News Kagoshima surpasses Shizuoka as Japan’s leading green tea producer

Output in Shizuoka has decreased more than 40 per cent over the past decade, while Kagoshima's has remained constant. As Kagoshima has extensive areas of flat land as compared to the rest of Japan, local tea farmers have promoted large-scale cultivation and capitalized on the growing demand for bottled tea. In contrast, Shizuoka has continued to focus on high-grade tea. [...] More than 97 per ent of tea farms in Kagoshima have adopted large-scale machinery, compared to the national average of less than 60 percent. Technology-streamlined work processes enable farmers to harvest the second and third tea crops to ensure profitability. Tea farms are often on steep hillsides in Shizuoka, making it difficult for growers to introduce large machinery. "Efforts to streamline operations and consolidate farmland haven't gone our way," said an official in the tea promotion division of the Shizuoka prefectural government.

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Spending on tea-based beverages, such as bottled tea, amounted to 7,676 yen per household in 2020, up 34 per cent from a decade earlier, while the consumption of loose leaf tea, brewed in teapots, fell 16 per cent to 3,817 yen. Growers in Japan's central prefecture of Shizuoka prioritize the production of high-priced "ichibancha" (first tea crop) that is brewed in teapots. But its consumption has been on the decline. To create new demand for loose leaf tea, a "tea pairing" campaign to promote the drinking of tea with complementary meals is underway in Shizuoka. "We would like to propose new ways of drinking that make the best use of the goodness of Shizuoka tea," said Norihisa Ito, an executive director at the Chamber of Tea Association of Shizuoka Prefecture.

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• Yame Gyokuro
  Won the Best Prize in the All Japan Green Tea Competition for 12 consecutive years from 2001 to 2012, and again in 2014 and 2015
  
  
• Minami Kyushu City
  Won the production area award in the 10 kg sencha category in the 77th National Tea Competition
  

• Yame tea is known for its award-winning dento hon gyokuro, which is considered the King of green tea
  
  
• Yame tea is produced in the mountains of Fukuoka, north of Kyushu
  
  
• Yame tea is praised for its strong umami taste, round and full taste, sweetness, deep color, and lingering taste