Show Notes
Our guest is Takumi Kuwabara who is the toji or brewmaster at SakéOne in Forest Grove, Oregon.
SakéOne (https://www.sakeone.com/) is a unique sake brewery. It was founded in 1992 by Momokawa Brewing in Aomori Prefecture, Japan, which was founded in 1889. SakéOne started sake-brewing in 1997 and since then, its sake has won multiple awards at prestigious competitions like the U.S. National Sake Appraisal and the San Francisco International Wine Competition. And of course, a big part of its success has come from Takumi’s craftsmanship.
In this episode, we will discuss how Takumi studied sake in Japan and also in the U.S. after he arrived in the country in 2004, the unique terroir Oregon offers to make high-quality sake, challenges in making sake outside of Japan, how he sees the past and future of the American sake market and much, much more!!! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
More from Japan Eats!
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Our guest is Genki Ito, who founded the unique online sake shop Tippsy Sake in 2018. He joined us in Episode #254 in February 2022 and discussed its innovative concept. Tippsy Sake’s business has grown successfully, alongside a community of sake lovers, and in May 2026, Genki renamed it Palate Project https://palateproject.co/ to reflect the company’s new mission to make sake more accessible to American consumers.
Our guest is Nick Rowan, author of Japanese Wine, a fantastic, comprehensive book on Japanese wine. The Japanese wine industry and culture have been developing very rapidly since the 1990s, and Nick’s book, which came out in 2025, is so timely.
Our guest is Silvia Mella who is the owner of Sorate in New York. Sorate is a unique Japanese green tea company, which sells premium Japanese tea through online and operates beautiful tea houses in Manhattan. Japanese tea has been gaining attention in the global markets, fueled by rising health consciousness and growing interest in Japanese food. According to the Japanese government, Japanese tea exports in 2025 reached record highs, and the key driving factor was Matcha. The U.S. accounts for approximately 40% of total export volume, 80% of which was Matcha. And it is mostly used for iced or hot lattes and smoothies. But in Japan, people don’t drink Matcha on a daily basis. There are many other types of delicately produced, highly flavorful Japanese tea. Silvia knows the profoundness of Japanese tea culture very well, and is passionate about introducing its charm to a global audience. In this episode, we will discuss how Silvia got into Japanese tea, how she convinced a traditional tea farm to work with her, the types of tea she recommends you try, the tea ceremony sessions that she offers with a Japanese tea master, and much, much more!!! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.