During the fall in the Uji district, traditional center of the Japanese tea industry, tea farmers turn to the harvest of tea twigs for Kukicha, the “peasant’s drink,†so-called because farmers drank it after selling the leaves to sophisticated urbanites as a cash crop. They carefully select 40% medium 3-yr aged, 40% thick 10-yr aged, and 20% thin twigs and leaves aged 1 year, before gently roasting each variety separately to bring out its rich flavor. Because caffeine is concentrated in the leaves, twig tea is very low in caffeine and can be drunk even at night. Macrobiotics founder George Ohsawa considered Kukicha the most alkalinizing tea and hence the most balanced beverage for everyday consumption. Haiku Twig Tea teabags are always two full grams of Japanese Organic Kukicha Tea, the highest quality in the world.