d:matcha Kyoto’s
Sustainability
More than matcha. A family mission in every cup: living with the land, carrying Wazuka’s tea heritage forward, and helping our village of Yubune come back to life.
Sustainability isn’t a practice for us. It’s how we live.
It is in the soil we rejuvenate, the centuries-old tea heritage we carry forward, and the community we are rebuilding. Our whole team lives here in Yubune, among our tea fields, and everything we do is connected.
Living with the land
Organic farming that reaches far beyond tea: our own rice, vegetables and eggs, grown in cycles where nothing goes to waste.
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Heritage & preservation
Reviving abandoned tea fields, protecting our guardian shrine, and restoring old houses so Wazuka’s craft and scenery live on.
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Community & revival
A solar-powered home in the tea fields, steady local jobs, and a young economy in a village of about 200 people.
Read more01 · Sustainable living
Living with the land.
Our organic farming doesn’t stop at the edge of the tea field. Over the years it has grown into a small, living ecosystem around our farm.
From our fields to the table
Alongside our tea, we grow our own rice and vegetables and raise our own chickens. What we grow is what we eat: the rice, vegetables and eggs are served to guests on our tea tours, to visitors staying at Tea Moon, and in our own team meals.
Our tea fields are fed with fish-derived minerals that follow nature’s own loop, from the mountains to the rivers to the sea, and back to the land.
Working in cycles
Nothing goes to waste.
Traditional life in rural Japan was built on reuse. Rice was eaten, and its straw was woven into sandals or laid on the fields. We farm in that same spirit, letting each part of the farm feed the next.
The rice straw cycle
We harvest rice from our own paddies, and dry the leftover straw.
Spread between plants, the straw keeps weeds down without herbicides.
Straw is also used as natural shading material for our tea.
It breaks down slowly and enriches the soil for the next season.
The aigamo duck cycle
Aigamo ducks are released into our rice paddies as the rice grows.
They eat weeds and harmful insects, so no chemicals are needed.
Their droppings fertilize the paddies as they paddle through.
The result is rice grown in balance with the life around it.
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02 · Cultural preservation & heritage
Keeping Wazuka’s heritage alive.
Wazuka has grown tea for centuries, and its hillside tea fields are among the most beautiful landscapes in Kyoto. As farmers age and fewer young people take over, that heritage is quietly disappearing. We see it as ours to carry forward.
Reviving abandoned tea fields
When elder farmers can no longer tend their land, their fields are often left to go wild. We have succeeded the fields of seven elder farmers, reviving about 70% of the local farmland and carrying on a heritage that might otherwise be lost.
We learn from the experience of veteran growers, preserving both the handcraft of tea and the green, terraced scenery that makes Wazuka what it is.
Protecting Hakusan Shrine, our guardian shrine.
Hakusan Shrine has watched over Yubune for generations. Every year, we invest back into its upkeep and renovation so it can keep standing for the next ones.
This year we replaced the old gate, which was falling apart.
The shrine’s old trees had become too expensive to care for, and there were plans to cut them down. Instead, we fund their care and tied shimenawa, sacred straw ropes, around them to recognize them.
Wooden ema plaques at the shrine honor everyone who supports our Tea Tree Program.
Tea Moon: an akiya brought back to life
Across rural Japan, akiya, abandoned houses, are slowly falling into ruin. In 2023 we renovated one of them into Tea Moon, a place for people to come and discover Wazuka.
Original wooden beams, plaster walls and classic Japanese design elements were restored with reverence for the building’s historical character. We conserved its historic structure while adapting it for modern comfort, to help revitalize our village.
Before
AfterWatch on Instagram
03 · Community building & revival
Bringing our village back to life.
Yubune is a village of about 200 people, most of them elders. Our answer to its decline was to put down roots, and build a living local economy from the ground up.
A solar-powered home in the tea fields
We moved our headquarters to Yubune to be surrounded by our tea fields and to help revitalize the area. We renovated an old building into our HQ and powered it with solar energy, a base for our team, our tours and our tea.
Before
AfterA team that lives here
Our entire team lives in Yubune. We’re not an outside company passing through: our lives revolve around farming and revitalizing this village, and we’re fostering a young local economy.
Steady local work
We bring steady employment to our team, to local elders who share their decades of experience and rediscover their ikigai, their sense of purpose, and to local construction workers and tradespeople.
Local makers
We support local craftsmen and artists, working with them and helping bring their work to a wider audience.
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Come see it for yourself.
Walk our fields, taste tea where it’s grown, and stay in a restored village home. Every visit and every cup helps keep Yubune alive.
