Japanese hand-rolled tea leaves fetch a record ¥1.96 million at auction

Over 2 pounds of hand-rolled Japanese green tea leaves sold for a record-breaking 1.96 million yen (£11,881) at the season's inaugural auction on Monday.

The Samidori tea leaves, which were sold at the record-breaking price, were cultivated in Fujinomiya, a city in Shizuoka Prefecture famous for its high-quality green teas. A cup of tea brewed with two teaspoons of the Samidori leaves can cost around $31, far higher than the usual price. The average price of a tea cup was less than 8 cents in Japan in 2020.

Shizuoka Japanese Tea Market holds an annual auction to mark the beginning of the crop season. The auction sees people coming from various parts of Japan, who are looking to get their hands on the best products that the market has to offer.

As of 8:10 a.m. local time, the trading volume of Shizuoka-grown green tea was 1,732 kg, with an average per-kilogram price of ¥5,027, according to a report in The Japanese Times.

The market officials said that even though tea production was slower than usual this year, the quality of the teas offered at the market remained unchanged. The market "is working hard to ensure it provides delicious tea at fair prices," said the market's president Yasuhide Uchino.

Traders from other prefecture such as Kagoshima Prefecture in the southwest and the southern prefecture of Okinawa also attended the auction in the hope of getting good prices for their teas.

Kakegawa Estate in Japan is famous for producing some of the best teas in the world. Japan's green tea, also called ocha locally, is loved across the world for its restorative medicinal qualities.

Green tea was first introduced to Japanese people around the 9th century by Buddhist monks, since then it has become a national obsession and an integral part of Japanese culture.

By the end of the 9th century, almost everyone was growing the tea in the country and now it is also used for ceremonial purposes by monks and healers.