Major Japanese Tea Manufacturers in 2024 and the Best Sellers

Many companies produce bottled or canned green tea in Japan, which has the highest number of vending machines selling tea in the world.

Here is a list and brief explanations of major Japanese Green Tea Manufacturers in 2024.  

I have also included their popular products and links to buy from Amazon.

How many have you tried? 

Ito En, the Originator

Ito En is Japan's #1 canned and bottled green tea product manufacturer. In 1985, it debuted its canned sencha green tea, the first green tea drink sold in Japanese vending machines.

Today, Ito En’s signature bottled green tea product is Ooi Ocha-Ryokucha, which translates into English as, “Hey, Tea!” Sold in a clear, plastic bottle with a leaf-green wrapper, Ooi Ocha-Ryokucha is Japan’s best-selling vending machine green tea.

 

 

 

Oi Ocha-Ryokucha

Japan’s best-selling vending machine green tea, and

the holder of The Guinness World Records in the best selling green tea beverage, both in Japan and the World!!

 

The tea is made from tea leaves grown in Japan, using only water and vitamin C as its other ingredients for a natural, fresh taste. Light-tasting beverages without sugar are a popular tea trend in Japan, and these drinks are becoming increasingly consumed worldwide. Ito En's tea products come in two plastic bottles: one designed to be served cold and the other designed to be held at a specific, warm temperature range inside a vending machine.

Ito En's other bottled green teas include:

• Ooi Ocha-Koicha: This variety has a stronger taste than the Ryokucha variety. 

• Ooi Ocha-Hojicha: While other varieties of bottled tea are light yellowish-green in color, this tea is brown due to light roasting of the tea leaves. 

• Ooi Ocha-Genmaicha: Genmaicha is a mild green tea that pairs well with tempura and other fried foods. Its ingredients include green tea and lightly roasted brown rice, which gives this bottled tea a distinctive yellow color.

• Jasmine Green Tea: This blend combines green tea with jasmine flowers for a very fragrant yet delicate-tasting brew. 
  
  
• Golden Oolong Tea: Oolong tea has less caffeine than Ito En's other green tea offerings so that this iced tea variety can be drunk closer to bedtime.

Ito-en's oolong tea was the first oolong tea sold in Japan in 1979. In 1981, it also introduced a canned version, which surprised the industry as all the canned drinks at that time were only for soda or sweet drinks. They were the first to introduce non-sweet canned drinks to Japan and the world.

• Ito En Golden Oolong Tea Canned Variant

Some prefer canned oolong tea because they want a light, one-time, ready-to-drink oolong tea. This canned version still has no added flavors or colors.

• Ito En Matcha Milk Tea

This matcha milk tea is exceptionally delicious - it has Matcha, the robust flavor of black and green tea, and a sweet creamy milk taste. It is definitely a sweetened milk tea drink for a sweet tooth.

• Ito En Sencha Shot

Get the health benefits of antioxidants with this organic Sencha in a can. It is brewed from premium Sencha tea leaves and can be brought anywhere. It contains Vitamin C and 40mg of caffeine (way less than coffee). With 5x more tea antioxidants than a regular ready-to-drink green tea, this shot can boost your energy!

• Ito En Oi Ocha Unsweetened Roasted Green Tea

 

Japanese food and beverage maker Suntory offers bottled green tea beverages in vending machines all over Japan. Its products include:

• Iyemon:  The #2 selling bottled green tea in Japan. Suntory partnered with a traditional Fukujuen tea grower in Kyoto to make this blend a rich flavor.

• Iyemon Tokucha: This functional green tea drink is specifically for losing weight. It contains a type of polyphenol that is said to help break down stored body fat. This drink is part of the FOSHU drink trend (i.e., Food for Specified Health Uses).

• Suntory Oolong Tea is known for its less bitter taste than other types of Oolong tea, and many Japanese people love it.

• Suntory Black Oolong Tea: Combining oolong green tea with black tea, Suntory produces this bottled cold tea for consumers looking to avoid the bitter aftertaste that green teas can sometimes have.
  
