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Japan:Farmers switching from green tea to black

Posted: Oct 6th, '12, 11:38
by zencha

Re: Japan:Farmers switching from green tea to black

Posted: Oct 6th, '12, 21:02
by shah82
Wonder if that perishability aspect is punishing green tea consumption. I don't buy green tea and plenty others don't because they won't finish anything nice before it's done... Puerh is so much safer for non bitterphobes.

Re: Japan:Farmers switching from green tea to black

Posted: Oct 6th, '12, 23:11
by Poohblah
shah82 wrote:Wonder if that perishability aspect is punishing green tea consumption. I don't buy green tea and plenty others don't because they won't finish anything nice before it's done... Puerh is so much safer for non bitterphobes.
My personal, gut feeling - decline in consumption of green tea in Japan has more to do with the increase in availability of "ready-to-drink" bottled beverages as well as the rise of globalization and Westernization, which has been introducing alternatives to tea, e.g. coffee, and pushing out traditional practices, e.g. chanoyu. I don't think the short shelf life of green tea is a large factor, since there is more technology now than ever to preserve perishable products.

Re: Japan:Farmers switching from green tea to black

Posted: Oct 7th, '12, 05:08
by MarshalN
Poohblah wrote:
shah82 wrote:Wonder if that perishability aspect is punishing green tea consumption. I don't buy green tea and plenty others don't because they won't finish anything nice before it's done... Puerh is so much safer for non bitterphobes.
My personal, gut feeling - decline in consumption of green tea in Japan has more to do with the increase in availability of "ready-to-drink" bottled beverages as well as the rise of globalization and Westernization, which has been introducing alternatives to tea, e.g. coffee, and pushing out traditional practices, e.g. chanoyu. I don't think the short shelf life of green tea is a large factor, since there is more technology now than ever to preserve perishable products.
Theoretically, yes, but how many of us have tales of yellow sencha/green tea in their tea cupboard? I'm guessing 100 out of 100

Re: Japan:Farmers switching from green tea to black

Posted: Oct 7th, '12, 15:43
by chingwa
That article makes me sad :(

Re: Japan:Farmers switching from green tea to black

Posted: Oct 7th, '12, 19:15
by Chip
... always look on the bright side of life ...

The market changes in Japan have also had a dramatic, positive effect (at least in part) on the availability of Japanese greens to the West as Japan scrambles to liquidate their reserves each harvest.

Do you really think that if Japan could sell all their tea simply and at low expense to them in Japan that they would be selling to us? Likely not with a few exceptions such as Westerners living in Japan and seeing opportunity.

In the last decade the availability has dramatically increased in volume and sellers, many Japanese natives. For example, in 2005 there was one and only one Kagoshima offering that I could find online at the time, Yutaka Midori from O-Cha who broke into the market ahead of everyone else ... in fact some might argue they created the market which then everyone jumped on the bandwagon.

Today, there are likely hundreds of Kagoshima selections available to us.

Black tea production is nothing new. I posted a research paper from Japan several years ago on the growing and selling of black tea in Japan from decades ago. I am truly not worried, but I might have to have more sencha OTTI rounds to compensate. :idea: :mrgreen: :arrow:

Speaking of which, I posted a 3 day prior notice of OTTI 16, Green Sencha. :wink:

Re: Japan:Farmers switching from green tea to black

Posted: Oct 7th, '12, 19:31
by Chip
MarshalN wrote:
Poohblah wrote:
shah82 wrote:Wonder if that perishability aspect is punishing green tea consumption. I don't buy green tea and plenty others don't because they won't finish anything nice before it's done... Puerh is so much safer for non bitterphobes.
My personal, gut feeling - decline in consumption of green tea in Japan has more to do with the increase in availability of "ready-to-drink" bottled beverages as well as the rise of globalization and Westernization, which has been introducing alternatives to tea, e.g. coffee, and pushing out traditional practices, e.g. chanoyu. I don't think the short shelf life of green tea is a large factor, since there is more technology now than ever to preserve perishable products.
Theoretically, yes, but how many of us have tales of yellow sencha/green tea in their tea cupboard? I'm guessing 100 out of 100
It seems every tea has something that makes it ... challenging. Pu-erh buying is so fraught with pitfalls that I am scared to death to pull the trigger, yet there are many who will take the plunge ... dedicating huge amounts of cash to aging and stocking pu-erh.

