Tsuru no Mukashi

About the brand

Kawahara Seicha

川原製茶

Kawahara Seicha (川原製茶) is a Meiji-era tea producer founded in 1883 in Taki Town, Mie Prefecture — the heart of Ise tea (伊勢茶) country. From their self-owned and contracted tea gardens spanning the South Ise mountain region, the company maintains a fully vertically integrated operation: cultivating, processing, and selling their teas under the guidance of representative director Kawahara Noboru. In 2004, Kawahara Seicha became a certified 'Mie Brand' producer and received recognition as an organic agricultural product processor — marks of distinction within the prefecture's tea industry. Their retail network spans Ise Shrine's outer precinct, Takashimaya department stores in Osaka and Nagoya, and their own online shop, serving both domestic and specialist markets. Their matcha lineup is notable for its range: it includes 伊勢乃国, a unique thin-tea matcha made from Mie Prefecture-grown tencha — a rarity in an industry dominated by Uji — alongside six ceremonial-grade Uji matcha blends covering everything from entry-level thin tea to premium thick tea (koicha) for the tea ceremony.