OUR STORY

Satoen is a distinguished Japanese tea company that operates its own tea plantations and factories in the Hon-yama region of Shizuoka City, located about 150 kilometers west of Tokyo. This historic locale is esteemed as the origin of Shizuoka tea, with a legacy dating back 800 years when the seeds of tea were reportedly brought from China and planted by the monk Saint Ippen.

Mirroring the esteemed tea regions of Darjeeling and Assam, the Hon-yama area is blessed with a prime environment for tea cultivation, characterized by:

  • Its placement in the high altitudes of mountainous areas.
  • Substantial temperature variations between day and night.
  • The presence of beautiful rivers, coupled with frequent mists that shroud the landscape.

Tea plants that endure stress tend to concentrate nutrients, such as amino acids, resulting in the production of especially fragrant leaves in these challenging conditions. The tea from Hon-yama has garnered acclaim for its exceptional quality, having been served as a prestigious offering to the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu and, more recently, receiving the highest honors at Japan’s esteemed National Green Tea Contest.

Matsukichi Sato, the founder of Satoen, was originally a cultivator of Hon-yama tea. While tea production is commonly segmented among various specialists, with leaves transferring from growers to processors and then to wholesalers post-harvest, Satoen has taken the unique initiative within the tea industry to engage in direct sales from production, driven by the profound wish to have consumers experience the authentic flavor of their tea.

As a comprehensive manufacturer involved in every step from cultivation to sales, Satoen capitalizes on this integrated approach to nurture high-quality tea leaves, ensuring their harvest and processing at peak condition for delivery to their clientele.

“Our constant aspiration, since our inception, is to have you genuinely savor the delightful taste of our tea.” To better align with our customers’ needs, for the past two decades, we have also been cultivating tea in Vietnam under conditions akin to those found in Japan’s tea-growing territories, thereby enabling us to cater to diverse preferences at reasonable prices.