Uji Hikari, single cultivar

A single cultivar bottled as an argument. Uji Hikari gives a sharper, more mineral umami than Samidori does — less sweet, more structured, with a stony finish that some drinkers read as a flaw and others as the whole point.

It punishes bad water. Filtered and at 70° it is precise and long; straight from the tap it collapses into something metallic.