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| Organizational Support for Tea Competition |
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| - Limited / Competition Grade Tea |
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| Main Topic |
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| Seasonal Topics & Items |
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| Dear Sir and Madam, |
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| We at Hibiki-an THANK YOU VERY MUCH for your continued patronage and support.
We are pleased to offer useful information for your healthy life and continued
enjoyment of Japanese green tea. In this issue, we talk about 'Organizational Support for Tea Competition (Competition Grade Tea)'. |
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Organizational Support for Tea Competition (Competition Grade Tea)
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The Tea Competition in Japan requires the support of many people working together. It sustains the tea industry, because the purpose of the tea competition is to improve Japanese tea agricultural and manufacturing techniques.
It requires organizational strength, steering strength, judging technical strength, and so on at a high level to convene the tea competition every year. From 600 to 1000 teas are contributed, and the first place tea in each category: Gyokuro, Sencha, and Matcha, wins the award of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. To ensure a successful tea competition, about 1000 teas should be contributed and 80 to 100 expertise personnel should be involved.
Large numbers of teas are typically contributed to the competition during an economic boom because the competition teas are bid at relatively high prices and farmers can recover the costs and labors to grow competition tea. However, during an economic depression, most competition teas except only the awarded teas are bid at relatively low prices and farmers can't recover the costs and labors. At that time, the secretariat strives to encourage farmers to increase the number of teas contributed to the competition. The tea competition is an important activity to raise the level of agricultural and manufacturing techniques throughout Japan.
About 20 Judges are called away from the tea research laboratory organized within the farm ministry, and major tea merchants who all evaluate several thousand teas every year to improve defects on cultivating and processing, or to bid. Judging tea is the most important job governing their principal occupations. So, their judging technical strengths have been continuously kept at an amazingly high level.
Number of administrative support personnel range from 60 to 80 people, who are mainly called away from agricultural cooperatives, the tea research laboratory, and tea industry association.
Needless to say, all competition teas should be judged under quite equal conditions. It is not easy at all but requires much time and effort. Once contributed, the teas should be strictly preserved in order not to deteriorate. And at examining meeting, for example, over 100 contributed teas at one category should be extracted in the same condition, with the same water temperature, same amount of water, same amount of tea leaves (and same content rate of specks and tiny tea leaves), for the same brewing time. All tea should be deftly and properly extracted in a short time. Even if there is just a small difference in each extracting condition, the flavor or tea color can't be judged fairly.
To handle and to prepare all competition tea properly, every procedure and every step are clearly standardized. And all of the administrative support personnel should become adept at the procedures, and strictly conduct each step. To do that, huge organizational strength as well as steering strength is required.
Examination criteria for the tea competition should be modified and improved over time. Factory automation has found its way into tea agriculture. In contrast, traditional agricultural and processing techniques should be preserved. So the examination criteria must include both the traditional and the modern. And each production center seems to want to alter the examination criteria in their own favor. So, the improvement of the examination criteria is not always easy.
The national tea competition is supported by a great number of individuals throughout Japan, but this strong and continuous effort raises the level of agricultural and manufacturing techniques and benefits everyone from the tea farmer to the tea shop to you, our customers.
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| Administrative support personnel meeting in the morning of the tea competition. |
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| All teas contributed (around 1000 teas) are judged. The process takes two full days. |
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| All contributed teas for the competition are stored in steel airtight containers. They are all strictly preserved. |
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| They arrange contributed teas as soon as possible. |
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| Timing measurement to check the brewing time. |
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| Teas are extracted strictly following the procedures. In this picture, they are carefully checking if the poured water amounts are all equal. |
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| Tallying up the screening result. |
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[Limited] Competition Grade Tea / Blended Sencha Items |
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| Competition Grade Tea is limited edition of just 650 packages each and Blended Sencha is limited edition of just 850 packages each ONLY AVAILABLE this winter season.
