Ujihikari
sourced from Uji, Ujihikari cultivar
$75.00
The price is confirmed, but package size isn't stated anywhere on the page, so we can't show a per-gram figure.
View product→Cultivar
Ujihikari
Region
Uji
Sourcing
Uji, Japan
View the full sourcing map →Tasting notes
"Clean. Spring Asparagus. Shiitake." Fuller profile: notes of raw shiitake, spring vegetables, sweet potato, persimmon, and nori, described with a 'juicy crispness' and 'pulsating aftertaste'
Full details
Everything disclosed on the product page (15 fields)▾
- Naming Ambiguity Note
- Ooika does not sell a single generic product simply named 'Ujihikari' — it sells the Ujihikari cultivar under several distinct farmer/terroir-specific SKUs: 'Ujihikari Matcha - Yamazakiさん Gokasho Uji' ($75, 10g, sold out), 'Uji Hikari Matcha - Tsujiさん Shirakawa Uji' ($74, 20g, sold out), 'Competition Ujihikari Matcha - Tsujiさん Shirakawa Uji' (from $200, 10g/20g, sold out), 'Ujihikari Matcha - Yoshidaさん Ogura Uji' (from $35, 10g/20g, sold out), and 'Uji-Hikari Matcha - Micro-Terroir Uji 2023' ($75, 20g, sold out). All variants were sold out at time of this check. Data below is captured from the Yamazaki-san Gokasho Uji listing as the representative/primary Ujihikari SKU.
- Price
- $75.00 (currently sold out)
- Size
- 10 grams
- Cultivar
- Ujihikari (うじひかり) — per Ooika's educational page, selected from a Zairai field in 1954 by the Kyoto Tea Research Institute and cultivated within Kyoto Prefecture since
- Farmer
- Yamazakiさん
- Region
- Gokasho, Oyagijima, Uji, Kyoto, Japan
- Vintage
- 2023
- Harvest Details
- Single spring harvest (一番茶), 100% handpicked (手摘み), traditional rice-straw shading (稲わら) for 43 days
- Tasting Notes
- "Clean. Spring Asparagus. Shiitake." Fuller profile: notes of raw shiitake, spring vegetables, sweet potato, persimmon, and nori, described with a 'juicy crispness' and 'pulsating aftertaste'
- Milling
- Stone-milled fresh in Princeton, NJ using Ishi-Usu (石臼) granite stones (i.e., milled domestically in the US after import, not milled in Japan)
- Packaging
- Cold-stored, oxygen-free bag
- Shelf Life Storage
- Unopened: refrigerate, consume within 6 months; opened: room temperature in a cool/dark place, consume within 3 months
- Awards And Pedigree
- 3x recipient of Japan's Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Prize; 2023 First Place, All Japan Tea Competition (Tencha division); multiple additional first-place finishes in regional/national competitions
- Brand Positioning
- Ooika markets itself on 'the most precise sourcing details and transparency' in the matcha industry, naming individual farmers and micro-terroirs for each SKU rather than generic regional sourcing
- Cultivar Character General
- Per Ooika's cultivar education page: Ujihikari has small, wavy, shiny leaves and is associated with Ooika's signature 'Aroma of Shadows' scent profile, with sweet aromas reminiscent of straw, seaweed, and rice koji when grown under tana (raised-shelf) shading
Research notes
Ooika sells the Ujihikari cultivar as multiple distinct, farmer-attributed and terroir-attributed products rather than one single 'Ujihikari' product, so the brief 'Ooika: Ujihikari' in the request is inherently ambiguous among at least 5 current/recent SKUs. All were sold out at the time of this check (stock status can change). The record above documents the Yamazaki-san Gokasho Uji version in detail as the representative listing; the Tsuji-san Shirakawa Uji 'Competition' version differs meaningfully (much higher price from $200, 58-day kanreisha-cloth shading rather than 43-day rice-straw, different tasting notes of 'Delicate. Ushiojiru (Clam Soup). Almond,' and a full Emperor's Award / Prime Minister's Award pedigree) and should be treated as a separate product if the specific SKU matters.
