Products · Tea & teaware · Den’s Tea
Den’s Tea Organic Sencha Yutaka-Midori
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First-flush organic sencha from one named Kagoshima grower, sold by a California importer. The USDA database lists the product by name. Den’s publishes no heavy-metal or pesticide results for it.
Best for Loose-leaf green tea drinkers who want a named grower, cultivar and harvest at a mid-range price.
- Our quality rating
- Fair (3 of 5)
- Price range
- Mid-range
- Verified marks
- USDA Organic (CCOF)
- Size
- 2 oz (56 g) or 1 lb (454 g)
- Made in
- Shibushi City, Kagoshima, Japan (single origin, grower Mr. Onitsuka), first flush
approx. $17.75 for 2 oz (56 g); $124 for 1 lb
See it on Den’s Tea’s site →We are not affiliated with Den’s Tea. This link goes to the maker’s own page, with no tracking code. How we're funded.
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Your review
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How we evaluated it
Why we chose it What put it on our list
- The USDA Organic Integrity Database lists Den’s Tea, Inc. (certifier CCOF) with “Tea (Japanese Green Tea - Sencha Yutaka-Midori)” among its certified products.
- The page names the grower (Mr. Onitsuka, Shibushi City, Kagoshima), the cultivar (Yutaka-Midori) and the harvest (first flush).
- Den’s says its teas are processed and packed by its parent company, Shirakata Denshiro Shoten, shipped to California and kept in chilled storage. Its FAQ says the bag holds an oxygen absorber.
- At $17.75 for 56 g, and Den’s own count of 28 cups per 2 oz package, it works out to about $0.63 a cup.
Trade-offs What to weigh before you buy
- No heavy-metal or pesticide results are published for the organic line. Den’s says it often sends its non-organic teas to a lab for pesticide residue, but gives no numbers, and we found none for this tea.
- Den’s shows California’s Prop 65 lead warning for its teas and says tea “naturally contains lead from the soil”. We found no lead figure for this tea.
- Den’s FAQ says all its teas are grown in Shizuoka, while this page says Kagoshima. We went with the product page.
- The page gives no harvest year. Den’s FAQ describes the 2 oz package as a re-sealable foil bag with an oxygen absorber, and does not say what else the bag is made of.
What to know Details worth knowing first
Sencha is the everyday Japanese green tea, steeped for a minute or two in water well below boiling. This one comes from a single grower in Kagoshima and is a first-flush (spring) harvest. Den’s Tea is a California importer whose parent company packs the tea in Japan. Den’s suggests 160 °F water and 90 seconds for the first cup.
We list it with a 3 because we could not find any test results. The USDA listing covers how the tea was grown, which speaks to pesticides. It says nothing about heavy metals, which come from the soil. Den’s says so itself: its FAQ notes that tea “naturally contains lead from the soil” and carries California’s lead warning.
What you do get is a named grower, cultivar and harvest, which is rarer than it should be. If you want a lab result on a brewed cup, see The Tao of Tea’s genmaicha. For how steeped leaf compares with tea bags, see loose leaf vs. tea bags.
Quality & testing How it measures up against our checklist
- Third-party tested
- No
| What we checked | What we found |
|---|---|
| Tested for lead and pesticides Not verified | Not published. Den’s says it often submits non-organic teas to a lab for pesticide residue and shows a Prop 65 lead warning, but gives no results for this tea. |
| Organic Verified | Den’s Tea, Inc. (Carson, California; NOP ID 5561008105) is certified by CCOF under the USDA National Organic Program. The listing names “Tea (Japanese Green Tea - Sencha Yutaka-Midori)”. |
| Named origin Maker’s claim | Grower Mr. Onitsuka, Shibushi City, Kagoshima; cultivar Yutaka-Midori; first flush. This comes from Den’s page. |
| Loose leaf or plastic-free bags Maker’s claim | Loose leaf. Den’s FAQ calls the 2 oz package a re-sealable foil bag with an oxygen absorber; it does not say what else the bag is made of. |
| Freshness Maker’s claim | First flush. Den’s says teas are packed in Japan, kept in chilled storage in California, and sold in bags with an oxygen absorber. No harvest year is stated. |
| Notices and recalls Verified | We found no California Prop 65 notices and no FDA recalls naming Den’s Tea when we searched on 22 Oct 2026. |
What the labels mean
- Verified We opened an independent record that confirms it: a certifier’s listing, a regulator’s list or a lab report. It is linked under Sources.
- Maker’s claim The maker says so on its own page or label. We read it but found no independent record.
- Not verified We looked and could not confirm it, or the maker does not say. Treat it as unknown.
Sources Where our facts come from
- Den’s Tea: Organic Sencha Yutaka-Midori (product page). Maker’s page. Open ↗
- Den’s Tea: infrequently and frequently asked questions. Maker’s page. Source for the organic, lab-testing, freshness, bag and Prop 65 statements. Open ↗
- USDA Organic Integrity Database: Den’s Tea, Inc.. Certifier or regulator listing. Open ↗
- California Attorney General: Prop 65 60-day notice search. Certifier or regulator listing. Searched by alleged violator on 22 Oct 2026; no notice named Den’s Tea. Open ↗
Alternatives Other options to compare
- The Tao of Tea Organic Genmaicha About a third of the price per gram. An outside lab found no lead in a strong brew of it, but it names no farm.
- Rishi Organic Nishi Sencha First Flush Also names its grower (Nishi-san, Kirishima) and is listed as organic, at about $32 for 50 g. Prop 65 lead notices have named other Rishi products: matcha, oolong and a chai concentrate.