Horii Shichimeien was founded in Uji in 1879. The house keeps Okunoyama, the last surviving garden of Uji's seven historic tea gardens.
Todou no Mukashi is a first-harvest, shear-picked blend from Wazuka, Ninokuni, Ujitawara, Joyo and Uji. It combines Samidori, Yabukita and Saemidori, then is stone-ground by Horii in Uji. The Japanese name uses an old spelling of Uji.
Why it costs what it does
Horii works only with first-harvest leaf. The gardens are shaded for 25 to 35 days before picking: the plant gives up a crop's worth of growth, and that is where the sweetness and the deep green come from.
Grinding is the slow part. The house runs sixty granite mills at 52 to 54 revolutions a minute, and each mill yields about forty grams an hour — this 20 g bag is half an hour of a single stone. Spin them faster and the friction heat takes the aroma, so they are not spun faster.
The suffix 昔 in a Uji name belongs to a house's koicha line — the thick preparation, where nothing can hide behind milk or sugar. Horii has never made a culinary grade: there is no lesser tea blended into this one.
In the bowl: buttery, ripe mango and deep umami
Usucha: 2 g · 60 ml · 75–80 °C. Koicha: 4 g · 30 ml · 75–80 °C. Water only — milk covers the qualities this tea is made to show.
Horii Shichimeien was founded in Uji in 1879 and is now run by the sixth generation. The house keeps Okunoyama, the last surviving garden of Uji's seven historic tea gardens. Todou no Mukashi itself is a blend sourced from Wazuka, Ninokuni, Ujitawara, Joyo and Uji.
Horii works only with first-harvest tencha for its matcha. In the early twentieth century, the third generation developed a tencha-processing machine. Today the matcha is ground on sixty stone mills turning at 52–54 revolutions per minute, with each stone producing about forty grams an hour.
Region
Uji, Kyoto Prefecture
Tea Maker
Horii Shichimeien
Tea-growing Areas
Wazuka, Ninokuni, Ujitawara, Joyo and Uji
Harvest
First harvest (ichibancha)
Shading
25–35 days
Picking
Shear-picked
Grinding
Stone-ground in Uji
Warm the bowl, then dry it.
Sift 2 g for usucha or 4 g for koicha.
Add 60 ml for usucha or 30 ml for koicha at 75–80 °C.
Whisk usucha briskly until even and fine-bubbled. Knead koicha slowly until glossy.
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