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Competition Grade Tea |
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[Limited] Competition Grade Gyokuro Pinnacle (30g/1.06oz): US$38.00
(Now Available: limited edition of 650 packages ONLY AVAILABLE this winter season)
This Competition Grade Gyokuro Pinnacle has an excellent, deeply mellow taste. The National Tea Competition is held in order to improve Japanese tea agricultural and manufacturing techniques, and to congratulate and encourage those that have produced outstanding tea... |
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[Limited] Competition Grade Sencha Pinnacle (40g/1.41oz): US$30.00
(Now Available: limited edition of 650 packages ONLY AVAILABLE this winter season)
Competition Grade Sencha Pinnacle is available only at the National Tea Fair, attended by tea connoisseurs and those within the Japanese green tea industry. This fine green tea has an excellent, deeply mellow taste... |
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[Limited] Competition Grade Matcha Pinnacle (20g/0.71oz): US$46.00
(Now Available: limited edition of 650 packages ONLY AVAILABLE this winter season)
This Competition Grade Matcha Pinnacle has an excellent, deeply mellow taste. The National Tea Competition is held several times a year in Japan. Sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and attended by executives of the Japanese tea industry... |
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[Limited] Competition Grade Matcha Pinnacle Refill (60g/2.12oz): US$115.00
(Now Available: limited edition of 650 packages ONLY AVAILABLE this winter season)
This Competition Grade Matcha Premium Refill package is an excellent value. The price is actually discounted 17%. This has an excellent, deeply mellow taste. The National Tea Competition is held several times a year in Japan. Sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries... |
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Blended Sencha |
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[Limited] Blended Sencha Premium (80g/2.82oz): US$20.00
(Now Available: limited edition of 850 packages ONLY AVAILABLE this winter season)
Blended Sencha Premium is a blend of Sencha and Gyokuro. This tea is composed of four breeds of green tea: Kanayamidori, Sayamakaori, Yabukita, and Okumidori... |
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| Are you enjoying your green moments? Hibiki-an encourages those who love to drink green tea. If you have any requests or questions regarding our teas or services, please don't hesitate to contact us. We sincerely hope that you enjoy genuine Hibiki-an Japanese green tea direct to you from Kyoto, Japan. |
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| Sincerely yours, |
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| Atsushi Yasui |
Seasonal Topics & Items
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[Limited] Snacks and Candy (Winter) |
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We at Hibiki-an added eight Japanese confectioneries which are all only
available in winter. Our carefully selected items for winter confections
amuse your mouth very much, and perfectly match with Japanese green tea.
GOMA MOCHI rice cake and plum glace are unique texture. Japanese traditional
confection of KURI YOHKAN also provide their original flavor. KUZU NO SATO,
KINAKO Soft, KINTOKI IMO Chips, KUROMAME BOLO, and WASANBON CHIDORI have
light texture and its aroma linger in your mouth. Rich flavor and mellow
aroma of YUZU Peel with chocolate, Matcha chocolate and RUBIA lingers on
the palate and has a lovely finish.
We are certain that they will all completely please your taste bud. Please take a look! |
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Winter Confections |
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| Japanese Snacks / Candy Shopping category: click here |
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[Valentine's Day Gifts] How About Hibiki-an's Gifts? |
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| Have you chosen a Valentine's Day gift for your loved ones? In Japan, green tea is often presented as a gift because it symbolizes a wish of good health and longevity. This tradition of giving green tea as a gift is as popular today as it has been throughout history. We give the gift of green tea for good health and long life of friends, family, and loved ones. A gift of genuine Japanese tea would make a perfect gift this Valentine's Day.
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Hibiki-an's Gifts
We have chosen and combined some of our most popular items which would make perfect gifts for friends, family, and professional colleagues, or any special or romantic occasion such as holidays, birthdays, Valentine's Day, weddings, or the purchase of a new home... |
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[Recommended] HIBIKI-AN Gift Card / Wish List
HIBIKI-AN Gift Card (email delivery):
Once you place an order, the Gift Card email including the claim code will be sent to your recipient directly. The recipient can spend their Gift Card right away...
Wish List:
You can share your Wish List with your family and friends by email, Facebook or Twitter. Of course, it is useful just to keep track of items you are interested in or want to order in the future... |
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FUROSHIKI Gift / FUROSHIKI Wrapping Fabric items
FUROSHIKI Wrapping Fabric items are suitable to wrap tea or snacks / candy purchased on our website for gift. It can also be used as a decorative wall hanging, table cloth, scarf, and so on.
