For the Better

Japan is not only green tea country anymore. Now, black tea (known as Wakocha) and Oolong tea are also produced. Especially Wakocha has been steadily improved and caught more people’s attentions. It is due mainly to tea farmer’s aspirations.

This weekend,  I joined the Wakocha gathering, which is held annually. A lot of tea farmers and tea lovers got together at Mr. Muramatsu’s tea factory in Shizuoka in order to learn more about the tea. He has been leading the current Wakocha industry for more than 20 years. No one else was interested in making tea but green, back then. I can easily imagine that it must have been hard for him to keep producing the unfamiliar tea. But he didn’t give up. He has been pursuing what he believes. And respect for Mr. Muramatsu brought younger tea farmers from throughout the country. While passing on his Wakocha producing skills to the next generation, he is working on the latest tea, Wa-Oolong (Japanese Oolong).

A new phase of Japanese tea world has already dawned. The teas born in Japan will be surely improved for the better and better.

*See the 2010’s gathering　（from my older post）
http://japaneseteastory.blogspot.jp/2011/06/japanese-black-tea-wakocha.html

http://japaneseteastory.blogspot.jp/2011/06/wakocha-farmers-in-mariko.html

Mr.Akasu(left: promoter of the gathering) and Mr. Muramatsu (right)
-photo by tomo 2011-

*See the my older post about Wakocha named “Kaga-no-Kocha” that Mr.Akasu helps produce.
http://japaneseteastory.blogspot.jp/2011/02/wakocha-kaga-no-kocha.html