Shimazu Shoten (茶問屋 嶋津商店).

Shimazu Shoten is a tea wholesaler rooted in Hamamatsu for ninety-odd years and now in the hands of the fourth generation of the family, a certified Japanese tea instructor who built the shop's website himself. The shop is at 31-14 Shikatani-cho in Chuo-ku, five to eight minutes by bus from Hamamatsu station to the Shikatani-cho stop and a minute on foot from there. It opens 9:30 to 18:30 and closes on Wednesdays, Sundays and holidays.

The previous owner started selling tea by mail as soon as door-to-door parcel delivery appeared in Japan, when that was still unusual for a tea shop, and the business still ships across the country from the same address. The range is short and clearly tiered. Komokake, named for the straw mats once laid over the bushes, is the house's main sencha; above it come jo-sencha Hoko, tokujo Suiko and gokujo Seiran, each in a 100 g bag, each with the water temperature and steeping time the shop recommends printed on its page.

The 200 g bags are the everyday side: sencha No. 3 and No. 5, a hojicha, two genmaichas made with hard-roasted rice, a konacha from first-flush dust and a stem tea the shop blends itself from first-flush stems and its own selected sencha, which it says is a favourite of local sushi counters. Larger 300 g and 500 g bags of the same teas bring the price per 100 g down. The shop also sells a tea for making cold brew and keeps a page of brewing instructions.