King of Green MASA Super Premium

Multiple series releases. Royal Blue Tea's website states that MASA Super Premium has been issued across more than one series. It describes the tea as the third release in the Super Premium series in its fourth installment (Series 4, Vol. 3), and separately as the fourth release in the Super Premium series in its fifth edition (Series 5, Vol. 4). Both Series 4 Vol. 3 and Series 5 Vol. 4 designations are documented.^[1],[2]

Producer method. Royal Blue Tea's broader method underpins the bottling: hand-picked single-garden leaf is extracted, filtered and sterilized entirely without heat, then aseptically filled by hand in a cleanroom over a period of three to seven days, with no chemicals or additives. The producer operates under a zero food-waste factory management policy that limits production volume.

Soil & Cultivation. The Ota family works the garden across three generations -- Masataka, Katsunori and Misaki -- under the motto 'quality tea comes from quality gardens.' Cultivation follows the natural training method (自然仕立), with soil built through organic fertilizers, mulched mountain grasses (敷草), deep tillage and homemade fully-matured compost (自家製完熟堆肥). New shoots are harvested only once per year.^[2]

Hand-picking. Harvesting is done by hand-picking one bud and two leaves (一芯二葉, ichishin-niha), with the vibrant new shoots gathered only once a year. The picking is carried out with the cooperation of around 200 to 300 local community members.^[1],[3]

Steaming & Processing. During processing, Royal Blue Tea's website notes that production emphasizes uniform steaming and careful control of airflow and pressure to prevent over-drying.^[2]

Growing Environment & Aroma. The tea gardens sit in a mountainous area where morning and evening mist develops high fragrance, and where large temperature differences between day and night produce a rich, concentrated flavor. Royal Blue Tea attributes to the leaf a distinctive highland aroma and a rich, intensely flavored, full-bodied character.^[2]

The Producer. The leaf is produced by Masataka Ota and the Tenryu Tea Research group, with cultivation managed across three generations of the Ota family (Masataka, Katsunori and Misaki). Royal Blue Tea credits Masataka Ota, a recipient of the Yellow Ribbon Medal (黄綬褒章), with over half a century of work developing Hamamatsu Tenryu tea.^[1],[2]

National Tea Competition. Royal Blue Tea's website reports that MASA Super Premium won the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Award (1st place, 1st seat) in the Ordinary Sencha (Hand-picked Sencha) Division (4kg) at the 72nd National Tea Competition. The website also records the same award (1st place, 1st seat) in the Regular Sencha (Hand-picked Sencha) 4kg category at the 73rd National Tea Competition (第73回全国茶品評会).^[1],[2]