Boost for Ceylon Tea in Japan

Stemming from effects of the diverse agro-climatic conditions of Sri Lanka, speciality Ceylon Tea has been synonymous with excellent quality and taste for over a century. As part of a program to specifically promote straight line Garden Marks and Single Origin Estate teas of Sri Lanka, the "Ceylon Speciality Estate Teas of the Year" competition was launched in Japan by the Sri Lanka Tea Board and the private sector tea trade in consultation with the Japan Tea Association recently. The event was well accepted by the Japanese tea connoisseurs and the tea traders alike, which has given a tremendous momentum to Ceylon Speciality Tea in Japan.

This speciality tea promotion project was launched for the first time by the Sri Lanka tea industry in USA during the year 2000, and again in 2002 and 2008. This is the fourth occasion that the event has been carried out, and it is the first of its kind to be held in Japan.

"The Ceylon Speciality Estate Teas of the Year competition was launched with the objectives of promoting speciality tea in international markets whilst recognizing and rewarding Sri Lankan tea factories for excellence in manufacturing and to encourage them to continuously manufacture and market top quality single origin unblended teas", said Sri Lanka Tea Board, Director Promotions, Hasitha De Alwis. "The main aim of scheduling the Ceylon estate tea of the year competition in Japan was to take advantage of the tremendous popularity of the tea houses concept in that country and since both straight line Garden Marks and Single Origin Estate teas show a good potential of marketing directly to end-consumers," he said.

This event was considered extremely important to rekindle the popularity of Ceylon tea amongst the Japanese consumers especially since Japan is considered as the most sophisticated tea market in the world with great opportunities for expansion with expensive garden fresh speciality teas. It was intentionally scheduled just prior to the FOODEX 2010 exhibition in Japan in order to effectively utilize it as a platform to promote the winning teas, as well as to advertise the sales propositions. The Japan FOODEX Exhibition is undisputedly considered as the largest food and trade exposition in the entire Pacific Rim where approximately 100,000 business visitors gather once a year.

The competition was advertised to the trade through the tea brokering community last year. A total of 441 entries were received for the agro-climatic tea categories as well as the newly introduced innovative speciality tea category - which added a new dimension to this year's competition. The entries selected for final judging were of a very high standard and it was a tough task for the expert panel of independent tea-tasters from the private sector - jointly with the Sri Lanka Tea Board - to go through the samples in December 2009 and short-list the entries which were then dispatched to Japan for the final competition. 40 entries obtained eligibility to participate in the final contest in Japan.

All the winning speciality teas were displayed at the Sri Lanka Tea Board booth within the Sri Lanka pavilion at FOODEX 2010. The winning teas were canvassed to Japanese buyers and customers during the entire exhibition period from March 2 to 5. The project itself had also been publicized to members of the Japanese tea trade several weeks before the competition.

An eminent panel of specialized tea-tasters from Japan supported by a couple of members from Sri Lanka evaluated the finalists to select the winners of the competition during March 2010 in Tokyo, Japan. Each of the seven agro-climatic regions as well as the innovative category had a Gold winner (first place), Silver winner (second place) and Bronze winner (third place).

All the winning teas and runners-up of the 40 entries which were sent to Japan were included in the sales offer that was allocated to the highest bidders. Due to the tireless dedication of the Sri Lanka team, the majority of the winning teas were sold at record prices.

The highest bid went to Lovers' Leap, OP at Japanese yen 24,000 (Sri Lankan Rupees 30,000) per kilo purchased by Musica Tea House in Osaka. The gold winner of the Innovative category, "Jayachakra" of Lumbini Tea Gardens also received a record price of Japanese Yen 20,000 (Sri Lankan Rupees 26,250) per kilo from F.T.I. Corporation in Kobe. The sales bids of the Japanese buyers for the winning teas in each of the categories were opened on March 5, and the proceeds amounting to 3.55 Million Yen (Rs. 4.6 Million) will be utilized for charitable projects involving the welfare of families in the tea sector.

The winners of the competition were presented with Gold, Silver and Bronze awards at the Awards Ceremony graced by the Ambassador of Japan Kunio Takahashi on May 5 at the Hotel Ceylon Continental in Colombo amidst a gathering of eminent personalities from the tea industry.

The competition provided immense promotional mileage for Ceylon tea in Japan whilst helping the popularization of winning garden marks among tea connoisseurs who patronize speciality tea houses/tea shops in "the land of the cherry blossoms".

While the project re-emphasized the power of close partnership between the public and private sector, it is hailed as a model case study of sustainability for a Corporate Social Responsibility program in the tea industry since the proceeds go towards funding several projects relating to the welfare of tea plantations/estate workers.

The Tea Board is making arrangements to hold the next speciality tea promotion event in the Russian Federation during 2011.