The Origin of Sayama-tea
Sayama-tea is well known partly because it is produced in Saitama, a next-door neighbor to Capital Tokyo. When did it come to be produced and become familiar to people?
There seems to be many theories about the origin of tea. According to an ancient document, the origin seems to date back to the 1200s. It was about the time Marco Polo traveled around the world, therefore, without doubt tea began to be drunk hundreds of years ago.
Sayama-tea is still “undiscovered” in the world
Sayama-tea is a general term for Japanese tea cultivated mainly in Saitama prefecture. Around the 13th century, tea bushes began to be cultivated at temples in Japan to make medicine. In the mid-1800s, tea bushes for drinks came to be widely cultivated. At the time of high economic growth, tea cultivation in Sayama was severely affected by the urbanization of the area because of the proximity to Tokyo. But many tea farms survived that pressure and about 200 tea farms continue to produce Sayama-tea still now.
Sayama-tea is cultivated and processed in Iruma-city, Sayama-city, and Tokorozawa-city in the southwest part of Saitama prefecture. As Sayama-tea plants are grown in cold climate for tea, leaves become thick. It leads to rich and deep aroma, full body, and sweetness of Sayama-tea.
In the world, Shizuoka, a leading producer of Japanese tea, and Uji, a matcha producer, are prominent. On the other hand, in Sayama, most of the tea farms are small-scale, and they produce only 2% of Japanese tea(raw leaves in 2018). Therefore, they have not tried hard to export their tea so far.
Sayama-tea is distinctive for its tea quality. Farms employ a unique method in producing tea, that is, ”Home cultivation, Home processing, Home marketing”. Small-scale farmers cultivate tea plants with care, and attentively process the tea leaves at their own factories and sell the products at their own shops. This method inevitably brings out high-quality tea.
Color is Shizuoka, Aroma is Uji, but Taste is best with Sayama-tea.
This is the lyrics of an old song "Sayama Tea Raising Song(Iruma Area)". We have heard this song for many years, but the source is unclear.
One theory is that it is a proverb passed down in Iruma area. Another theory is that it was written for tea makers to promote Sayama-tea.
This theory may not be false.
What the above song says is not proved based on scientific data. But in recent years, studies have been carried out on the components of tea.
Tokyo Kasei Gakuin University conducted research as follows.
They chose three tea specialty stores in Kyoto, Saitama, and Uji-city in Kyoto and purchased sample teas at the price ranges of ￥500, ￥1000, ¥1500 per 100g. In total, they obtained 27 kinds of tea and analyzed the components. Using the tea of ¥1500 per 100g, which should be higher in quality, they compared the amount of free amino acid, caffeine, and tannin in each tea. As a result, Uji-tea was lowest in all the three components and Sayama-tea was highest in caffeine and tannin and about the same in amino acid as Shizuoka-tea. This research shows that Sayama-tea is rich in components.
The result seems to show us that Sayama-tea has more umami, bitterness and astringency than the others, that is, Sayama-tea is rich and delicious.
Diversity that comes from“Home cultivation, Home processing, Home marketing”
In Sayama, family-owned small-scale farms cultivate tea plants at their own garden, process the tea leaves at their own factories, and sell the tea products at their own stores. This is a unique method, different from large-scale tea producers, which collect tea leaves from all over Japan, process tea leaves jointly, keep the products jointly, and transact in large quantities. On the other hand, the taste of tea produced in Sayama is different from farm to farm. It means that more than 200 varieties of Japanese tea flavor are produced in Sayama. Wide range of tea varieties is one of the important characteristics of Sayama-tea.
We hope you will find your favorite cup of tea out of our numerous tea varieties.
To help you experience the miracle, NPO Agriculture Support Team in Saitama started
"Single Origin Tea Branding Strategy Project" in 2018.