Shirai Tea Factory

Shirai Tea Factory is located in the Fuwa area of Gifu. This area that has been the setting of many historically significant events such as the battle of Sekigahara that came to mark the beginning of the Tokugawa Shogunate's rule and thus the beginning of the Edo period. Due to its proximity to Kyoto and Uji tea has been widely produced in the area for a long time.

The Shirai family has been involved in tea production since 1831. They started out by planting the fields and mainly focused on gyokuro production. The second generation farmer expanded the production volume and also started growing the Yabukita cultivar. Throughout the years they also took part in at the time still unusual ways of selling such as mail-order sales. The fourth generation farmer expanded from just production to also wholesale business, buying tea from neaby farmers and selling it both within and outside of the current Gifu prefecture. During the fifth generation a tea finishing factory was constructed and tea bag producing equipment also installed. Today Shirai Seicha functions both as a tea producer and a wholesaler handling mainly Ibi tea and Shirakawa tea. The current president of Shirai Tea Factory is the sixth generation of the Shirai family.