Honoring Tradition, Embracing Innovation: Chatsutei’s New Brand-Delicious Japanese Tea Laboratory-【Numazu City, Shizuoka Prefecture】

Located in Numazu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Chatsutei is a tea company with a rich history dating back to 1909. Guided by the philosophy of  preserving the authentic taste of Japanese tea,  Chatsutei is now led by fourth-generation representative Takahiro Uematsu, who is driving the creation of products that blend traditional tea-making techniques with contemporary demands. One standout offering is their signature Sommelier Blend Sencha, now being reimagined through their new brand, Delicious Japanese Tea(Nihoncha) Laboratory. These carefully crafted products and creative new ways to savor them, developed by skilled tea masters to showcase the multifaceted allure of Japanese tea, are designed to appeal to a younger generation. This fresh approach has garnered significant media attention, highlighting Chatsutei’s commitment to heritage and modern tastes.

In this article, we explore the charm of Chatsutei’s traditional teas and the inspiration behind the launch of its new brand, Delicious Japanese Tea Laboratory, featuring an exclusive interview with Chatsutei’s president, Takahiro Uematsu.

About Chatsutei

Founded in 1909 and based in Numazu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Chatsutei is a long-established tea company dedicated to preserving the authentic taste of Japanese tea. The company engages in tea manufacturing and wholesale, as well as in-store and online retail sales.

Currently led by fourth-generation president Takahiro Uematsu, Chatsutei continues its mission of sharing Japanese tea’s rich tradition and flavor with the world.

Chatsutei’s team includes three certified Japanese Tea Instructors, ensuring a solid support system to consistently provide customers with the finest Japanese tea.

Introduction to Tea at Chatsutei

Chatsutei offers a wide range of products, including its flagship Sommelier Blend Sencha and the premium bottled Liquid Tea. The recently launched brand, Delicious Japanese Tea(Nihoncha) Laboratory, aims to introduce young people to Japanese tea in fresh and innovative ways. This new brand proposes unique experiences, such as Japanese tea-infused raw bean paste, capturing the attention of numerous media outlets.

Below are some of Chatsutei’s featured products.

Sommelier Blend Sencha

The Sommelier Blend Sencha is crafted from premium gaju-gata tea leaves—fewer leaves are allowed to bloom on each tea tree, concentrating the flavor in every bud.

This exceptional blend combines a variety of tea types, including the popular Yabukita, the vibrant and sweet Sae Midori, and the rich, full-bodied Yutaka Midori.

Expertly finished by Chatsutei’s skilled tea masters, Sommelier Blend Sencha offers a complex, deep aroma that can only be achieved through blending, delivering a unique and layered tea experience that single-variety teas cannot match.

Liquid Tea: Honyama Hakuyocha Special Edition

A meticulously crafted bottled tea, with an extraction process carefully designed to bring out the full potential of the rare and distinctive Honyama Hakuyocha, ensuring an exceptional tea experience.

Honyama Hakuyocha is produced using special cultivation techniques, including sunlight deprivation for a specific period, resulting in tea leaves with two to three times more amino acids than standard tea.

▲ The golden hue of this tea is a rare and prized characteristic. It is produced in limited quantities and exclusively sourced by Chatsutei for this bottled tea.

Liquid Tea: Honyama Hakuyocha contains no antioxidants like vitamin C, allowing you to savor its natural flavor and aroma, which are as elegant and refined as wine.

This innovative tea, created with a deep passion for showcasing the authentic taste and fragrance of tea, is crafted from carefully selected ingredients and a precise extraction process, making it a perfect offering for hospitality.

Nihoncha-no-Namaan【Delicious Japanese Tea Laboratory】

A unique tea paste made from the richest of premium Shizuoka tea leaves. Specially processed with only yeast and vitamins, it retains the essence of whole tea leaves, allowing you to experience the rich flavor while providing essential nutrients such as catechins, polyphenols, and vitamins.

Free from coloring or flavoring, this paste captures the purest qualities of Japanese green tea.

Versatile and easy to use, this Japanese tea paste dissolves effortlessly and can be incorporated into various dishes, including rice, noodles, sauces, dressings, soup stocks, and sweets and desserts.

