• It's Time for Japan's Younger Generations to Establish New Trends

    Tea outsells every beverage in Japan. Bottled green teas are far more popular than soda. Hot tea consumption, however, has declined by half from more than a kilo per capita. Loose leaf volume spiked briefly during the pandemic but is now at a seven-decade low. In contrast, overseas demand for Japanese teas set a recent sales record. Today, we have the privilege of talking with Rikko Osaki, an accomplished green tea wholesaler, licensed Japanese Green Tea Advisor, and the founder of Hokusan, a brand with family roots in tea.

    Aging farmers and fierce competition in the beverage market have led some to question whether Japan’s tea industry can be sustained, says Rikko, “We haven’t had a revolution in 20 years. I think it’s time for the younger generation's creativity to establish new trends. There is always more opportunity, especially in a technologically strong country like Japan.”

    Rikko Osaki’s upbringing is deeply intertwined with the tea lands surrounding Mt. Fuji, a region that produces many famous teas. With its spectacular coastline, hot springs, and fertile volcanic soil, Shizuoka is a growing region that plays a pivotal role in Japan's tea production, producing 40% of Japan’s tea in 2023, totaling about 27,200 metric tons. Rikko’s brother is a green tea sommelier and exporter who sources her teas. Rikko has lived in Canada for 20 years. Four years ago, she founded Hokusan. She specializes in matcha, a unique and highly sought-after variety of Japanese green tea.



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    13m | Mar 29, 2024
  • India Tea News | Bought Leaf Factories Oppose 100% Dust in Auctions | Assam Expects a Big Drop in First Flush Production | HUL Focuses on Assam to Support Tea Industry

    India Tea News | March 29, 2024 | Bought Leaf Factories Oppose 100% Dust in Auctions | Assam Expects a Big Drop in First Flush Production | HUL Focuses on Assam to Support Tea Industry



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    2m | Mar 29, 2024
  • Tea News Recap | Certified Organic Handlers Beware of USDA’s Tough New NOP Regulations | Register to Attend Colombo International Tea Convention | Zimbabwe Tea Yields Pressured by El Nino Drought

    Certified Organic Handlers Beware of USDA’s Tough New NOP Regulations | Register Now for Discounted Admission to the Colombo International Tea Convention in July | Zimbabwe Tea Yields Pressured by El Nino Drought | Tea News Recap | March 29, 2024 |

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    8m | Mar 29, 2024
  • Ep 161 | Certified Organic Handlers Beware of USDA’s Tough New NOP Regulations | Register Now for July Colombo International Tea Convention | Zimbabwe Tea Yields Pressured by El Nino Drought

    Certified Organic Handlers Beware of USDA’s Tough New NOP Regulations | Register Now for Discounted Admission to the Colombo International Tea Convention in July | Zimbabwe Tea Yields Pressured by El Nino Drought

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    | INDIA TEA NEWS - Bought Leaf Factories Oppose 100% Dust in Auctions | Assam Expects a Big Drop in First Flush Production | HUL Focuses on Assam to Support Tea Industry

    | GUEST – Rikko Osaki, Founder Hokusan Tea

    | FEATURED – Tea outsells every beverage in Japan. Bottled green teas are far more popular than soda. Hot tea consumption, however, has declined by half from more than a kilo per capita. Loose leaf volume spiked briefly during the pandemic but is now at a seven-decade low. In contrast, overseas demand for Japanese teas set a recent sales record. Today, we have the privilege of talking with Rikko Osaki, an accomplished green tea wholesaler, licensed Japanese Green Tea Advisor, and the founder of Hokusan, a brand with family roots in tea. Aging farmers and fierce competition in the beverage market has led some to question whether Japan’s tea industry can be sustained, says Rikko, “We haven’t had a revolution in 20 years. I think it’s time for the younger generation's creativity to establish new trends. There is always more opportunity, especially in a technologically strong country like Japan.”



