Cultivation of tea is believed to have begun in Japan in 815AD and for many years they also produced black tea. During the 1950's, Japan decided to no longer manufacture black tea and began solely processing green tea.

Manufacture of green tea in Japan is quite different than that of most other countries in that the majority of their teas are machine picked and nearly all their tea growing areas are on well manicured rolling hills. Japanese green tea leaves are quite distinct with their needle-like shape and deep green color from being steamed during processing. While Japanese green teas tend to be more expensive than others, they usually lend themselves to more than one or two extra steepings.