As the new Delicious Japanese Tea Laboratory brand’s flagship product, it is designed to introduce tea in a fresh, exciting way to younger generations, offering a modern gateway to the world of tea.

Interview: Reinventing Tea, How the Long-established Chatsutei and Delicious Japanese Tea Laboratory Are Shaping a New Global Tea Culture

We spoke with Takahiro Uematsu, President and Representative Director, Chatsutei.

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Chatsutei and Delicious Japanese Tea Laboratory – Fusing Tradition with Innovation

–Can you tell us about Chatsutei?

Chatsutei’s roots trace back to 1909 when our founder, Yosaku Uematsu, established our predecessor company. Initially focused on exporting tea to international markets, the company expanded into various commercial products.

Under the leadership of the second generation, led by Kousaku Uematsu II, Chatsutei shifted toward becoming a full-fledged teahouse. Embracing innovation, the company has always been at the forefront of adopting new technologies, including being among the first to incorporate the latest equipment.

With the appointment of the third generation of leadership under the presidency of Kousaku Uematsu III, Chatsutei, Inc. was established.

▲Kousaku Uematsu, Third-Generation Former President of Chatsutei.

Since then, we have opened several sales offices and factories, and in 2012, I became the company’s fourth president. Currently, Chatsutei operates under two leading brands:

・Chatsutei – Offering traditional Japanese teas, such as sommelier-blended sencha.

・Delicious Japanese Tea Laboratory – Introducing a fresh tea culture to appeal to younger generations.

–So you have two brands – Chatsutei and the Delicious Japanese Tea Laboratory.

Yes, that’s correct. Chatsutei remains dedicated to preserving traditional Japanese tea, while the Delicious Japanese Tea Laboratory explores innovative ways for people to enjoy tea.

Crafted with the Finest Tea Leaves and the Expertise of a Tea Master: Chatsutei’s Sommelier Blend Sencha

–Please tell us more about Chatsutei’s Sommelier Blend Sencha.

Sommelier Blend Sencha is a high-quality loose-leaf tea that Chatsutei is particularly proud of. Its taste and aroma are founded on three essential pillars.

The first pillar is sourcing tea leaves from trusted contract tea farmers across Japan. Chatsutei partners with select farmers from renowned tea-growing regions like Shizuoka. Maintaining meticulous production control records for each farmer ensures exceptional quality and high safety standards.

The second pillar is the gaju-gata cultivation method. This approach limits the number of leaves that grow on each tea plant, concentrating the flavor into each bud. Buds cultivated this way produce premium leaves rich in taste, enhancing the depth and character of the tea.

Once harvested, the aracha(unrefined tea) is processed at our factory.

▲In the final stage, tea leaves and buds are carefully sorted by size and then precisely roasted in a far-infrared flame burner to suit each shape, which brings out the richness, flavour and aroma of the tea leaves.

The last pillar is the art of gogumi (blending), performed by Chatsutei’s skilled tea masters. Multiple varieties are expertly blended to create a deep aroma and complex flavor profile that cannot be achieved with a single tea cultivars.

Since tea is an agricultural crop, its quality varies yearly. However, Chatsutei’s tea masters skillfully work with the best raw materials each year to craft the best taste of the year, ensuring a consistently exceptional experience.

–Sommelier Blend Sencha is only available in leaf tea form, even though nowadays, many young people do not own a teapot. Are you considering developing it in tea bags?

The taste of tea inevitably changes when it’s made into tea bags. We hope that people will enjoy Sommelier Blend Sencha in loose-leaf form, as it was carefully crafted by Chatsutei.

Indeed, many young people today do not own a kyusu(Japanese teapot). That’s why we launched the new brand, Delicious Japanese Tea Laboratory.

Don’t just taste it—experience tea leaves in their entirety with Nihoncha-no-Namaan by the Delicious Japanese Tea Laboratory

The Delicious Japanese Tea Laboratory, launched in 2018, is a new brand aiming to make Japanese tea more approachable to younger generations. We strive to break down barriers and make traditional tea culture accessible and enjoyable.

–So you launched this brand to promote tea, especially among young people?

