishima Mountains while picking new tea leaves. The tea leaves of Henta Seicha are Kirishima tea, which is grown organically or without pesticides in tea fields at an altitude of 200 to 300 meters, and is characterized by its refreshing aroma. You can feel the environment in which Kirishima tea is grown by picking new shoots of tea leaves with your own hands.  Freshly picked tea leaves are roasted on the spot and taken home. Kamairicha is tea that is roasted in an iron kettle that is heated over an open flame, and is characterized by the aroma of the original tea called “Kamairi”. You can feel the fragrant aroma of tea that gradually rises as you roast freshly picked tea in a pot.

After picking new tea leaves, you can enjoy comparing fresh and aged tea on the terrace overlooking the tea fields and the Kirishima mountain range. Aged tea is tea that has been aged for more than half a year after harvesting, and is characterized by its mellow flavor that comes from aging. By comparing it with the new tea, which is characterized by its lush and fresh aroma, you can realize that even the same variety of tea leaves can have different tastes depending on the time. 

April 20, 2023 to June 20, 2023

From 63,000 yen (per person for 2 people per room, tax and service charge included)

Reservation: Official site (https://hoshinoresorts.com/ja/hotels/kaikirishima/ ) at least 7 days prior to your stay