Help Guide - Choosing Green Tea Wisely

This is a useful guide to help you understand what to look out for when buying organic green tea (or conventional green tea) from Japan.

JAS CERTIFIED ORGANIC GREEN TEA:

When buying organic green tea from Japan you need to make sure that it has the JAS mark. The JAS mark is the certificate given and accredited by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) of Japan and is the ONLY certificate based on a legal system in Japan.

An example of a JAS label

JAS labels come in either the form of a sticker or are printed directly on the tea packet/tin. In the example shown to the right you can see a row of Japanese characters below the JAS logo. That is the certifying agencies name which is always shown under the JAS mark. Other optional details that might be included on the label are the JAS Associate/ID number (seen in the example under the certifying agencies name), farm's name, lot number, and a code/expiration date.
JAS labeling can only be done by the farmer who is certified by the JAS certification body, or a certified importer that is compliant with JAS regulations. If you can't find the JAS mark on the tea packet/tin and the green tea is being sold as organic it is highly suspicious.

FIRST HARVEST GREEN TEA:

First harvest Japanese green tea has always been prized as the best tea. It has far higher levels of nutrients, better flavor and aroma and has always been drunk by those that are seeking the greatest amount of health benefits from their tea. For these reasons first harvest Japanese green tea always carries a higher price tag.
When you buy Japanese green tea it is important to check what harvest the tea has come from. Once you try first harvest Japanese green tea it is difficult to switch back to drinking anything lesser.

CHEMICALS & FERTILIZERS:

Modern day application of pesticides on Japanese tea bushes

There are many claims on the Internet about how safe conventional Japanese green teas are, and it can be difficult to avoid this type of spin. Regrettably, these type of white lies are only used solely to benefit vendors, but not for the greater good of the consumer. This practice continues to hinder genuine customers that are in search of a truly safe and healthy cup of Japanese green tea.
The truth is, Japan's mainstream farmers use agricultural chemicals the same as any other industrialized countries farmers. Conventional green tea farmers in Japan use an assortment of pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides frequently throughout the year. Tea leaves are never washed before they are processed! Furthermore, chemical fertilizers are used to force feed the tea bushes providing extremely unbalanced nutrition and causing them severe stress. The unbalanced nutrition in the chemical fertilizers is taken up into the plant's water supply and is a proven cause of attracting more and more pest insects resulting in more and more applications of pesticides. In addition, chemical fertilizers also destroy and deplete the fragile microbiology that makes soil productive. Many Japanese tea farmers who have made the switch from conventional to organic farming will quite happily tell you all about the dangers of conventional green tea.

HIGH QUALITY, PREMIUM, ORGANIC GREEN TEA LABELING BY RETAILERS AND/OR ONLINE SHOPS:

WARNING! This can be very deceiving tea for the fact that any retailer and/or online shop can purchase and label Japanese green tea as high quality, premium and/or organic. Often this tea is from the lowest quality tea leaves sold in bulk, not organic, and repackaged and relabeled by retailers and/or online shops. We have seen numerous instances of this on the Internet, and on auction sites.

LOCATION:

Most consumers outside of Japan only know the Uji and Shizuoka tea growing regions because they are the most famed, but don't disregard tea from other regions! There are many other renowned tea growing regions in Japan that produce their own distinctive tea, and in some cases their tea can actually be better than tea from Uji and/or Shizuoka. Each tea growing region has its own complex geographical features. These features make their tea distinctive and characterized to that particular green tea producing region.
When considering location it is also important to consider the farmer who is making the green tea. The best green tea comes from the farmers who have a deep understanding of tea cultivation, and the farms which have been farming for hundreds of years using the traditional methods of producing Japanese green tea.

FRESHNESS:

The best green tea is always fresh from the source. Green tea which is sold outside of Japan from foreign retailers has often spent months in ocean transit before it is shelved in stores. That is why it is always advisable to purchase green tea directly from Japan.

PACKAGING:

The packet should be the original packet which left the factory, on or close to the farm, which processes the Japanese green tea. If the green tea packet has been opened and repackaged it often loses its quality, is handled in uncontrolled conditions and is often relabeled differently to what the content actually is.

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