Sakura Wood Smoked Black Tea from Japan

Sakura Wood Smoked Black Tea from Japan steeps full and round with a seamless combination of smoke, spice, and sweetness. Made by smoking Yabukita varietal black tea over Sakura (cherry blossom) wood, you may notice lovely cherry notes and a hint of anise in the finish.

This innovative tea comes from Kaneroku Matsumoto Tea Garden in Shimada, Shizuoka, where third-generation tea farmer Hiroki Matsumoto pioneered the first smoked black tea in Japan. When Matsumoto began experimenting with smoking tea over a decade ago, this category didn't exist in Japanese tea culture. He was inspired by Chinese Lapsang Souchong but determined to create something distinctly Japanese using native woods.

His family has cultivated tea on the Makinohara Plateau since the 1870s using the UNESCO-designated Chagusaba farming method, where hand-harvested grasses are laid between tea rows to enrich the soil and support biodiversity. Today, Matsumoto produces more than a dozen varieties of smoked tea using woods like whisky barrel oak, hinoki cypress, yuzu, and apple. His smoked teas have earned international recognition, winning a silver medal at the 2014 International Tea Tasting Competition and selection in 2020 by Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries as a promising export product.