Here is a general article on a genre that many ignore, Japanese black teas, which are often referred to here as “wakôcha” (和紅茶). If these represent only a tiny part of tea production in Japan, the fact remains that since the 2010s, it is probably the area that the most dynamic in Japan, going from a production still very poor in the 2000s to a very interesting production, sometimes even of immense quality since the last few years.
However, we should not believe that the production of black tea in Japan is something new.
This is a particularly fascinating, and surprising for many, part of the Japanese tea history, but the tea industry in Japan has been develop and evolve rapidly during the 2nd part of the 19th century (mechanization, beginning of cultivar selection, contest, etc.), essentially around sencha as a product for export to the Western countries, the United States in particular. While this venture was a great success, the authorities could not ignore the growing demand in the West for black tea. Thus, the government undertook to set up a production of black tea in Japan, but for this it was necessary to get the necessary techniques. The first attempt was to bring in Chinese specialists to run the production. The tea thus produced failed to convince foreign traders. In 1875 and 1876, Tada Motokichi, former warrior vassal of Shogun Tokugawa converted into tea production in Mariko (Shizuoka) after the imperial Meiji restoration of 1868, was sent by the government to China then to India and Ceylon to study there black tea production techniques.
He also brought back seeds from Assam from which was selected the very first Japanese black tea dedicated cultivar known today as Benihomaré. Tada Motokichi could be considered the father of Japanese black tea.
In the 1930s, during the period of great global economic crisis, Japan took advantage of the restrictions on the export of tea in force in India, to export its black tea, about 6400 tons in 1932. However, despite constant efforts during the 20th century and until the end of the 1960s, Japan never succeeded in establishing itself as a significant player in the world of black tea.
In 1953, when an official cultivar registration was made for the first time, 5 of the 15 were black tea varieties (Benihomare, Indo, Hatsu-momiji, Benitachiwase, Akane). However, while around 120 cultivar are registered today, only five additional black tea varieties will be registered afterwards (Benikaori, Benifuji and Satsumabeni in 1960, Benihikari in 1969, and finally the famous Benifûki in 1993). In short, we see the efforts, in vain, running out of steam. Karabeni, resulting from selection in Shizuoka among seeds introduced from Hubei in China in the 60s is not registered (at the same time from these seeds, we select in Miyazaki the cultivar Yamanami for kamairicha), as well as Benitsukuba (the unique cultivar created in Ibaraki).
After the war, and until 1971, the Japanese government controlled the international tea trade and thus forced Japanese companies to buy black tea produced in Japan in order to be able to import foreign black tea (of better quality, and of course cheaper ). When the government ends this system, locally produced black tea is no longer needed, and its production ceases abruptly and almost completely.
This production of black tea was then supported artificially (since nobody really wanted it), and was the result of second harvests. Clearly, these black teas were produced with plantations cultivated for the primary purpose of making sencha (therefore the importance of umami). It was difficult in these conditions to make good black tea anyway.
The mini-drama in this affair is that Benihikari, fresh out of research center, could not achieve fame when ones saw many qualities in it.
Of course, the development of black tea cultivars comes to a halt. So Benifûki was the last to be created. It takes more than 20 years to register a cultivar, which brings us to 1993 when it was selected in 1965 from a cross between Benihomare and a tea plant made from a seed from Darjeeling.
While it was recorded at a time when black tea production in Japan is almost nonexistent, what has overwhelmingly made Benifûki the most widely used of these cultivar is not its quality as black tea, but its high level of methyl catechin supposed to have effects on allergies, demonstrated in 1999. This is how this tea variety begins to spread little by little, not to make black tea, but green tea (the catechins oxidize and disappear during the manufacture of black tea).
At the same time, a handful of die-hards continue to strive to make black tea while aiming for a certain quality. We are starting to see an interest in Japanese black tea, which we start to call wakôcha, sometimes jikôcha in the mid-2000s. But it is only in recent years that we have finally seen quality wakôcha, with a large variety, taking advantage of both black tea cultivars (“beni” type) and green tea cultivars that lend themselves well to it (Kôshun, Minami-sayaka, or even the phenomenal Izumi).
If these truly delectable products seem to come mostly from small-scale productions that might be difficult to replicate on a larger scale, that doesn’t seem like a problem to me. I think that Japan should remain the country of green tea (even steamed), and that black tea production is only of interest if it is of high quality (and of course with typical Japanese characteristics). A very high-quality black tea can also prove to be a particularly interesting help for producers in unknown regions. Black tea becomes the medium that puts them forward, allowing them to also present their sencha for example.
It should be noted the appearance of several annual events and contest around Japanese black tea, organized not by Japanese tea specialists, but by black tea specialists, showing the recognition acquired by the wakôcha.
However, we are still only halfway there, and much remains to be done.
Categories: History
Japanese Tea Sommelier 
Thank you for introducing me to it. I greatly enjoyed the ones I already tried and am looking forward to explore more through your well selected recommendations.
Interesting that Google Translate translates 和紅茶 as Japanese Black tea, despite the fact that the first kanji does not mean Japanese. But its meaning makes it even more touching.
You’re welcome.
Actually the character 和 does have the meaning of “japanese”. In example you have 和食 washoku which mean Japanese style cuisine by opposition to 洋食 yoshoku, western cuisine. Etc.
Thank you. I am just a humble beginner learner of the language. And the cuisine :-).
I always assumed the translation of 和食 as “Japanese cuisine” to explicitly point a type of Japanese cuisine which relies on harmony, implying the rest does less so (whether the rest of the non-Japanese or other ways of cooking/serving inside Japan). For sure terms like 日本食 and 日本料理 are more inclusive for all the food eaten in Japan.
A point equating the Japanese ways with harmony and cerenity. And suggesting the opposite should be true as well – a cusine so harmonious brings the quality of Japan. It is for sure part of our shared love for the Japaneseness.
Will search deeper into ti – thank you for bringing it up. On to a cup of one of your teas!
Very interesting article! I find myself wanting fresh senchas most of the time, but I definitely have cravings for black tea on occasion. I liked how the black tea could be used as a tonic for allergies due to methyl catechin. Great post!
Thank you for your comment.
Methyl catechin is said to have effect on allergies, but during the black tea process, catechins get oxidized and became other component. There is no catechin in black tea. So to get Benifuki methyl catechin, you have to drink it as green tea.