The precarious state of green tea in Japan

Green tea is a major industry in Shizuoka prefecture, on Japan’s Pacific coast. Over a third of the tea leaves produced in the country come from Shizuoka.

A Google search for “Shizuoka” produces images of hillsides covered in neat rows of bright-green tea bushes, with Mount Fuji in the background. But that scenery has been changing as more and more farmers leave the tea industry.

On a hot August afternoon, a bulldozer ripped tea bushes from a field in front of a farm stay where guests visit to experience rural life. Yoko Miyake, who runs the venue, decided to replace part of the tea field with a patio for visitors to enjoy a cookout or drink a cup of tea.

Miyake’s husband farmed tea until about 15 years ago. After he passed away, she leased the fields to another farmer. But this spring, that farmer also called it quits.

Miyake explained that the wholesale price of tea leaves has been falling. “It’s better to get out,” she said.

Throughout the neighborhood, fields of neatly trimmed tea bushes stand interspersed with fields of overgrown neglected bushes. When fields are no longer a good source of income, they become an eyesore.

“Everyone is ending their leases,” said another local in his 90s. His tenant quit farming, too. “It’s a big problem.”

Satoshi Nihonyanagi, who runs a program called Local Network Services, is trying to do something about this problem by arranging home stays and educational tours hosted by former farmers.

“What I do is to help local elderly people to sustain their own lives [through] tourism,” Nihonyanagi said. For the 30 or 40 farmers he works with, hosting guests is a way to make ends meet. 

Nihonyanagi explained that the tea market has very specific economics, and it’s no longer working for a lot of farmers. Most farmers roughly process their leaves at a local cooperative and sell them at auction. Then buyers do the final processing and packaging. 

Tea can be harvested four times a year: spring, early summer, late summer and autumn. Nihonyanagi wrote these on a piece of paper, and drew a line sloping down from spring to fall. He explained that every spring, the earliest tea harvested in all of Japan fetches the highest price at auction. And from there, the price just falls.

Shizuoka has a relatively late first harvest. On the tea market, that puts the prefecture at a disadvantage, even though shade and cool weather can produce more flavorful tea.

Shizuoka specializes in a style of green tea called sencha, the kind of Japanese tea usually sold in vending machines or convenience stores.

Mass-produced bottled tea was introduced in the ’90s, and it changed the tea industry. Overall tea consumption in Japan is pretty steady, but year by year, bottled tea consumption is overtaking brewed tea.

The popular bottled tea company Ito En buys about a quarter of all the tea leaves that go to auction. Nihonyanagi explained that these bottled tea companies buy the autumn harvest, when the price is lowest. 

So now, for many farmers, it’s become nearly impossible to make a living growing tea. But while many older farmers in Shizuoka are giving up altogether, some younger farmers have a different idea.

They’re trying to create an alternative tea market by selling directly to consumers. They stand out by making organic or naturally farmed tea, or tea that expresses a sense of place. They’ve also expanded to include black tea.

“I think the tea industry has a chance to change,” said Hiroki Houjo, 44, the president of Green Eight, a café in Shizuoka. He took over tea farming from his father, and now specializes in a product he calls “not-bitter black tea.”

“Since everyone was aiming for the kind of black tea you drink with milk and sugar, we thought we’d go the other way,” Houjo explained.

The café attached to his tea factory also offers treats like black tea ice cream parfaits and shaved ice. They still make green tea too, but Houjo said that it’s tough to get new customers with just green tea.

Green Eight has been marketing its black tea for 12 years now. Houjo recently opened a second café and shop in the bustling Shizuoka Station. But for Houjo, this isn’t a success story yet. He hopes someone will want to take over his business one day and continue growing and innovating.

In a tea field nearby, Green Eight has a spot for snapping photos: a platform in the middle of a tea field with steep mountains as a backdrop. If Green Eight and other small companies like it succeed, maybe this kind of scenery will still be here a generation from now.