One day I visited a friend at his home in Colombo.

"What a delicious cup of tea! It would be great if we could make such green tea in Sri Lanka too." - Doric Atton, an honest businessman who drank a drop of Uji Sencha that I brewed with ice water from his kitchen. He is a long-time tea estate owner, whose family owns about 150 acres of plantation located in the mid country of Sri Lanka. The idea of making Japanese style Ceylon green tea started from these emotional words.

Ronald Nicholas (raised in Sri Lanka), is a German businessman who introduced Doric and founded the tea company Bistrotea in Munich. Recently we jointly developed a new product using Uji Green Tea Matcha. In addition to these two people, a tea factory owner named P. Abey (who is also a university professor and operates his own organic farm) joined us three and the plan started moving forward rapidly.

I am convinced that these kind of partnerships will help to promote the Japanese style green tea consumption in the world and I decided to participate in this project as Japanese adviser. I agreed to provide total support such as arranging machinery, installation, operation, finishing, introduction of new products and development of new sales channels. To reflect the dissemination of broader social and technical responsibilities, we all agreed to name the new collective involvement as the 'Takada Green Tea Academy'. I will be in charge of information from Japan, arrangement of machines and will be a window (distributor) to the international market.

This project (Takada Green Tea Academy-TGTA) is a factory not only for establishing a new production facility but for also getting Japanese style green tea widely distributed to the world at large. TGTA is located in the middle of a well known and award winning organic tea garden in the southern part of Sri Lanka, at the foothills of the Singharaja nature reserve. TGTA provides opportunities to go through the manufacturing experience of the steaming method and to experience organic living in a natural way of life.

At TGTA, we welcome any person who is interested in experiencing an organic life or natural way of living.

One can learn the meaning of "real organic" tea production and processing, while living very close to nature. During your stay, you can produce Japanese Style Ceylon Green Tea at a reasonable price and buy up to 2 kg for yourself.

There are different flavors of Japanese tea due to differences in tea cultivation and so there are also differences between Japanese green tea and Ceylon green tea. The most striking difference to Ceylon green tea, is that Japanese tea is sweeter and more harmonious compared to the taste you get from Ceylon green tea. This has a more refreshing character due to it's more citric and slightly bitter fragrance. Therefore I want as many as people to know more about the pure Japanese green tea through TGTA activities. 

"Ceylon tea" is famous all over the world and Sri Lanka produces some of the finest teas. Takada Green Tea Academy is located in Sri Lanka's deep south mountain area, about 4 hours south east of Colombo. Here, Prof. Abey has been able to effectively eradicate the use of aggro-chemicals and artificial fertilizers in all his agricultural activities, within his estate. He initiated this program about 20 years ago; to make natural nutrients in harmonious symbiosis with other flora and fauna.

They grow tea leaves which contain plenty of minerals and natural energy. Their tea represents "non-violent" environments and lifestyles that do not cause stress to other plants, animals, insects or to people. Fresh leaves hand picked from 350 nearby "tea pluckers" are brought to the green tea factory. Energy in the factory has been established by a lifestyle that maximizes the use of natural circulation, as well as the pesticides and fertilizer, such as wood and hydro power, to name a few.

In Japan, the meticulous tea picking is usually a woman's effort and the work at the factory is shared with men, but here four female workers selected from a black tea factory who are mastering the operation of the machine and manufacturing. We are convinced that we can offer fine and hygienic tea leaves with these workers’ detailed effort. The tea-making machine is small, but fortunately I received this set of machines from the retired farm house in Ujitawara Town.

We would be pleased if you enjoy a true organic life cycle by visiting our compund. Here is to living with nature for at least a few days, all while enjoying natural and organic food and learning to make Japanese style green tea, in Sri Lanka.

Yours sincerely,

Masahiro Takada