AMACHA is not commonly known to the world outside of Japan.  AMACHA means sweet tea. AMACHA is always served at the flower festival on April 8th and May 15th to cerebrate Buddha’s birthday in Japan. It has been said that when Buddha was born, the morning dew tasted sweet. AMACHA is served to the Buddha at the altar at the festival or at home for the celebration.

AMACHA is made of leaves from a plant called Hydrangea macrophylla. The flower bulbs are removed from June to July and the leaves are picked at the end of summer every year. Once the leaves have gone through a natural steaming and heating process, they will be rolled by hand carefully and made ready for sun drying.  The sweetness of AMACHA is about 200 times that of granulated sugar.

AMACHA is brewed slightly differently in different regions in Japan. The standard is to use boiling water, 1 g of AMACHA for every 200 milliliters water and a brew time of about 25 seconds.

AMACHA