Ikeda Chaen

Ikeda Ryō is the fourth generation to take over the family tea business. As the current lead for Ikeda Chaen, he is a specialist in the refinement of tea (shiage in Japanese).

Previous generations of the Ikeda family were tea farmers, but when Ikeda Ryō’s was a young child, his father, Ikeda Takashi, decided to join Ureshino’s tea auction as a buyer and specialise in the refinement of tea.
To be allowed to join as a tea buyer, the Ureshino tea auction required any tea buyer to quit farming and focus solely on tea refinement. As a consequence, Ikeda Chaen changed its course from being tea farmers to become tea buyers and refinement specialists. Ikeda’s father created a strong & well-respected company and has passed over the baton to his son Ryō, who has been trained intensively by his father.

Ikeda has more than ten years of experience in selecting and refining tea. To him, first impression is paramount. Despite being in his early thirties, producer Ikeda’s committed training to analysing tea’s shape, texture, weight and colour lead him to unlock any aracha’s (unrefined/crude tea) potential. From his years of training and dedication, Ikeda now knows which tea was produced by which farmer just by looking at and touching the tea!
Ikeda is currently still by far the youngest buyer at Ureshino’s tea auction.

Ikeda Chaen is a shiage cha (tea refinement) specialist. This means there is no farming activity nor tea processing from freshly harvested leaves. Instead, shiage specialists like Ikeda select and buy aracha (unrefined tea) straight from farmers or at auction.
Through the refinement of the aracha, Ikeda produces both high grade tamaryokucha, wakōcha, genmaicha as well as various different levels of what the Japanese industry calls demono (left-over / byproduct) teas: shiaraore, bōhōjicha, konacha, funmatsucha.

There is immense skill in blending and sorting tea to keep a consistency in flavour and constant excellent quality, but we dare say Ikeda has definitely got the skill!

In 2023, Ikeda clearly showcased his skill to a national audience and won the coveted Platinum Award at the Nihoncha Awards for his Yui Tsuyuhikari Tamaryokucha.

On the tasting side, Ikeda’s blends offer us many aromatic possibilities using the umami flavour as the backbone of each tamaryokucha recipe. Ikedoki Tea’s selection ranges from your every day green tea with light almond-like notes to vibrant, extra rich tamaryokucha for your most luxurious moments.