The National Tea Competition is held every year, to award and celebrate the best teas in the country. This year it was 77th time to hold it. It took place in Yame City, Fukuoka Prefecture and was held between 22nd-25th August.
All together 832 teas from 17 prefectures were submitted to the competition. They competed in 8 different categories: Regular Sencha 4kg, Regular Sencha 10kg, Fukamushicha, Kabusecha, Gyokuro, Tencha, Mushisei Tamaryokucha and Kamairicha. Gyokuro category had the largest number of submissions – 117, whereas Kamairicha had the least – 82. The winners of each category were:
- Regular Sencha 10kg – Mizobe Gokou in Kirishima City, Kagoshima Prefecture
- Regular Sencha 4kg – Akira Ozawa from Shizuoka Honyamacha in Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture
- Fukamushicha – Tomoaki Itou from Santou Chagyou Kumiai in Kakegawa City, Shizuoka Prefecture
- Kabusecha – Hishida Shigemasa from Maizuru Chaseisan Kumiai in Maizuru City, Kyoto Prefecture
- Gyokuro – Tsutomu Kurazumi from Yame City, Fukuoka Prefecture
- Tencha – Shogo Yamazaki from Uji City, Kyoto prefecture
- Tamaryokucha – Mine Takayuki from Ureshino Meicha Juku in Ureshino City, Saga Prefecture
- Kamairicha – Takako Yamaguchi from Ureshino Nanbu Kamairi Chagyou Kumiai in Ureshino City, Saga Prefecture
Besides the awards to individual producers, awards were also given to tea producing regions with the highest total score in each category. The list of the awarded regions is below:
- Regular Sencha (10kg) – Minamikyushu City, Kagoshima Prefecture
- Regular Sencha (4kg) – Kawane Honcho Town, Shizuoka Prefecture
- Fukamushicha – Kakegawa City, Shizuoka Prefecture
- Kabusecha – Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture
- Gyokuro – Yame City, Fukuoka Prefecture
- Tencha – Uji City, Kyoto Prefecture
- Mushisei Tamaryokucha – Ureshino City, Saga Prefecture
- Kamairicha – Ureshino City, Saga Prefecture
We send our sincere congratulations to all the winners!
*The list of all competition entries and their ranking in Japanese can be found here.