The Farm The Tea Story Founding
Single Origin · Made to Order

You'll know the hillside
your tea grew on.

Single-origin Japanese tea from a handful of families we visit every month — picked to order, shipped to your door with the duties paid. Our first harvest opens this autumn.

Join the founding list Meet the farm →

One hillside, one family,
one picking.

What we treasure most is the people behind the leaf — their intent, their history, and the quiet craft poured into every row they tend. We visit the farm, listen to the story, and translate it faithfully: the field, the harvest day, the hands behind your cup. We hold no stock; your tea is picked after you order it, and arrives tasting the way its maker meant it to. That is the whole of what we do.

Tea fields of our first farm in the Shizuoka mountains
01 The Farm · Shizuoka

One hillside, kept by one family

Our first tea comes from a single family farm in the Shizuoka mountains — rows of tea worked by hand for generations, in a valley ringed by forested hills. We visit every month, walk the fields, and carry their tea to you with the story of exactly where and when it was picked. Their name and their faces will appear here as we open this autumn.

If you found us through a card at the farm — welcome back. The tea you tasted will be ready to order this autumn. Leave your email below, and you'll be the first to know.

Join the founding list
The Tea

A short list, on purpose.

Single-origin sencha tea fields in Shizuoka, Japan
01 Sencha · The Flagship

Single-origin sencha, picked to order

Umami as deep as kombu broth, a clean sweetness on the finish — and a label that tells you the field, the picking date and the family behind it. Sealed at the farm and shipped within days, not months, of leaving the hillside.

First release this autumn · No orders taken yet Be first in line
Japanese tea rows under a summer sky
02 Matcha · The Doorway

Matcha with its grower's name on the tin

Ours comes from a single farm, milled in small lots — matcha you can trace to the family who grew it. Whisk it straight, or let it hold its own in milk. And when you're ready to go deeper, the sencha is waiting.

Hard water at home? Every order ships with our soft-water & low-temperature brewing guide Be first in line
The Founding 150

Be there for the first harvest.

This autumn, our first single-origin harvest ships in a small, made-to-order run. The first 150 people on our list come first — founding pricing, the opening Letter from the Farm, and the exact field and picking date behind your tin. No charge today, no noise. Leave your email, and we'll write when the tea is ready.

Correspondence
info@ark-links.com
Instagram
@ark.links
Based in
Tokyo, Japan

We write rarely and only when there is something worth reading — a harvest, a letter from the farm, an opening. Unsubscribe anytime, with one click.

Your email is used only for the letters you have agreed to receive, and is never shared.

You're on the founding list.

We'll write from the farm soon — and you'll be the first to know when the first harvest is ready.

Tomoya Iwamae, Founder of ARKLinks
The Founder

Why ARKLinks exists

Travelling through Japan's countryside, I kept meeting extraordinary people — above all, a tea farmer whose family has worked the same hillside since the Edo period, making tea of a depth the world almost never gets to taste. The travellers who found them were moved to tears — yet the world has almost no way to reach them.

At the same time, these makers — the very foundation of Japanese culture — are quietly disappearing. Successors are scarce, and centuries of craft risk ending in a single generation. I founded ARKLinks on one conviction: that a real relationship between you and the family who grows your tea can carry this heritage forward — not through charity, but through every tin you order.

My work is simple: I walk the fields, translate the stories, and carry their tea to your door.

Tomoya Iwamae — Founder
FAQ

Frequently asked questions

When can I buy the tea?

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The first harvest opens this autumn, in a small made-to-order run. Nothing is charged today and there are no pre-orders — the founding list is simply first in line when the shop opens.

Where do you ship?

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We open with the United States first, with duties included in the price — no surprises at customs, delivered to your door. Further countries follow as we grow.

What will you offer?

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A deliberately short list: single-origin sencha as the flagship, matcha from the same few farms as the doorway, and a handful of teas in between. Never more than a few farms — depth over breadth.

How is this different from tea I can already buy?

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Every tin can be traced to a single named field. It is picked after you order, and arrives with the story of who grew it, how their family has farmed, and when it was picked — a freshness and a closeness to the maker that we believe you can taste.

The water where I live is hard. Will it still taste right?

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Yes — with a small adjustment. Japanese tea assumes soft water, so every order ships with Brewing Made Simple: a short guide to soft or filtered water and lower temperatures that lets the sweetness through, wherever you live.

Could we ever visit the farm?

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In time, yes. We are quietly preparing private visits for the people who drink our tea — so that one day, the hillside on your label is a place you have stood. Founding members will hear about it first.

One day, we'll take you to the hillside itself.