Congratulations to #teafarmer Akio of @kurihara.tea who just won the top prize, the Minister’s Award, for the Gyokuro Category at this year’s Fukuoka Prefectural Tea Competition. The minister’s award is only given out when the competition has 100+ entries. In the photo of the gyokuro leaves provided by Kurihara-san just before harvest, you can see the result of an advanced cultivation technique: termination of apex domination. A tea plant allowed to grow more freely for handpicking has an apex leaf bud at the tip of each branch as well as lateral leaf buds that form on older base leaves further down the branch. The plant will favor this apex bud giving it more nutrients to grow larger. By cutting off each and every apex at the start of spring, Kurihara-san forces these nutrients into the lateral buds infusing the new spring leaves with flavor. Those lateral buds are then carefully picked by hand. #yunomilife #kuriharatea #yamecha #gyokuro #teafarm #tealife #tealove #teafacts #teafact #teanerd #teanerds #teanerdsunite #teaholic #teaholics #teaaddict #teaddicts #teamania #teacrazy #greentea #greentealove #fukuoka #yame #japan #japanesetea #japanesefoodie #foodie #teatime #tealosophy #tealovers #teafarmers #teafarms https://www.instagram.com/p/ByAgyrgDlQI/?igshid=11ullio55z3lm