Upcycle: For bottled Japanese teas, the future begins in the field

LIFE / Food & Drink / Kateigaho International Japan Edition

Upcycle: For bottled Japanese teas, the future begins in the field

Rice and tea are staples of the Japanese diet. What does their future hold? This week, we look at Benefitea’s Teargene project, which has a special extraction technique

Effervescent: Sparkling teas are sold in what look like beer bottles. The current lineup includes organic sencha (regular green tea), fukamushicha (tea steamed longer than regular sencha), hōjicha (roasted tea) and smoked Japanese-style black tea. More varieties will be added. Each 330-milliliter bottle costs ?1,000.

May 2, 2020

Since tea cultivation began around 800 years ago in what’s now Shizuoka Prefecture, it has been renowned as Japan’s largest tea-producing region. But decreasing demand for nihoncha, or Japanese tea, has raised worrying signs for the future.

Delicate: Hakuyōcha, or shaded white-leaf tea, is grown under canopies to shield plants from the sun, thus concentrating the umami essence in the leaves. | — Delicate: Hakuyōcha, or shaded white-leaf tea, is grown under canopies to shield plants from the sun, thus concentrating the umami essence in the leaves.

“Tea sales have dropped sharply and prices remain low — poor prospects discouraging young growers from entering the business. It’s a vicious circle,” says Hiroyasu Nishizawa, president and representative director of Shizuoka-based Benefitea.