Just about any tea also offers a reason not to buy it. But yet we do and so do many others. There may be ebs and flows in the market with the occasional dramatic events, but fact is, there is potential huge worldwide demand for Japanese greens that maybe one day Japan will not depend on their domestic market.

For Japanese greens, the biggest issues are proper sourcing, regulated purchasing, careful storage, and only having a limited amount open at any given time. It is about discipline more than anything ... and I guess education. IMHO. :mrgreen:

And as always ... like what you drink, drink what you like. Ultimately this is what people will do. And I do not personally see black tea consumption in Japan being the ruin of Japanese greens.

Re: Japan:Farmers switching from green tea to black

Posted: Oct 7th, '12, 20:39
by gingkoseto
I suspect it has to do with people's changing diet as well. It happens in China that when people start eating more fat, more sugar, more spicy flavors, many of them would feel green tea "tasteless" and then switch to other beverages. On the other hand, a friend of mine says tea drinking is one way to preserve one's subtle sensitivities.

Re: Japan:Farmers switching from green tea to black

Posted: Oct 10th, '12, 11:33
by Cole
Maybe it's just me, but I don't particularly mind some greens that have been opened for some time. I have a micro-oxidized sencha that's only getting better with age, as well as a kagoshima fukamushi from April that still tastes sweet at low temperatures and has a great aftertaste of plums and apricots. The brew isn't as green as it was earlier this year, but it's still very drinkable and (IMO) delicious.

I've had some teas that lost all life after 30 days in a zipper bag, but those double-lidded/wazome paper cans seem to do a pretty good job. I think a lot of it depends on the tea and vendor (I've had pretty good luck with o-cha and thes-du-japon), but YMMV.

Re: Japan:Farmers switching from green tea to black

Posted: Oct 11th, '12, 09:38
by MacGuffin
Cole wrote:Maybe it's just me, but I don't particularly mind some greens that have been opened for some time. I have a micro-oxidized sencha that's only getting better with age, as well as a kagoshima fukamushi from April that still tastes sweet at low temperatures and has a great aftertaste of plums and apricots. The brew isn't as green as it was earlier this year, but it's still very drinkable and (IMO) delicious.

I've had some teas that lost all life after 30 days in a zipper bag, but those double-lidded/wazome paper cans seem to do a pretty good job. I think a lot of it depends on the tea and vendor (I've had pretty good luck with o-cha and thes-du-japon), but YMMV.
I recently realized that I had quite a stash of Japanese green tea, some of it open, that I not unsurprisingly was loath to dump. I sampled some hot and wasn't happy but found that it makes SLAMMIN' refrigerator tea. 7 - 8 g to a quart/liter of water consigned to the fridge overnight has resulted in "cold drink Nirvana," regardless of which variety I use--sencha, gyokuro, konacha...all delicious. Don't be guilty of "tea agism"; the old stuff has lots to offer. :D

Re: Japan:Farmers switching from green tea to black

Posted: Oct 11th, '12, 13:05
by Alex
I sometimes roast off my old sencha in a pan. Very nice. I do it till its in between green and brownish. Which is the roasting level I like! :mrgreen:

Re: Japan:Farmers switching from green tea to black

Posted: Oct 20th, '12, 11:46
by riccaicedo
Alex wrote:I sometimes roast off my old sencha in a pan. Very nice. I do it till its in between green and brownish. Which is the roasting level I like! :mrgreen:
I do that too, homemade houjicha.