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Tea is very important in Japanese culture. Although a wide variety of teas and tisanes are routinely enjoyed, it is green tea, or nihoncha, which receives most attention in Japan. Many festivals, celebrations and ceremonies are associated with the production, harvesting and consumption of green tea. Interestingly, organic green tea has, largely due to Japan’s vibrant youth culture, become very popular in recent years. By way of example, Itoen’s organic ryokucha (pictured), a fragrant green tea with a wonderfully clean taste, is now available throughout Japan. Its quality, at least in my opinion, is much higher than the non-organic “to go” varieties currently on the market. And for around 160円 it represents good value for many Japanese...

How easy is it for tea producers to deliver a high quality organic product to the consumer? As the fourth generation representative of Darjeeling’s tea dynasty, Rajah Banerjee is the prince of organic tea. Cradled in the lap of the Himalayas, Makaibari is the oldest single owner tea estate and one of the few devoted to organic and biodynamic agricultural methods. Rajah explains that the annual volume of organically grown tea is only six percent that of conventional. While demand for organically grown tea continues to increase, there are significant constraints upon growers who might like to enter this market. Large producers in particular face significant challenges in adapting to a new set of agricultural parameters. The switch to holistic...