FUROSHIKI Gift Items, which are carefully wrapped with the FUROSHIKI Japanese wrapping fabric, are available too... |
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[Gift Idea] Tea Ware, Hibiki-an's Teabag, or Japanese Snacks/Candy
Japanese tea combined with traditional tea ware or with Japanese Snacks/Candy makes a wonderful gift. Atmospheric handcrafted tea ware enhances the green moment. Traditional Japanese Snacks/Candy pair beautifully with any kind of Japanese tea. Like the French "Amuse-Bouche" their purpose is to amuse the mouth or palate, in this case, while drinking green tea... |
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[New & Limited] Teapots / Cups, Matcha Bowls / Accessories |
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| We have arranged for 15 limited edition tea ware items, and 14 limited edition new Matcha Bowls / Accessories. The 33 limited
edition items are all available only this autumn and winter season. |
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| Teapots / Cups shopping category: click here |
| Matcha Bowls / Accessories shopping category: click here |
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(Notice) Now Shipping to Most Countries (COVID-19 issue)
As shown in the below chart, at last, we are now able to ship to most countries, though the situation is still not fully back to normal.
Orders bound for a few countries (the US, etc.) still can be temporarily accepted only with DHL Express International NOT Standard International.
We are still temporarily unable to ship to some countries, such as
Russia, India etc. And deliveries can be delayed due to each country's
situation. (more info, click here)
We strongly recommend that you choose the Express International Delivery option, which is fast and trackable. Or you may wish to order after the COVID-19 crisis calms down and conditions return to normal...
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Latest Flight Status (as of Nov 1st)
- 'o': Almost normal delivery time, though there are some delays.
- '-': Significantly delayed, though flights are not stopped.
- 'x': Stopped flights
| Flights (bound for) | Express
International
(Postal) | Standard
International
(Postal) | DHL Express
International |
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| United States | x | x | o |
| Canada | x | x | o |
| Australia | x | x | o |
| United Kingdom | o | - | |
| Switzerland | o | - | |
| Italy | x | x | o |
| Germany | o | - | |
| Singapore | o | - | |
| France | o | - | |
| Spain | o | - | |
| Norway | o | - | |
| New Zealand | o | - | |
| Israel | x | x | o |
| Russia | x | x | |
| Netherlands | o | - | |
| Hong Kong | o | - | |
| Sweden | o | - | |
| Denmark | o | - | |
| Belgium | o | - | |
| Czechia | o | - | |
| UAE | x | x | o |
| Finland | o | o | |
| Austria | o | - | |
| Thailand | o | - | |
| Hungary | o | - | |
| Ireland | o | o | |
| Bulgaria | o | - | |
| Ukraine | o | o | |
| India | x | x | |
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| Flights (bound for) | Express
International
(Postal) | Standard
International
(Postal) | DHL Express
International |
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| Romania | x | x | |
| Brazil | x | x | |
| Croatia | o | - | |
| Indonesia | o | - | |
| Lithuania | o | - | |
| Poland | o | - | |
| Slovakia | o | - | |
| Malaysia | o | - | |
| Mexico | o | - | |
| Philippines | o | - | |
| Iceland | o | - | |
| Turkey | o | - | |
| Latvia | o | - | |
| Serbia | o | - | |
| Saudi Arabia | x | x | |
| Taiwan | o | - | |
| Lebanon | o | - | |
| Luxembourg | o | - | |
| Vietnam | o | - | |
| South Africa | o | - | |
| Ecuador | o | - | |
| Qatar | o | - | |
| Cambodia | x | x | |
| Portugal | o | - | |
| Kazakhstan | o | - | |
| Belarus | o | - | |
| Estonia | o | - | |
| Slovenia | o | - | |
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Account info
You can view your account info, including your order history, as well as change your email, password, or home address or add a new shipping address to your address book by clicking here.
Or if you prefer, we are happy to update your account info for you. Just let us know. Please don't hesitate to contact us!
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