Lecture 2000-04-17

Japanese Green Tea: An American Beverage in the Late Nineteenth Century

Mr. Robert I. Hellyer

Summary of the April meeting:

The April meeting was chaired by our new President, Dr. Erich Berendt, who began by reading out the names of the new officers and Council members. He reported that we had only temporary use of our present office and meeting place, and that the Council was now searching for other possible locations. In announcing the forthcoming meetings, he took the opportunity to invite the membership at large to submit suggestions about possible future speakers.

Our speaker for the evening was Mr. Robert I. Hellyer, a Ph.D. candidate at Stanford University and visiting researcher at the University of Tokyo. He had chosen as his subject "Japanese Green Tea: An American Beverage in the Late Nineteenth Century", a topic of research that particularly interested him because his family had been engaged in the tea trade here.

Broadly speaking, tea could be divided into three types: oolong tea associated with China; black tea for Western afternoon tea; and green tea, the Japanese drink. (Mr. Hellyer had brought with him canned specimens of each of these, with appropriate advertising on the outside - the PET bottle of green tea even had a haiku on the label!) In Japan, green tea was part of the culture; these days one does not associate green tea with America, but in the 19th century American beverages were different. The tea plant belongs to the camellia family, and there are two main varieties, the Assamese and the Chinese. All forms of tea can be made from the same plant, the difference being in the degree of oxidization; black tea was often said to have been fermented, but this was incorrect, the darkening process being similar to the browning of a cut apple after exposure to the air. Tea was introduced into Japan from China in the 9th century (the monk Kukai is credited with this), and became popular from the 13th century. With the opening up of Japan in the 19th century, green tea began to be exported to the West in 1859. In the 1870s the main export items were coal, silk and tea, the latter two being easily transported to the ports. With the coming of the Meiji era, the samurai, who had lost their means of subsistence, were given land and capital for the planting of tea bushes, but failed to make a success of this. However, the ferrymen, who had equally lost their living through the building of bridges, were more successful and established the tea plantations in Shizuoka.

An account of the method of processing green tea can be found in Vol.12 of Series I of the Transactions of the Asiatic Society, which contains a paper given by Henry Gribble in October 1883, under the title "The Preparation of Japan Tea". After being picked, the leaves were soaked in water for a short time, and then steamed and fired; after that they were sorted, with all extraneous matter being carefully picked out, and then packed in earthenware jars. Further firing was necessary for export, in order to remove moisture; this could be done either in pans or in bamboo baskets. It was also a common practice to add colouring matter, such as ground soapstone or Prussian blue, to give the leaves their green tint. In those days, adulteration of beverages was frequent, the addition of chicory to coffee being a well-known example.

A boost was given to the export of tea by the abolition of the duty on tea in America in 1872. There was a steady rise in the exports of green tea during the early years of Meiji, from 11 million pounds in 1868 to 17.5 m. in 1874, to 28 m. in 1879 and to 42 m. in 1881; after that the level remained steady at 35-40 m. lbs. for the next fifteen years, dropping to 30 m. by 1900. Between 1868 and 1900, 85% of all Japanese tea exported was green tea, and 90% of all the tea exports were to the U.S. During the period 1886-95, green tea accounted for 68% of all tea imports into the U.S., with oolong tea amounting to 25% and black tea 8%. In 1882, 46.5 m. lbs. of tea were produced in Japan, of which 36 m. were exported. If we estimate that about 4 m. lbs. were lost in the refiring, this leaves only 6.5 m. lbs. for approximately 346 m. Japanese. This raises the interesting question, what were the Japanese drinking at the time?

The next question was, why Americans should have drunk green tea. Coffee was the American drink par excellence, but still green tea was drunk in the Midwest, on the West Coast and in the New York area, especially with the evening meal. Clearly, green tea was regarded as an exotic drink, and this characteristic was emphasized by the Japanese labels on the packets. In those days coffee was made by boiling the grounds in water for about ten minutes; then eggs and fish were often added to make the grounds settle. Presumably the same method was adopted for making green tea. Mr. Hellyer had experimented with this, and the resulting brew was unbearably bitter; this must account for the fact that Americans added milk and sugar to their green tea, a practice that amounts to sacrilege in Japan ("How revolting!" was the response he got from Japanese).

Mr. Hellyer's great-great-great-uncle, William Alt, came to Japan from Britain in 1859. He left home at twelve, working as a cabin boy, and arrived at Shanghai, from where he proceeded to Nagasaki at the age of 19. He engaged in trade with the Tosa domain (now Kochi), selling ships and guns in exchange for camphor, Japanese paper and tea. In 1869 he was joined by the brothers Thomas and Frederick Hellyer (Frederick was Robert's great-great-grandfather). The Hellyers were a nautical family from Portsmouth; one had done carvings for ships such as the Cutty Sark, and another traveled with Darwin in the Beagle. Frederick remained with Alt, while Thomas taught English. The firm expanded to Kobe and became Hunt and Hellyer; in 1881 Hellyer and Co. became a separate firm, specializing in the export of tea. It set up its headquarters in Chicago and Frederick became an American citizen. The Japanese office was moved to Shizuoka in 1912, and in 1970 the company was sold to a Japanese.

After the 19th century, the consumption of green tea in the U.S. declined. Several possible causes can be traced. First, the reduction of tariffs had led to a surge in tea production, resulting in poor quality exports that harmed the reputation of green tea (which had in any case never been able to compete with coffee). Then by the 1890s the American market had become increasingly competitive. New drinks, like C.W. Post's "Postum" appeared, and the coffee industry responded with intensive advertising, leading to the establishment of big brand names. Green tea, in contrast, had never developed brand names. Another factor is that in early Meiji times the first export items were primary products like tea; later, as production costs rose, profitability dropped and Japan was overtaken by China and Ceylon.

In conclusion, Mr. Hellyer surmised that the popularity of green tea in America had been due to the influence of its cultural identification with Japan. When the export market eventually declined, the production was absorbed by the Japanese domestic market. This raises an interesting question: did the American taste for green tea lead to its becoming a prevalent daily beverage in Japan?

Mr. Hellyer followed up his presentation by showing slides of old pictures which demonstrated the processing of green tea and its packing in chests for export; other slides showed labels on the tea chests, and others were taken from family photographs. Our speaker also produced one more surprise item: in the U.S. he had picked up two fancy bottles of "Green Tea with Ginseng" decorated with Japanese motifs (one informant later said that these two ingredients make an impossible combination!)

A brief question time followed, and the meeting was brought to a close with a vote of thanks proposed by Dr. Ciaran Murray. He began with some literary allusions, first remarking that the tea (pronounced 'tay') said by Pope to have been drunk by Queen Anne was in fact brandy in a tea cup; and then saying that Jonathan Swift used to buy black and green tea for Stella as a luxury item when he went to London. He concluded by saying that as the editor of the Transactions, he looked forward to having, in Mr. Hellyer's paper, another item that overturned popular beliefs.

Adapted from"The Asiatic Society of Japan Bulletin No. 5", May 2000, compiled by Prof. Hugh E. Wilkinson and Mrs. Doreen Simmons.