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    30m | Mar 29, 2024
  • Safeguarding the Right to a Decent Life

    THIRST, The International Roundtable for Sustainable Tea, a non-profit human rights initiative, launched a 3-year human rights impact assessment study in 2022. The study aims to listen to and understand the human rights concerns in the tea sector and bring stakeholders together to seek solutions. We have been following THIRST’s survey from the start, and with Phase 2 now complete, we caught up with CEO and Founder Sabita Banerji to hear about the findings and next steps. Sabita is an economic and social justice consultant, campaigner, writer, and activist with over two decades of experience in international development and trade justice.



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    24m | Mar 22, 2024
  • NETA Opposes 100% Dust Auction | Spotlight on Safe Tea in 2024 | India to Send Trade Delegation to Iran

    India Tea News | March 22, 2024 | NETA Opposes 100% Dust Auction | Spotlight on Safe Tea in 2024 | India to Send Trade Delegation to Iran



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    2m | Mar 22, 2024
  • World Tea Expo Names Beverage Challenge Winners | Resilient Ukraine Retains Its Taste for Russian Tea | Bogawanthalawa is Certified as the First Climate-Neutral Tea Estate

    Tea News Recap | March 22, 2024 | World Tea Expo Names Beverage Challenge Winners | Resilient Ukraine Retains Its Taste for Russian Tea | Bogawanthalawa is Certified as the First Climate Neutral Tea Estate



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    7m | Mar 22, 2024
  • World Tea Expo Beverage Challenge Winners | Ukraine Retains Its Taste for Russian Tea | Bogawanthalawa is the First Climate-Neutral Tea Estate

    HEAR THE HEADLINES - World Tea Expo Names Beverage Challenge Winners | Resilient Ukraine Retains Its Taste for Russian Tea | Bogawanthalawa is Certified as the First Climate Neutral Tea Estate

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    | INDIA TEA NEWS - NETA Opposes 100% Dust Auction | Spotlight on Safe Tea in 2024 | India to Send Trade Delegation to Iran

    | NEWSMAKER – Sabita Banerji, CEO, THIRST, The International Roundtable for Sustainable Tea

    | FEATURED – Safeguarding the right to a decent life for everyone in tea benefits the industry. Equity and transparency along the entire tea supply chain encourage retention and productivity, enabling sustainable supply. Mandates for due diligence reporting of human rights and enforcement lie ahead. London-based THIRST is midway through a three-year assessment of human rights in tea. This week, managing editor Aravinda Anantharaman speaks with THIRST co-founder and CEO Sabita Banerji to assess progress and challenges that remain.



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    39m | Mar 22, 2024
  • Tea Rebellion: Anatomy of a Purpose-Driven Brand

    Tea Rebellion: Anatomy of a Purpose-Driven Brand | Annabel Kalmar, founder of Tea Rebellion, a small direct-trade single-farm tea venture founded in 2017, joins us today. Her company was certified as a B Corp in September 2022. Annabel describes the DNA of a purpose-driven tea venture and the challenge of changing how tea is traded, marketed, and consumed. The goal is to be a tea brand offering sustainable, transparent, award-winning tea, she says. Tea Rebellion does not offer blended or flavored tea. Farms are co-branded, and marketing draws attention to the farm and identity of growers. "To affect change, we need to credit the maker of the product," she says."To drive impact, I choose to work with tea farmers with a clear goal of sustainability and impact in their communities. Several of these farmers are female-run or committed to the empowerment and well-being of women," she says.

