For Japan’s OSADA Seicha Co., Ltd. (Osada Seicha), founded in 1948, the biggest trend in the global tea industry continues to be organic teas – “…from black tea to green tea and everything in between,” said Natsumi Osada, the company’s president and director.
The award-winning Osada Seicha business is primarily a wholesale organics tea manufacturer that ships around the world, but it also has a mail order division, an online store under its Osada Tea Japan brand, and a retail store, Osadaen Honten. The retail shop opened in 1999 and the Osada Seicha business has been operating for more than 70 years.
Located in Mori-Machi, West Shizuoka, close to the mountains, Osada Seicha has a 35-year history of working with organic farmers around the Tenryu District, especially Isagawa (“organic valley”) in the Haruno Village. The company’s tea gardens – located in Morimachi, Kakegawa, Fukuroi and Iwata – are all managed by a separate company, Shuchi Noen Co.
(Photo: Courtesy of OSADA Seicha Co., Ltd. )
Osada Seicha offers every Japanese variety of tea – organic – as well as their original, black koji fermented tea: Yamabuki Nadeshiko (more on that later). Osada said his company works both ends of the spectrum – specialty and cultivar organic teas plus bulk wholesale. Their main mission is to deliver teas from distinctive and innovative farms – including those that have honed the art of organic agriculture – and share them with customers around the world.
“Our organic teas are mainly produced in the Isagawa area of Tenryu-ku, Hamamatsu, a neighboring district/area – say about a 40-minute drive north into the mountains from Mori-Machi,” said Osada. “We have them produce not only steamed sencha, but also kama-fired tea, black tea, oolong tea and tencha aracha. We also produce organic dark tea using these organic ingredients from the same area. Matcha is produced in the Tenryu district, and we aim to produce matcha that is fresh, strong, of single origin and blend, and which is overall easy to drink, which is different from Uji [green tea from Uji]. We are striving to meet a variety of needs from bulk to less seen single origin of various tea cultivars.”
Osada Seicha’s top-selling tea is their organic sencha. “I see matcha and genmaicha go in large orders but, alas, sencha seems to be top still,” shared Osada.
A Commitment to Organic Farming, the Environment & Sustainability
Osada Seicha has a strong commitment to organic farming, the environment and sustainability. “Our organic tea garden in the Isagawa area of Haruno village is produced without pesticides and chemical fertilizers,” explained Osada. “We also try to minimize pest control in other fields, so as not to burden the environment as much as possible.” In fact, Osada himself is constantly urging farmers who have tea fields in the right areas to switch to organic farming. Right now, Isagawa is 100 percent organic but some areas of Haruno or Tatsuyama (part of Tenryu) are making the change, which requires three years of work. As part of their sustainability efforts, Osada Seicha also installed solar panels on the roof of their factory to provide clean energy.
In terms of tea production issues and challenges, Osada believes the biggest problem they face – as well as the industry – is the lack of successors due to low tea prices and the resulting increase in number of tea gardens that are in disrepair. “In Japan, especially in Shizuoka Prefecture, there is a lack of successors to producers,” Osada said. “Young people do not take up farming in tea gardens where machinery is not available because it is too difficult to manage.”
Osada added, “In particular, tea plantations in Shizuoka are mostly on mountain slopes, which are difficult to manage even with machinery, making it difficult for the younger generation to become farmers.”
(Photo: Courtesy of OSADA Seicha Co., Ltd. )
For the recent 2022 tea season, it seems that “…the mountain teas did very well,” according to Osada, and the company is proud of how it successfully works with producers to create organic products that customers want, thus connecting Japanese producers with tea enthusiasts around the world.
“We can produce a positive feedback loop of purchasing the organic teas – which supports the farmers and stimulates the area the tea comes from – and meet the need of organic demand from overseas,” noted Osada.
An Innovative Tea: Yamabuki Nadeshiko
What makes Osada Seicha unique, as compared to other tea businesses in Japan? Osada said it’s their Yamabuki Nadeshiko. “It is a one-of-a-kind product that no other company has,” he explained.
Yamabuki Nadeko is a new Japanese tea made with a patented manufacturing method – microbial control fermentation – that incorporates sake production techniques into the tea.
(Photo: Courtesy of OSADA Seicha Co., Ltd. )
(Photo: Courtesy of OSADA Seicha Co., Ltd. )
To make the tea, Osada Seicha collaborated with a Japanese yeast professional who makes sake and utilized the organic leaf from Isagawa, Haruno. The tea leaves are fermented in a clean room with black koji mold, which is frequently used in the production of awamori, a liquor that’s unique to Okinawa, Japan.
This method makes Yamabuki Nadeshiko an innovative, non-traditional dark tea among Japanese tea types. It’s often likened to pu'erh tea, however, it has a mellow flavor and highly fruity aroma for a fermented tea.
Osada said the Osada Seicha team consistently receives different flavor reviews and descriptions of the Yamabuki Nadeshiko tea – all positive – from partners and buyers from around the world. In fact, Osada Seicha employees typically select and enjoy this tea on a day-to-day basis.
(Photo: Courtesy of OSADA Seicha Co., Ltd. )
Strong Interest in Japanese Tea, Exports on the Rise
On average, the Osada Seicha tea business is seeing more and more sales in the United States as Gen Z and Millennials pay more attention to Japanese tea. “The younger they are, the more they choose Japanese tea instead of coffee,” said Osada.
At the moment, because of the strong interest in Japanese tea, Osada Seicha exports about 15 percent of its total volume of tea products and has some big buyers outside of Japan. Last year, they exported 15 tons total, and the company is now hoping to increase that number and expand their business in the United States.
“We do not blend our teas as much as possible, and we are particular about making teas that show the producer's face and their beautiful farms,” shared Osada. “We are looking for wholesale customers who share this background and can grow together with us, and who are working hard to expand delicious and organic Japanese teas of all grades and levels.”
To learn more about OSADA Seicha Co., Ltd. and its products and wholesale business, visit OsadaTeaJapan.com.
Aaron Kiel, based in Raleigh, N.C., has worked in the beverage, tea and coffee industries for nearly two decades. He’s a journalist and writer at heart, but he also wears a PR hat through his consultancy, ak PR Group. He works as the editor of World Tea News with Questex’s Bar & Restaurant Group, and he’s served the tea community through Questex’s World Tea Conference + Expo (co-located with Bar & Restaurant Expo) since 2010. Contact him here.
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