Sorate was born from a moment of clarity. A solo road trip through Japan that I took when I knew I needed to slow down and reconnect with myself.

Somewhere between the rice fields and winding mountain roads, I found something I hadn't expected: stillness. It came not from doing less, but from doing certain things with intention. At a small, family-run tea farm in Uji, in the south of Kyoto, I watched the rhythm of the day unfold around a simple ritual: the reflexive pause of a tea break. Nothing dramatic. Just presence. It was there I understood that serenity isn't a destination; it's a daily practice.

I came home carrying that lesson like a gift. Green tea became my anchor.

Growing up in Italy, I'd always known this feeling, though I'd never named it. The morning espresso at sunrise — that sacred pause before the world rushes in — is its own kind of meditation. A moment of clarity before the leap.

Sorate is born from both of these worlds. It's a love letter to Japan, which taught me mindfulness, and to Italy, which taught me to find beauty in the everyday. Two cultures, one philosophy: that small, intentional rituals are the quiet foundation of a life well-lived.

— Silvia Mella, Founder

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Sorate Tea and Matcha are grown in Ujitawara-cho, the small countryside town in Kyoto prefecture, where the farmer Nagatani Soen invented the method of manufacturing Japanese green tea in the middle of the Edo period. 

This is also the place where the first tea tree seed was planted by a Japanese Buddhist priest who imported both Zen Buddhism and green tea to Japan from China around 700 A.D.—in fact advised the priests in Uji on how to cultivate and produce the beverage.

Today, well-organized tea plantations stretch out on the green hillsides surrounding the town.

In Uji, our farmers still hand-pick the leaf that is softest and freshest. This method is most often used for the manufacturing of premium-grade and competition grade.

The pleasant scenery where the residences of the farmers and their tea plantations lie side by side is the typical landscape made by tea productions which they are all very proud of.

While Uji is a relatively small area of cultivation, producing only 3% of Japan’s total green tea production; it is world famous for its outstandingly fine quality Green Tea and Matcha.