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    11m | Mar 15, 2024
  • Indian Tea Association and Goodricke Group Name New Heads

    India Tea News | March 15, 2024 | Indian Tea Association and Goodricke Group Name New Heads | Nilgiris' INDCOServe Will Convert Kattabettu Factory into Tea Tourism Hub

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    1m | Mar 15, 2024
  • Why is First Flush Tea so Tasty? Metabolites | Oversupply Threatens Kenya’s Harvest Windfall | World Tea Expo Opens this Weekend

    Tea News Recap | March 15, 2024

    Why is First Flush Tea so Tasty? Metabolites | Oversupply Threatens Kenya’s Harvest Windfall | World Tea Expo: An Infusion of Fresh Ideas Opens this Weekend

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    9m | Mar 15, 2024
  • Ep 159 | Why is First Flush Tea so Tasty? Metabolites | Oversupply Threatens Kenya’s Harvest Windfall | World Tea Expo Opens this Weekend

    HEAR THE HEADLINES - Why is First Flush Tea so Tasty? Metabolites | Oversupply Threatens Kenya’s Harvest Windfall | World Tea Expo: An Infusion of Fresh Ideas Opens this Weekend

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    | INDIA TEA NEWS - Indian Tea Association and Goodricke Group Name New Heads | Nilgiris' INDCOServe Will Convert Kattabettu Factory into Tea Tourism Hub

    | GUEST – Annabel Kalmar, founder of Tea Rebellion

    | FEATURED – Tea Rebellion: Anatomy of a Purpose-Driven Brand | Annabel Kalmer, founder of Tea Rebellion, a small direct-trade single-farm tea venture founded in 2017, joins us today.

    The company was certified as a B Corp in September 2022. Annabel describes the DNA of a purpose-driven tea venture and the challenge of changing how tea is traded, marketed, and consumed.

    The goal is to be a tea brand for sustainable, transparent, award-winning tea. Tea Rebellion co-brands with farms and does not blend or flavor tea.

    “We remain firmly wedded to our original Tea Rebellion DNA,” says Annabel, who has a master's in economics specializing in micro- and rural finance. She previously worked for the World Bank and the OECD.

    She returned to academia to study agriculture, focusing on environment and gender. Her fieldwork included studying female banana growers in El Salvador and coffee farms in the Dominican Republic.

    "To drive impact, I choose to work with tea farmers who have a clear goal of sustainability and impact in their communities. Several of these farmers are female-run or committed to the empowerment and well-being of women," she says.



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    29m | Mar 15, 2024
  • #TeaPower: A Call to Collaborate

    FEATURED

    In January, Shabnam Weber. President of the Tea and Herbal Association of Canada traveled to Guwahati, Assam, as one of 44 country delegates at the recently concluded 25th Session of the United Nations FAO Intergovernmental Group on Tea (IGG Tea). During the past two years, as co-chair of the Working Group on Tea and Health, she tirelessly promoted the merits of a unified global campaign to make the benefits of drinking tea relevant to younger generations. She says that HASHTAG Tea Power will generate a global buzz around tea and its role in improved fitness. “There is extensive evidence supporting tea benefits in sports and fitness performance and optimal hydration,” she explains. “These scientific findings provide the framework for a youth-focused campaign to encourage increased tea consumption.” We need to remember that our competition is not ourselves. That's a message for everybody in this industry: we are not the competition; the competition is other beverages. The only way for us to break through that noise is to work together."

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    13m | Mar 8, 2024
  • Bihar Tea Gets Trademark

    India Tea News | March 8, 2024 

    Bihar Tea Gets Trademark | Microsoft's Bill Gates Unwittingly Promotes Chai and Chaiwala | Muskan Khanna Earns a Patent for Her Nilgiri Bamboo Tea | Aravinda Anantharaman | Tea Biz Blog | Podcast Ep 158 |

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    2m | Mar 8, 2024
  • Sailing Through the Tea Doldrums

    Tea News Recap | March 8, 2023

    Sailing Through the Tea Doldrums | India Budgets a Big Increase for its Tea Industry | Crude Tea Production in Japan Declined in 2023 | Plus Tea trade associations, research institutes, tea boards, tea brands, and the United Nations Intergovernmental Group on Tea (IGG/Tea) are organizing to collectively promote HASHTAG #TeaPower for International Tea Day, May 21. The online and event-based marketing program heralds the benefits of including tea in every high-energy fitness regimen, from organized sports and cycling to nature walks and solo ascents. Messaging targets youth, but the findings on dietary benefits and hydration are science-backed and essential to healthy living. Shabnam Weber, President of the Tea and Herbal Association of Canada and co-chair of the United Nations IGG Working Group on Tea and Health that developed the program. She discusses why HASHTAG #TeaPower is “the perfect pitch for younger generations looking to increase their performance and energy levels while staying healthy.”

