About us

It all started with a love for Japanese tea and the challenge of finding authentic, high-quality tea outside Japan. The journey began during a year spent living in India, where I worked as a software engineer for HP.

I often traveled to Japan to bring back treats; the most popular ones were kakinotane and sugarcane soil tea. My friends in the USA and India did not like Japanese tea's bitterness, but the tea grown in sugarcane soil was known to reduce the bitterness and astringency.

The tea quickly became a favorite among friends thanks to its sugarcane-enriched soil. When a friend asked for more tea for their wedding, I tried ordering it online but faced frustrating roadblocks with international shipping and credit card payments being declined for international transactions.

After numerous attempts, I picked up the phone and made an international call (back when those weren’t cheap!) to the farm, hoping they could ship the tea.

That experience inspired me to share this exceptional tea with others outside Japan.

Back in the USA, I introduced this exceptional tea to a broader audience. What began as a small venture in 2015 evolved into Japanese Green Tea Co. Our teas, cultivated using the Chagusaba method—a time-honored technique that enhances flavor while promoting sustainability—have earned multiple Global Tea Championship awards.

As our journey grew, Miki, our Chief Branding Officer, joined the team, bringing a fresh, modern approach to our packaging and branding. Her innovative designs set our teas apart and helped us cultivate a loyal community of tea lovers worldwide.

Today, we serve customers across the USA, Canada, Australia, the UK, and the EU, sharing Japan’s rich tea heritage. Whether you’re a seasoned enthusiast or new to Japanese tea, we invite you to experience the “wow moments” and the exceptional quality of this unique tea in every sip.
Welcome to Japanese Green Tea Co.!

Humble Beginnings and a Bright Future

Founded in 1948 by Mr. Arahata Eizo, Arahataen Green Tea Farms spans 17 acres and employs 55 staff who cultivate, process, and package award-winning tea on-site.

Since 1969, Arahataen has led the Fukamushi Research Group (深むし研究会 天狗会), pioneering advanced steaming technology for better flavor. It was also the first to use cleanroom techniques for pu-erh tea, ensuring bacteria-free fermentation.

The farm has won numerous accolades, including the prestigious Japanese National Tea Award in 1974, 1975, 1979, and 2010 and the National Quality of Tea Award and Shizuoka Furusato Prize. Today, Japanese Green Tea Co. proudly serves as Arahataen’s exclusive distributor outside Japan.

A Lasting Passion for Better Dirt and Japan’s Best-Selling Tea

Arahataen Farms combines innovative soil cultivation methods, like the Chagusaba technique and research collaborations with Shizuoka University, to produce high-quality tea that became Japan’s #1 best-selling green tea online through Rakuten Inc. in 2016, 2017, and 2019.

Sweeter Soil Cultivation with the Chagusaba Method

Chagusaba (茶草場) is an ancient farming method that uses human-made and natural grasslands to enhance soil fertility. This labor-intensive process takes thousands of hours every season, but tea farmers find it worthwhile for the crop quality it produces.

Practiced by Shizuoka farmers for centuries, grasses are grown throughout tea plantations in the summer months and later cut down to form an insulating layer to prevent the ground from freezing. Sugar cane and syrup are also added to the soil to enhance its sweetness.

By enriching, protecting, and revitalizing the soil beneath each tea tree, the chagusaba method sweetens the taste of each tea leaf by keeping plant roots warm and well-nourished throughout the winter. As the mulch breaks down in the spring, it adds much-needed silicic aid to the base of each tree, enriching the soil and preventing roots from getting burned from too much nitrogen.

Contain Better Flavor with Deep Steaming Technology

After they are picked, steaming tea leaves is necessary to stop oxidation. Most green tea is steamed for 30 seconds before being rolled and dried, creating a brew that leaves you with a bitter taste.

In contrast, the sunny yet foggy conditions throughout the Shizuoka region where it grows creates a firmer tea leaf, which needs longer steaming to release the complex flavors contained within. This means that our tea undergoes ‘deep steaming’ (aka the fukamushi method 深蒸し) for almost two minutes—four times longer than regular tea!

Only thick, sun-soaked leaves benefit from deep steaming. After years of research and study, the proprietary steaming machine used for every batch was developed specifically for our tea. Today, it is the leading streaming technology in Japan and the world.

More extended processing leads to a bolder flavor filled with the health-enhancing amino acid theanine. Every cup provides a robust taste, a smoother mouthfeel, a subtle hint of sweetness, and far less astringency.