Tea plantes at a normal farm are just over 10 years old,but the plants at FUJISAKO TEA ESTATE have been around for over 60 years old.

Tea plants at a normal plantation only thrive for a dozen years or so. If the tea plant itself has the ability to live for several hundred years, then why can they only produce for just over ten?

1. Pesticides and chemical fertilizers

The use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers causes the tea plant’s natural immunity to drop, inhibiting natural resistance to disease and pests. It’s said that the potency of the antioxidants and the immunity levels of the tea plant are so high insects aren’t attracted and don’t eat it. It’s though that excessive absorption of pesticides and chemical fertilizers quickly causes the plant’s natural immunity and antioxidant levels to deteriorate.

2. Excessive selective breeding

An obsession with selective breeding has been caused by the huge importance placed on taste and color. Breeds that are produced naturally hold within them Nature’s living force. Yabukita is originally a selectively bred tea that makes up over 90% of the tea grown in Japan today. Indigenous varieties (tea plants that have passed on their seeds over the course of many years of natural crossbreeding and are unique to Japan) were selected and crossed for their color and flavor as well as high resistance to cold and disease. Yabukita is now an established tea, along with other cultivars such as Tamamidori.

Without agricultural chemicals or chemical fertilizers it is difficult to produce superior quality teas, even Yabukita. In contrast to the indigenous Yamacha, present in Japan since long ago and still grown today, Benifuuki is an artificially bred variety that is established today as a high quality tea.

Benifuuki’s ancestor, Benihomare, was originally brought into Japan in the latter 1880′s from the Assam region of India, famous for its black tea. From the Indian black teas, those best suited to Japan’s environment were chosen and became popular throughout the country, coming to be known as “Indocha”, literally “India Tea”.

3. Introduction of heavy machinery

Excessive focus on improving efficiency has led to the introduction of heavy machinery into tea cultivation. These heavy machines, with their enormous caterpillar tracks, are driven through the tea fields. The soil, which must be fertile to make tea, is firmly trodden down. The roots of the tea plants don’t grow sufficiently large and cannot extend deep into the earth. This means nutrients cannot be absorbed, resulting in short-lived tea plants.

A shortened lifespan is attributed to the loss of the tea plant’s vitality. When it comes to selling the tea, the general belief is that after around fifteen years quality begins to deteriorate. Without disputing whether this is true or not, the tea plants are eventually uprooted and replaced. The truth is that by refraining from the use of heavy machinery, pesticides and chemical fertilizers, the tea plants can live well beyond this age.

It’s commonly believed that the introduction of heavy machinery for mass production corresponds to reduced numbers of agricultural workers, leading to lower labor costs and increased profits. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The price for one of these machines ranges on average from 5 to 10 million yen. One tea farmer usually owns two or three large farming machines. At the very least every farmer has debts of 10 million yen. The heavy machinery was introduced to facilitate mass production and boost profits, but the farmers are causing their own downfall with the very mass production methods they are using. 

Pure bred domestic species cultivate from the seed

Tea leaves are usually grown from seedlings, but at Fujisako Tea Estate, we cultivate our teas from the seed itself. Our seeds are not “F1 hybrids” but pure bred domestic varieties or those that have been selectively bred from domestic varieties.

It takes approximately fifteen years before tea plants cultivated from seeds can first be harvested. For plants grown from seedlings, harvesting is usually possible after about three years.

It was either three years or fifteen. Considering the obvious differences in the time and effort required, the decision was by no means an easy one to make.

The raw materials for the organic fertilizer we use at Fujisako Tea Estate don’t contain chemicals or material from livestock sources, such as cow, pig or chicken dung. The main reason for this is that animal by-products contain invisible carryover – residues from inorganic animal feed.

All our raw materials are produced in Kumamoto Prefecture, on Kyushu, a large island in southern Japan. We’re very particular about where we source our raw materials, particularly after the earthquake and tsunami of March 11 2011 and the radioactive contamination that followed. We perform rigorous traceability checks to ensure the raw materials we use aren’t contaminated.

We use brown sugar or the husks of non-genetically modified soy beans, blended with dried sardines or seaweed as the main raw materials for our fertilizer. This is then broken down by several kinds of helpful bacteria that exist symbiotically in a give-and-take relationship – if one kind of bacteria is not working, the others will perish and the fertilizer will rot and become useless. To ensure this doesn’t happen, we pay the utmost attention to the maintenance and management of our fertilizer.

Fertilizer takes about half a year to make. During decomposition the activity of the bacteria raises the temperature inside the mulch to around 70º Celsius. This fertilizer is the little “helping hand” we give to the tea.

The bacteria are multiplying in the soil on the estate right this minute. We almost never have to apply additional fertilizer – the earth itself is alive. This is nature’s way.

Tackling airborne pesticides

Fujisako Tea Estate is surrounded by mountains over 700 meters. A windbreak forest protects the estate from airborne pesticides that are carried in on northwesterly winds.

The tea farms in the surrounding area do use chemical fertilizers and pesticides. We sacrificed a portion of our estate to plant a windbreak forest. The trees over three meters tall and grow naturally, protecting the tea plants. This maximizes our defenses against the airborne chemicals from the northwest.

The windbreak forest has been growing for over 30 years. The combination of this and other protective measures has eliminated residual pesticides from the estate. Agricultural chemicals have not been detected at Fujisako Tea Estate (certification held).

A tea estate without heavy machinery.

It takes considerable time and effort to grow tea and, from the point of view of labor, large machinery is extremely useful. The use of heavy equipment offsets the workload, but we don’t use any at Fujisako Tea Estate because of the excessive weight.

The caterpillar tracks of heavy machinery compact the soil impeding the tea’s growth. The roots of the tea plant cannot grow large nor can they extend deep into the soil. This means the tea cannot properly absorb nutrients and each plant’s lifespan is shortened.

When presented with the choice between the life of the tea or reduced labor, we chose the tea.