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    11m | Mar 8, 2024
  • Sailing Through the Tea Doldrums | India Budgets Big for Tea | Japanese Crude Tea Harvest Declined in 2023 |

    Episode 158 | March 8, 2024

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    Sailing Through the Tea Doldrums | India Budgets a Big Increase for its Tea Industry | Crude Tea Production in Japan Declined in 2023

    | INDIA TEA NEWS - Bihar Tea Gets Trademark | Microsoft's Bill Gates Unwittingly Promotes Chai and Chaiwala | Muskan Khanna Earns a Patent for Her Nilgiri Bamboo Tea

    | NEWSMAKER – Shabnam Weber, President of the Tea and Herbal Association of Canada and co-chair of the United Nations IGG Working Group on Tea and Health

    | FEATURED – Tea trade associations, research institutes, tea boards, tea brands, and the United Nations Intergovernmental Group on Tea (IGG/Tea) are organizing to collectively promote HASHTAG #TeaPower for International Tea Day, May 21. The online and event-based marketing program heralds the benefits of including tea in every high-energy fitness regimen, from organized sports and cycling to nature walks and solo ascents. Messaging targets youth, but the findings on dietary benefits and hydration are science-backed and essential to healthy living. Shabnam Weber, President of the Tea and Herbal Association of Canada and co-chair of the United Nations IGG Working Group on Tea and Health that developed the program. She discusses why HASHTAG #TeaPower is “the perfect pitch for younger generations looking to increase their performance and energy levels while staying healthy.”

    #TeaPower: A Call to Collaborate - In January, Shabnam Weber traveled to Guwahati, Assam, as one of 44 country delegates at the recently concluded 25th Session of the United Nations FAO Intergovernmental Group on Tea (IGG Tea). During the past two years, as co-chair of the Working Group on Tea and Health, she tirelessly promoted the merits of a unified global campaign to make the benefits of drinking tea relevant to younger generations. She says that HASHTAG Tea Power will generate a global buzz around tea and its role in improved fitness. “There is extensive evidence supporting tea benefits in sports and fitness performance and optimal hydration,” she explains. “These scientific findings provide the framework for a youth-focused campaign to encourage increased tea consumption.” We need to remember that our competition is not ourselves. That's a message for everybody in this industry: we are not the competition; the competition is other beverages. The only way for us to break through that noise is to work together.



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    33m | Mar 8, 2024
  • India Mandates Sale of Tea Dust at Auction

    India Tea News: Tata Tea Under Scrutiny | India Mandates Sale of All Grades of Tea Dust at Auction | Atul Asthana Resigns as MD and CEO of the Goodricke Group | Aravinda Anantharaman | Tea Biz Blog | Podcast Episode 157 |



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    2m | Mar 1, 2024
  • Tests of Indian Tea Reveals 42% Failure Rate | Kenya Tea Growers Report Double-digit Increase | Kumaon Growers Break Ground on Community-Owned Factory

    HEAR THE HEADLINES – Increased Food Safety Testing of Indian Tea Reveals 42% Failure Rate | Kenya Tea Growers Report Double-digit Increase in Volume | Kumaon Growers Break Ground on Their Community-Owned Factory

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    | NEWSMAKER – Joydeep Phukan, Secretary of India’s Tea Research Association and the Principal Officer at the Tocklai Tea Research Center in Jorhat, Assam

    | FEATURED – Coverage of the recently concluded 25th Session of the UN FAO Intergovernmental Group on Tea (IGG) continues this week as Managing Editor Arvinda Anantharaman debriefs Joydeep Phukan, Secretary of India’s Tea Research Association and the Principal Officer at the Tocklai Tea Research Center in Jorhat, Assam. They engage in a wide-ranging chat on the benefits of regenerative agriculture in combatting a changing climate, enhancing trade, elevating smallholders, and marketing healthy hydration to youth.

