First Flush Green Teas From Japan,
China and India Available In Limited Quantities

New York, NY, May 2006 - ITO EN, the world's premiere green tea company, has announced that their First Flush green tea, known as Shincha, is now available in the company's Zagat award-winning flagship store, located at 822 Madison Avenue in New York City. The teas, which have just been flown in from Japan, China and India, can be purchased in the store, online at www.itoen.com or by phone on 212.988.7111 or 888.697.8003.

Shincha, which literally means "new tea" in Japanese, is the first harvest of the spring season. The Japanese teas are from the Kagoshima and Shizuoka regions of Japan, while the Indian tea is from the Darjeeling region of India and the Chinese tea is from the Hangzhou region of China.

"Spring is the most exciting season for tea lovers," said Kai Andersen, ITO EN marketing manager. "In several regions, the tea plants have been dormant throughout the winter months, so when the first leaves appear in spring, they capture the full vitality of the plant. They have an amazing flavor which makes it all the more important to get the tea to the consumer as quickly as possible."

All Shincha teas are prepackaged and include:

Japan
Kagoshima Shincha - 3 oz. premium grade $30
Kagoshima Shincha - 3.5 oz. hand-picked grade $52
Sakura Shincha (a blend of shincha and cherry blossoms) - 3 oz. premium grade $35
Shizouka Shincha - 3.5 oz. hand-picked $52
Shizouka Shincha - 3 oz. superior grade $40
Shizouka Shincha - 3 oz. premium grade $30

India
Crystal Flush - certified organic and grown on the famed Makaibari Estate - 3 oz. $30

China
Dragon Well Shincha - 2 oz. premium grade, packaged in ITO EN's signature chabako (tea box) $40.

** Dragon Well Shincha in becoming increasingly rare. Picked during Yu Qian, which translates as "Before The Rains," it is harvested just after the Spring Equinox from its original terroir.

Unlike the widely available sencha style green tea, Shincha is only lightly steamed, which gives the tea its lively taste. This gentle processing also means that Shincha's signature taste remains at its peak for only a few months. Devotees insist that Shincha should not be consumed after the end of the summer. This makes the demand for Shincha quite high when it first appears on the market.