Michio Hanamizu was a businessman in Tokyo when he met his wife: the daughter of a tea producer and smallholder of a 70-year-old farm in Ibaraki. His father-in-law was set to retire and sell the land, until Hanamizu quit his job and offered to take over. Initially data-driven in his production methods, Hanamizu converted to making tea with the five senses after visits to black tea producers in China and Taiwan. Hot summers, cold winters and the fertile soil between the Kinu and Tone rivers, nurture Sashima.