    Dispelling Gloom and Doom - Joydeep Phukan, the principal officer and Secretary of TRA, was the driving force behind the events, talks about what he hopes attendees took away from the events."There is a lot of negativity in the industry regarding prices and overproduction. Last year, 2023, was a very bad year for the tea industry globally," says Phukan. In this context, hosting the 25th FAO Intergovernmental Group on Tea (IGG) session, preceded by a two-day conference celebrating 200 years of Assam tea, was challenging. "We closed at nearly 450 delegates. I feel like this was a big learning lesson for the industry." He cites a marketing proposal targeting youth. We decided to initiate a campaign called #TeaPower in terms of sports, fitness, and wellness. Youths read every social media message, but tea consumption in Gen Alpha is 4%. That is a very small percentage, which was a big takeaway from the FAO session. On the topic of regenerative agriculture, much can be learned from India's cotton industry. "Tocklai has been suggesting that after you have grown tea for the past 50, you should uproot and rehabilitate the soil for at least 18 months to 24 months. So you plant different grasses and plants and apply biochar so the soil is regenerated, and then after two years of soil rehabilitation, you are ready to go for another maybe 30-40 years of planting." We are not in a very doom and gloom situation this year. We have the production now, and it is just finding the markets. And we’re lucky to have a very, very strong domestic market which is almost a dropping nearly 1,200 million kilos of tea," he said.



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    38m | Mar 1, 2024
  • Tea News Recap | March 1, 2024

    Hear the Headlines - Tea Biz

    Increased Food Safety Testing of Indian Tea Reveals 42% Failure Rate | Kenya Tea Growers Report Double-digit Increase in Volume and Record Payout | Kumaon Growers Break Ground on a Grower Community-Owned Factory | PLUS: Dispelling Tea Gloom and Doom | Joydeep Phukan, the Principal Officer and Secretary of India’s Tea Research Association (TRA), discusses reasons for optimism in 2024. | Dan Bolton | Tea Biz Blog | Podcast | Episode 157 | Learn more www.tea-biz.com



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    10m | Mar 1, 2024
  • Dispelling Tea Gloom and Doom

    Joydeep Phukan, the principal officer and Secretary of India’s Tea Research Association (TRA), observes, “There is a lot of negativity in the industry regarding prices and overproduction. Last year, 2023, was a bad year for the global tea industry.” In this context, hosting the 25th FAO Intergovernmental Group on Tea (IGG) session, preceded by a two-day conference celebrating 200 years of Assam tea, was challenging. Three weeks before the event, only 75 had registered, but “We closed at nearly 450 delegates. I feel like this was a big learning lesson for the industry.”

    In Tea Biz Blog | Podcast Episode 157, Managing Editor Aravinda Anantharaman debriefs Phukan on the two events. He cites as key takeaways #TeaPower, a marketing proposal targeting youth with a sports, fitness, and wellness theme.

    Regarding regenerative agriculture, “Tocklai now suggests that every 50 years, planters should uproot and rehabilitate the soil for at least 18 to 24 months, planting grasses and plants and applying biochar so the soil is regenerated. “Then, after two years of soil rehabilitation, you are ready to go for another, maybe 30-40 years of planting,” he said. There is less “doom and gloom” this year, he says. "We have the production now and are finding new markets. We’re lucky to have a robust domestic market which is dropping nearly 1,200 million kilos of tea a year,” he said.



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    20m | Mar 1, 2024
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