Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/737343
18 STiR coffee and tea / Issue 5, 2016 (October/November) ENCOTECC Inc. USA +1 239 443 5074 Canada +1 514 800 2473 Europe +49 211 7311 5151 info@encotecc.com Experimental Station, draws funds from both the public and private sector. Funds from the government are being doled out in small measure, precipitating the crisis. Union commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman said funds will be made available to continue operations. Meanwhile a proposal to bring the Tea Research Association (TRA) into either the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) or the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to insure continued financial support is under consideration. KENYA Bonuses for Tea Farmers It has been a remarkable year for Kenya's tea farmers; as a result they received paid higher bonuses than last season. In Kiambyu and Thika, total bonuses will amount to Sh12 billion ($118.5 million), compared to Sh8 billion ($79 million) last year, while for farmers in Kitale and Nandi, bonuses will go up from Sh1.3 billion to Sh2.2 billion [a Kenyan shilling is worth roughly 1 US cent.] The Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) has announced that bonuses for farmers throughout the industry will total Sh84 billion compared to Sh63 billion last season and an average farmer will earn Sh36 per kilo of tea as the second bonus payment, compared to Sh27 last year. Farmers in the North Rift are unhap- py since their bonuses are lower than in other regions. Prices at the tea auctions have improved since January, with a kilo Oscar Brekell Kenya's bountiful harvest region and type. "A cup of tea has everything in it: taste, relaxation and the culture of hospitality," he said. "I want people from all over the world to know the happiness of finding good teas." Obubu at Wazuka Festival On Aug. 20 Obubu, a non-profit association of Japanese green tea growers and retailers, took part in the Wazuka Summer Festival in Kyoto prefecture. Wazuka is a traditional Japanese tea town with 800 years of tea history. It is home to 300 tea families and produces 50% of Kyoto prefecture's tea, and is Japan's biggest matcha producing area, producing 23% of the matcha in Japan. Around 500 people attended to enjoy local food and drink, children's activities, performances from live bands, and to taste tea. Local treats on offer included traditional Japanese foods such as Takoyaki (fried octopus balls), yaki soba (fried noodles), and karaage (fried chicken) freshly brewed local teas, Hojicha-flavored ice cream and jelly, matcha mochi and dango (traditional Japanese sweets), and 'cha soba' green tea noodles. Obubu served anmitsu — a tradi- tional Japanese sweet made of jelly, red beans, and fruit and Wazuka locals also made beautiful matcha art, hand-deco- rating bowls of bright green foamy tea with stunning pictures and personalized messages. The village's next big event is Wazuka's annual Teatopia Festival (Chagenkyo Matsuri) on the first weekend of November. The event attracts more than 6,000 tea lovers from around the world, and is an opportunity to take part in tea activities and sample many different tea infused foods and local, regional and international teas. Obubu also organizes yearly tea tours abroad to promote tea education and spread knowledge of Japanese tea to the world. Learn more: https://obubutea.com of tea selling in August for Sh314, the highest recorded price of the year. The higher prices are said to be the result of demand from new emerging markets, a stable exchange rate, stable global tea prices, good crop figures in Kenya, and depressed output from Sri Lanka. However, Kenya's high yields and good prices may not continue because of the current cold weather, which is expected to last through to December, and the dry spell that will follow. There are also concerns about rising production costs that are eating into producers' profits. JAPAN Swede Promotes Japan's Tea In June, Oscar Brekell, a Swedish expat living in Japan, became the first non- Japanese to work for the Japan Tea Export Council to promote Japanese green teas abroad. Interested in Japanese tea and the green tea ceremony since his schooldays in Sweden, he has lived in Japan and has been learning about its teas since 2013, and qualified as a Nihoncha Japanese tea instructor in 2014. He then moved to Shizuoka, one of Japan's most important tea producing regions, and studied different manage- ment styles of tea estates. As well as now working for the council, Brekell is also writing a book in English that aims to inform tea drinkers about the subtle differences in the taste of Japanese teas, depending on their