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.