Home > Teach me Tea Cha! > Distribution and Consumption > Green tea consumption report in Japan
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After 1960, along the rapid economic growth in Japan, green tea consumption in Japan was continuing to grow until 1976. For example, In 1960, total green tea consumption of the year was 752g per person, and in 1976, it reached to 955g. Because of the radical change in our eating and drinking habit, the green tea consumption started decreasing from 1996. By 1997, the total green tea consumption for per person dropped to 765g. Likewise, people started to purchase less green tea. The total green tea purchasing was reported as 1918g per household (493g per person) in 1959, but it dropped to 1246g (377g per person) in 1998. (Refer to the graph shown at right) In the 1960's, green tea accounted for 19.8% of the total drinks purchased in Japan. In 1998, the percentage of purchasing green tea dropped to 14.7%. A survey of 600 people in Tokyo was conducted regarding the habit of drinking green tea. In Japan, 72.3% of people drink green tea daily in Japan, and 89.6% of people drink green tea more than once a week. In fact, as people get older, more people prefer to drink green tea. For example, only 48% of people in twenties drink green tea daily, but for the people older than 50 years, 94% of them drink green tea daily. There is tendency for women to drink tea more often than men. When people purchase tea, people check the taste and its aroma. Also people tend to buy the same brand tea as they had purchased before.
(Tea Experiment Station)