Although tea was first planted in Kagoshima in the 1300s, did not become a well-known or large-scale tea producing region until the late 1800s when it began to grow tea to be blended for export. Even then, the region was not known by name for its quality. It took until 1992 for tea to be sold as 'Kagoshima Tea' to become known and accepted.

Despite being one of the newest commercial tea producing regions in Japan, Kagoshima has quickly grown to become the largest, overtaking Shizuoka in 2025. The region's volcanic soil and large, flat plains make it suitable for large-scale agriculture, enabling farmers to produce larger yields with greater ease.