During a Japan-Malawi Business Networking event in Lilongwe on August 24 this year, Japanese Ambassador Naito Yasushi said something that caught those attentive by surprise.
In his attempt to highlight the strength of economic ties between Malawi and Japan, he revealed that tea from Malawi is becoming a popular product in his country’s coffee shop chains, Tully’s Coffee.
Said Yasushi: “Tea grown here in Malawi is already enjoyed by many people in Japan through ‘Tully’s Japan’, one of Japan’s leading coffee shop chains.”
In an e-mail response, Tully’s Coffee Japan Marketing Division general manager Kyoji Wakabayashi said the company uses Malawian tea because of its rich aroma, clean aftertaste, balanced flavour and distinctive red colour.
He said Tully’s Coffee Japan has been using Malawian tea in its blended tea products since 2007 and is seeking to expand sales in Japan while promoting Malawi as a tea-producing country.
Wakabayashi said the tea is used as a foundational ingredient in the company’s blended teas, including milk and fruit teas, where it complements and enhances tea leaves from other regions.
“According to our research, Malawi tea has the deepest and most beautiful red colour in the world,” said Wakabayashi.
He said they began referring to Malawian black tea as “Malawi Red” in 2007, after the company’s president at the time adopted the name following Wakabayashi’s proposal to introduce the tea.
The name has since stuck with the company, reflecting the tea’s colour and its suitability for Tully’s Coffee Japan’s products range.
He said interest among Japanese consumers in the origins and quality of black tea created opportunities to raise awareness of Malawi and the efforts of its tea producers.
To support this effort, Tully’s Coffee Japan has created an original character, Myalawi, to promote its tea products and introduce consumers to Malawian tea.
The name combines “Malawi” with “mya”, a Japanese onomatopoeic expression for a cat’s meow. The cat character features in the company’s products, promotional materials and social media communications.
According to Wakabayashi, the initiative aims to make information about Malawi’s tea and its country of origin more accessible to Japanese consumers.
He noted that when Tully’s Coffee Japan began making substantial use of Malawian tea in 2007, it was the only company in Japan doing so. Other major Japanese companies, including Starbucks Japan, Kirin and Ito En, now also use Malawian tea, according to Wakabayashi.
He said the company’s relationship with Malawi was made possible through the Alexander family, owners of Satemwa Tea Estate in Thyolo and Kikutani of Japanese Company Selectea, who introduced the two parties.
“We will continue to value our supply chain, including them and strive to expand sales of Malawian tea in Japan,” said Wakabayashi.
Malawi has a tea-producing history spanning more than a century and is one of Africa’s leading tea-producing countries.
Wakabayashi said Tully’s Coffee Japan intended to continue offering high-quality tea while sharing the stories of its origins and producers with Japanese customers.
