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Japanese Tea Culture
The History of Tea in Japan
Tea was first introduced to Japan along with Buddhism between the 600's and 800's. Tea consumption and culture grew in Japan until the 900's, when bloody wars broke out in Japan, and they experienced Dark Ages similar to those in Europe. In 1191, a Buddhist monk named Eisai came back to Japan from China. He introduced Zen Buddhism to the Japanese, and started a renaissance in Japan that tea had much to do with. The Japanese Tea Ceremony was developed and perfected in the 1400's and 1500's. Check out the essay The Early History of Tea in Japan for the fascinating story of the introduction and reintroduction of tea to Japan.
Types of Japanese Tea
All Japanese tea is green tea. Japanese green tea can be divided into three main types; gyokuro, sencha, and bancha.
Gyokuro, or "pearl dew" tea, is rare, labor-intensive and material-intensive to produce, and Japan's best and most expensive tea. Gyokuro is grown in the shade, which causes the leaves to produce less chemicals that made sun-grown teas bitter.
Sencha tea is similar to gyokuro, but is not grown in the shade. It is also very expensive and of extremely high quality, although one step down in both cost and quality from gyokuro.
Bancha tea is the lowest quality Japanese green tea, the last pickings off of bushes whose best and younger leaves were already picked for gyokuro tea and sencha tea.
Matcha tea is a powdered green tea used in the Japanese Tea Ceremony. It is created from gyokuro tea leaves.
Tea Production and Consumption in Japan
Japan produces a lot of green tea, but consumes about 50% more than it can produce. Japan's prospects for increased tea production are limited by two factors. First, Japan has precious little arable land per capita, so tea farms compete with all other agriculture for increasingly scarce land. Second, tea grows best in tropical climates, and only the very populous southern part of Japan is suitable for growing tea. Japan imports green tea from China, Taiwan, and other countries to cover its green tea deficit. The Japanese are willing to spend a great deal on high quality green tea, much more than people in other countries are willing to spend, which means that very little of Japan's best tea can be purchased even in first world countries. Although it doesn't export its best green tea, and exports much less than it imports, much of the best green tea that can be found outside of Japan and China comes from Japan.
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