  
  

 Ayataka, the American Upstart

 

 

Ayataka is a Japanese arm of the U.S. based Coca-Cola company. This Kyoto-based company's bottled green tea products are known for their cloudiness – unlike the clear beverages made by Ito En and Suntory – which comes from using specially milled powdered tea leaves of very high quality.

 

• Ayataka Heaven and Earth Green Tea: Available in vending machines as cans and bottles, this unsweetened green tea blend is noted for its cloudiness and tastes very similar to tea poured from a teapot. 

• Sokenbicha: Available in five flavors. Some of Sokenbicha’s brews are green or oolong teas, and others are barley teas, which contain no actual tea leaves. Each flavor represents one of Japan's traditional five elements.

UCC (Ueshima Coffee Company): Not Just Coffee Anymore

 

 

Ueshima Coffee Company, or UCC, originated the canned coffee beverages available in Japan's vending machines. Although coffee remains the company's most important product, it has recently branched out into tea. UCC makes traditional canned green tea without sugar or calories, as well as canned oolong tea.

 

 

UCC Green Tea

 

UCC Barista is a canned beverage that is available in many coffee flavors. However, there is also one Uzi Matcha variety. Matcha lattes contain sugar and whole milk powder and are said to be lightly sweet.

The company also makes Paradise Tea, which has a black tea base and incorporates herbal flavors like marigold, rose, and cornflower.

 

Beer Companies That Also Brew Tea

Another trend in the Japanese beverage market is that the companies that sell beer and other alcoholic beverages also produce lines of tea products and other soft drinks found in vending machines across the nation. Asahi, Kirin, and Sapporo are three of the most prominent.

Asahi

 

Asahi's soft drinks include bottled 16 Blended tea, a barley-based herbal tea product that–ironically—doesn't actually contain any tea leaves. The Asahi company also makes the extremely popular lactic acid beverage Calpis (a sports drink). Additionally, under the Calpis name, Asahi makes a FOSHU green tea called Calpis Kenchao.

 

 

Kirin

 

 

Kirin`s green tea product is Nama-cha. Due to the popularity of Ayataka`s cloudy products, Nama-cha recently underwent a makeover to make the tea cloudier. Japanese consumers approve of the change, even though (by Japanese standards) Nama-cha is one of the sweetest bottled green tea beverages.

 

Kirin Namacha Rich Green Tea

One of the best-selling teas in Japan, this green tea is rich in umami—vegetable grassy with a natural sweet taste. The sophisticated-looking label attracts buyers to drink the tea. It tastes best when served cold or chilled.

 

Gogo-no-kocha - This Afternoon Tea - Plain

 

Gogo-no-kocha - This Afternoon Tea - Milk tea version

This popular tea drink in Japan is made from tea leaves with a sweet taste. The rich flavor of the tea leaves and the creaminess of the milk make an excellent combination for authentic iced tea milk.

 

Gogo-no-kocha - This Afternoon Tea - Peach flavored version

 

Pokka Sapporo

 

Pokka is Singapore’s top food and beverage company and the #1 seller of green tea in Singapore. In partnering with the Sapporo Brewery, the oldest beer brewery in Japan, Pokka sells Japanese consumers bottled green, white, and oolong tea beverages along with iced fruit teas and Afternoon Tea (black tea) in unsweetened and sweetened/milk varieties. One of its specialties is roasted green tea.(Hojicha)

 

• Pokka Green Tea - This one has gyokuro in a can!

 

• Pokka Black Tea

• Pokka Roasted Green Tea (Kaga Hojicha)

 

This article is part of Kei Nishida's published book Green Tea Cha – How Japan and the World Enjoy Green Tea in the 21st Century

This article was also published on T-Ching where my article is featured.

Please Click Below Image to Get My Book Green Tea Cha : How Japan and the World Enjoy Green Tea in the 21st Century from Amazon  (Both Printable Format and Kindle Version Available)

 

 

 

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- Kei and Team at Japanese Green Tea Co.