Photo= Sen-cha (right) and genmai-cha instant green teas, which have been modified for foreign markets= Terada, Joyo City, Kyoto Prefecture

JA Zen-Noh Kyoto, or the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations, Kyoto Municipal Headquarters, has improved instant green tea made from 100% Uji tea for the foreign market to expand tea sales abroad. Two types of tea, sen-cha, or infused tea, and genmai-cha, or brown rice tea, will be sold in Germany in the near future. JA Zen-Noh's tea industry and market office in Joyo City, Kyoto Prefecture, said hopefully, "We would like foreign people to become interested in tea culture ahead of the Tokyo Olympics."

The two types of instant green tea are a powderized extract of tea leaves produced in Minamiyamashiro-mura, which were commercialized in 2012 and 2013, respectively. In response to inquiries regarding selling them in Germany, a German analytical institution was hired for testing to make sure there were no problems with the goods in addition to the market research conducted in Germany for two years in order to proceed with the preparations.

The product modified for foreign markets contains 15 packs per box. The amount contained in one pack has been doubled from the conventional 0.8 grams to 1.5 grams, which is enough to make a mug of tea. A box-type package has been adopted so that it will be suitable as a gift, and it is designed to emphasize Japanese-style, using black as the base color, on which gold-colored characters and floral motifs are printed.