Uogashi Meicha (うおがし銘茶)

Uogashi Meicha was founded in 1931 by Tsuchiya Tadashi in Kyobashi, in what is now Chuo-ku, and its head office is still in the ward, at 3-7-9 Minato. The company was formally established in 1950, opened its Isetan Shinjuku counter in 1987 and a new main shop in Tsukiji in 1990. The Chanomi Club followed nearby in 1997 and Cha Ginza opened in November 2002. A stand in the old Tsukiji fish market, opened in 2006, moved with the market to Toyosu in October 2018.

Its trade is fukamushi, the deep-steamed style of sencha, made in the house's own factories in Shimada, Shizuoka. The teas carry playful names rather than grades: Uogashi sencha, Tote-shan, Unubore, Nyu, Tenka-ichi. Around them the English shop sorts the shelf into gyokuro, sencha, kamairicha, bancha, mecha, genmaicha, kukicha, hojicha, konacha, teabags, matcha and a Japanese black tea. Cha Ginza has a line of its own: a hojicha, a genmaicha and a 15 g matcha sold under the Ginza name.

The Tsukiji main shop at 4-10-1 Tsukiji keeps market hours, opening at 8:00 and closing at 15:00, from 10:00 on Wednesdays; from January 2027 it will run 9:00 to 14:00. Cha Ginza at 5-5-6 Ginza opens at noon and closes at 19:00. Both rest on Sundays and Mondays. The Toyosu stand is on the fourth floor of the fish wholesale building, and the Isetan Shinjuku counter is in the basement. Most of the senchas come in 80 g bags, a sensible amount of a tea you have never tried.