Tea in Japan
History of tea in Japan
Tea, especially green tea, is the most important beverage for Japanese people. According to statistics from the ministry of home affairs, the average Japanese family spent ??6,000 buying 1,131g green tea in 2002. Albeit that the origin of tea drinking is, of course, China, tea in Japan also has a long history. The earliest official chronicle mentioned that Buddhist monk Eichu (A.D.743~816) served Emperor Saga (A.D.786~842) a cup of tea in 815. Around the late 12th century, a lot of Buddhist monks crossed the sea and studied Zen in China. Tea used to be very important meditation and healing materials for Zen Buddhists. Yousai (1141-1215) is said to have brought tea and tea seeds with him from China. Tea became a popular beverage and tea cultivation began.
By the 15th century affluent people began to enjoy tea, usually Macha - powder green tea. Affluent merchant and great tea master Sen Rikyou (1522-1591) established Chanoyu the (tea ceremony, or ??way of tea?, which was developed by his descendants and successors for 400 years.
Shogun consumption
In the 16th century, Chinese Buddhist Ingen (1592-1673) brought Sencha, loosed leaf tea, from China. During the 260 years of peace under the Tokugawa Shogun sovereignty, tea consumption increased. In the mid-18th century, steamed Sencha was invented. Plucked tealeaves start oxidization because of natural enzymes immediately after plucking. Heat destroys the enzyme inside tealeaves. The Sencha brought from China was made by pan firing, which is still popular in China. On the contrary, almost all-Japanese green tea nowadays is processed by steaming, which is the most crucial difference between green tea in Japan and in China.
After the Meiji revolution in 1868, the modern Japanese government promoted tea production, which was the most important export product after silk. Tea processing technology was developed rapidly. After World War ll, consumption of green tea recovered little by little. The economic development started in mid 1950 accelerated domestic tea consumption. Tea production peaked in 1975, when 105,000 tons of green tea was processed. Since then, tea production has seen a year on year decline.
Variation of Japanese green tea
Japanese consumed over 95,000 tons of green tea in 2003, of which 84,000 tons was processed in Japan and the other 11,000 tons was imported. Around 78% of green tea is Sencha, followed by Bancha (10%), Tamaryokucha (5%) and Matcha (1%). Gyokuro accounts for just under 1%.
Sencha
Sencha is the most excellent, popular, and widely processed tea. There are two types of Sencha: normal Sencha and Fukamushi-cha. Fukamushi-cha is deep-steamed, which means that steaming time for preventing oxidization is 1~2 minutes, while normal Sencha is 30 seconds to less than 1 minute.
Sencha looks like needles and is a vivid deep green. Taste is fresh, delightfully bitter and sometimes sweet. The infused tea is a beautiful gold color. Quality and price vary. The costliest Sencha retails for is over ??3,000 to ??4,000 per 100g. Although the cheapest Sencha costs less than ??300, the most popular sells for between ??800 to ??1,000 per 100g in Japanese retail shops.
Fukamushi -cha
Short needles mixed with small pieces, the taste is excellent, fresh and very mild. Aroma is less rich than normal Sencha. The liquid??s color is a very beautiful yellowy green. Fukamushi-cha is getting popular because of being easy to brew. The price is similar to Sencha.
Tamaryokucha
The leaves are small and round, the liquid color is golden. Aromatic and mild, there are two types of Tamaryokuch:, one is steamed and the other is pan-fired, similar to Chinese green tea. Tamarokucha is made in Kyushu area, southwest Japan.
Matcha
Matcha is the finest and most excellent powder tea used especially for Chanoyu, the tea ceremony. Relatively cheaper, Matcha is used for cookies, cakes, ice creams or cooking, and has recently seen an upsurge in popularity. The tea bushes covered with shades before harvesting in order to make the taste very mild and sweet. The way of processing Matcha, quite different from the other teas, is simple. Tea leaves plucked by hand are steamed, dried, de-veined and then finally ground into a fine green tea powder.
Gyokuro
The leaves ares like needles and the color is vivid deep green. Taste is excellent, mild and very sweet, with a rich, mild aroma. The liquid color is gold. Processing is similar to Sencha, except for covering the tea bushes with shades about two weeks before harvest.
Bancha
Although a concise definition of Bancha is difficult to pin down, Bancha usually means green tea made from coarse leaves and stalks. The price is very cheap in comparison with Sencha.
