Black tea was first imported to Japan in 1887 at a low volume of 100kg. The tea was not imported from China, but from England due to the adoration Japanese people had for European culture. In
Kamakura era (1191 – 1333), the monk Eisai stressed that beneficial effect of tea in his book, ‘Maintaining Health by Drinking Tea’ in 1211 in which he emphasized: “Tea is miraculous medicine for the maintenance of health.”
The ancients recognized early on the nutritional and especially the health benefits of tea. Tea was therefore in the beginning to a higher degree considered a preventive and curative medicine rather than a pleasurable beverage.
Major tea-growing in regions in Japan are: (1) Shizuoka, (2) Kagoshima, (3) Mie, (4) Kyoto and (5) Fukuoka. The top-three prefectures constitute about 70% of the total tea-growing acreage in Japan. Tea production in each prefecture has different characteristics, for example, Shizuoka, Kagoshima and Miyazaki mainly produce "Sencha," Mie and Fukuoka "Kabusecha," Saga and Kumamoto "Tama-ryokucha," and Kyoto "Gyokuro" and "Matcha”.
In Japan, the consumption of tea is only 760 g per a head per a year (approximately one third of coffee). The tea consumption (money basis) in the home is about 16 percent of all drinks.
Tea consumption in Japan
