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By JIN NAGANUMA/ Staff Writer

A beer product, named Sayama Green and characterized by the aroma of Sayama-grown tea, is served in the Sayama Honoka tumbler in Sayama, Saitama Prefecture. (Jin Naganuma)

SAYAMA, Saitama Prefecture--Tea waste that would otherwise have relatively little value is being repurposed into a beer product and an ecologically friendly tumbler in this renowned tea-producing city.

To create new items from the waste of locally grown tea, a farmer teamed with a major beverage maker’s subsidiary to pitch the unusual items, made through utilizing the plant's stem peel and other materials.

“High value-added products have successfully been generated by making effective use of tea leaves,” said Takahiro Yokota, 32, a representative of Yokotaen, a tea farm involved in the project.

Yokota expressed his delight, saying, “I believe the endeavor has breathed fresh air into the traditional industry, as tea production in Sayama faces such challenges as the lack of successors.”

Stem peel removed in the process of tea making is called “kebacha.” Powdered tea waste alike arises from sifting and shredding. Those sorts of leftover byproducts are available in the market in tea bags and other low-priced processed goods.

Asahi You.Us Ltd., a Tokyo-based enterprise affiliated with Asahi Group, which had previously relied on coffee bean residues and bread crusts to brew craft beer, chose kebacha as its third ingredient to be utilized.

Last year, Asahi You.Us started a joint program with tea farmers including Yokotaen and a tea wholesaler in Sayama to release a beer featuring not the plant’s flavor but its aroma.

Kebacha was strongly heated with the production method typical of Sayama-made tea and then infused in cold water. The carefully treated tea was mixed with a hoppy beer variant known as India pale ale (IPA) at a rate of 30 percent.

The completed drink, named Sayama Green, was put on sale in April on a limited basis in Tokyo and elsewhere.

Sipping the 4.5-percent alcoholic beverage brings to the mouth a modest bitter flavor unique to suds, followed by the clean aroma of tea.

“We asked temperatures to be adjusted in roasting kebacha,” said a public relations official of Asahi You.Us. “The beer with a well-balanced flavor will go well with Japanese-style food and various other meals.”

Powdered tea residues also found a new application to serve as a material for eco-friendly tumblers with waste from forest thinning. The cup boasts Sayama tea’s characteristic fragrance and was marketed under the brand name of Sayama Honoka.

The new products are offered at the city’s Saya Market & Cafe souvenir store. The beer is not a regular item at the store but is expected to be sold on a special occasion.

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