Yes, that’s right. Our lineup isn’t limited to leaf tea; we offer a variety of innovative tea products. These include the Japanese tea paste Nihoncha-no-Namaan, green tea-coated rice Nihoncha-no-Rice, Tea packaged in postcard form Nihoncha-Postcard, tea bags, and more.

–Are there any particularly popular products?

The most popular is our Japanese tea paste, Nihoncha-no-Namaan. It comes in four types: green tea, roasted tea, matcha, and Japanese black tea.

–How does this Nihoncha-no-Namaan allow you to enjoy the entire tea leaf?

Nihoncha-no-Namaan is truly an edible tea. When drinking tea, only about 30% of the nutrients are typically extracted from the leaves, but with Nihoncha-no-Namaan, you can enjoy the full nutritional benefits of the tea leaves.

Not only does it offer the rich flavor of tea, but it’s also packed with nutrients, making it a great addition to your daily diet.

–Being in paste form, it looks versatile. How do you recommend using it?

We suggest adding it to sweets and bread, mixing it into milk to make a latte, or using it as a sauce for ice cream. If you’re looking for something simple, try making japanese tea rice.

Mix 5 grams (about 1 tsp) of Nihoncha-no-Namaan per cup of rice and cook it in a rice cooker. This will create a dish with a refreshingly bittersweet and complex flavor, and you’ll enjoy the wonderful aroma of tea as it cooks.

▲ Rice made with this unique tea paste takes on a beautiful tea color, adding visual appeal and flavor depth.

–Has there been any response from the media or users?

Yes, Nihoncha-no-Namaan has received media coverage and is popular with many users. Green tea and roasted tea pastes are favored for making rice, while black tea paste is often used in baking and beverages.

Various creative uses of our products are posted on social media platforms like Instagram, and we’re sometimes surprised to see the new ways people use them.

Believing in the potential of Japanese tea loved at the cellular level – Tradition and innovation brought to the world with Chatsutei and Delicious Japanese Tea Laboratory

–Chatsutei and Delicious Japanese Tea Laboratory have distinctly different concepts. Was it challenging for a long-established company like Chatsutei to launch a new brand like Delicious Japanese Tea Laboratory?

Taking on a new challenge often invites criticism. That was certainly true for the Delicious Japanese Tea Laboratory. We experienced strong resistance. The feedback was initially harsh, particularly in a profoundly traditional industry like Japanese tea.

However, we began receiving more media attention over time, and the responses became increasingly favorable. Today, we’re proud to say we’ve garnered substantial support for this new approach to Japanese tea.

There are so many great things about tea that haven’t been shared. Japanese people love tea on a cellular level, but we’re just beginning to communicate its richness and potential to the world.

–Japanese people love tea on a cellular level? That’s an intriguing expression.

Yes, absolutely. Drawing on more than a century of experience in Shizuoka, Japan’s tea capital, I can confidently say that.

Our mission is to preserve the tradition of Japanese tea and carry its unique charm into the future. We aim to embed tea culture more deeply into daily life, ensuring it thrives for generations to come. Looking ahead, we want to share the appeal of Japanese tea within Japan and worldwide.

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Chatsutei Information

Address	Address: 555, Ohsuwa, Numazu-city, Shizuoka Prefecture, 410-0873, Japan
Website	http://www.cha2tei.com/
Phone	+81 55 920 0025
E-money and credit cards	Not supported.
Open	9:00 to 17:00
Closed	Sundays and public holidays
Parking lot	Available
Access	・By Car About 15-minute drive from the Numazu IC on the Tomei Expressway ・By Train About 5 minutes by taxi from JR Katahama Station

 

Writer	Norikazu Iwamoto
Career	Ochatimes chief editer. Meeting with Vice Governor of Shizuoka prefecture. Judge of Shizuoka 100 tea’s award in 2021~23. Ocha Times link introduced at website of World O-CHA(Tea) Festival 2022, Tea Science Center, The City of Green Tea Shizuoka,  Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

 

English translator	Calfo Joshua
Career	Born and raised in England, living in Japan since 2016. Studying arboriculture in Shizuoka Prefecture whilst operating his landscape business Calfo Forestry. Appreciating the nature of Japan and the culture that places such importance in it.