Houjicha
Houjicha, roasted low quality Sencha or Bancha, has less caffeine, suitable for children or drinking before going to bed. Houjicha is preferred after eating fatty foods. The price is relatively cheap.
Genmaicha
Made from relatively low quality Sencha or bancha mixed with roasted rice. Matcha Genmaicha (Genmaicha with added Matcha powder) is getting popular. The taste is milder and the liquid is a very beautiful green.
Plantations, processing and retailing
Although green tea is cultivated and processed in many regions in Japan, Shizuoka prefecture is the most important region, processing 37,000 tons tea in 2003, followed by Kagoshima prefecture (18,000 tons), Mie prefecture (7,000 tons), Miyazaki prefecture (2,900 tons) and Kyoto prefecture (2,800 tons). Total tea cultivation fields in Japan cover 49,700 ha. Shizuoka has the largest (20,600 ha), followed by Kagoshima (8,300 ha), Mie(3,400 ha), Kumamoto (1,700 ha) and Fukuoka (1,500ha).
There are four harvest periods in Japan, which vary depending on location and climate. The first flush, the most important harvest that produces the highest quality tea, starts in mid-April and continues until mid-May at Shizuoka. The second flush is between mid- and late- June. The third is from late-June to early-August, the fourth is between late-September and mid-October. A lot of tea farmers sometimes harvest only the first and second, because about 60-80% of their income comes from the first flush, the price being three times more than that of the second harvest and 10 times that of the third and fourth.
Tea plantations are cultivated by small individual farmers, usually a family business. There are no big estates such as are found in black tea plantation countries. In Shizuoka, over 53% of all green tea farmers cultivated less than half a hectare in 2000. Only 21% cultivated over one hectare. The number of tea farmers has been decreasing year by year since the 1960 in the industrialized and post-industrialized Japanese economy and society. In Shizuoka, the number of tea farmers in 2001 was 38,000, a half of the 79,000 recorded in 1965.
Plucking machine tools are widely used because of high labor costs. In addition, automotive plucking is getting very popular, especially in Kagoshima. At the start of the first flush, farmers might pluck very soft fresh tealeaves by hand.
Processing Sencha, Gyokuro and Bancha
Tea processing facilities (factories) are invested in and run by individual farmers, cooperative associations (consisting of tea farmers), or private businesses. In 1999, a total of 2,996 facilities were run by individual farmers, followed by cooperative associations (563), and private business (118) in Shizuoka. All facilities use modern computer-controlled tea processing machinery.
Plucked tea leaves are transferred to tea processing facilities, located close to tea plantations, as soon as possible. Tea leaves are, at first, steamed to prevent oxidization (fermentation) for 30~60 seconds (Sencha), or for 1~2 seconds (Fukamushi Sencha). The steamed tea leaves are automatically transferred into the drying and shaping process, where tea leaves are pressed, twisted and rolled by several different types of computerized machinery. Finally, drying machines dry and reduce the moisture inside the leaves to under 5%. The dried tea is called Aracha (un-refined tea). The whole process of making Aracha is done in tea processing facilities. Aracha is shipped to tea auctions or directly to tea merchants (tea wholesalers). Tea merchants who buy Aracha through tea auctions or directly from tea farmers or cooperative bodies dry Aracha once again to reduce the moisture inside the tea to less than 3% and sort Aracha into Sencha, Kuki-cha (stalk tea) and so on. Tea merchants might blend several types of Sencha to improve taste and quality and also to produce Genmaicha and Houjicha. The tea is finally packed into small packages and shipped to tea retail shops or supermarkets. Some amount of Aracha is also dried, sorted, packed and retailed by farmers or cooperative bodies themselves.
PET bottle green tea
PET bottled green tea beverages, produced by several big beverage companies, has been getting very popular in Japan recently because of its convenience and healthy image. Vending machines and 24-hour convenience stores accelerate sales of PET bottle tea. In 2002, 1,568.000 kiloliters of PET bottle green tea were consumed.
At the beginning of 2003, a Catechine (polyphenols) intensified PET bottled green tea, Healthia. produced by KAO. appeared in Japanese market. Sales of Healthia have rocketed and the company??s profit soared, because of its claim to reduce body fat. Nowadays, one cannot mention Japanese green tea without thinking about PET bottled tea.