COMPANY HISTORY
Naturalitea was founded in 1976 by Toshiaki Kinezuka. The Kinezuka family has grown tea in the Setoya mountains above Fujieda, Shizuoka for ten generations — and when Toshiaki decided to stop using the synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides that Japan's postwar agricultural system had made standard, he was met with skepticism and open hostility by his fellow tea farmers.
At the time, the JA (Japan Agricultural Cooperatives) system left farmers with little autonomy — delivering pallets of pre-determined chemicals and dictating how much to apply. Refuse, and you risked expulsion from the cooperative, which also served as the sole buyer for your tea. Neighbors worried that the idea of "organic" tea would set a new standard and draw away their business. The word "organic" barely existed in Japanese at the time.
Toshiaki learned that the chemicals being used on tea fields were showing up in children's bodies — agricultural residues found in kids' urine in farming communities across Japan. People drink tea for health. How could the tea itself be part of the problem?
He saw it everywhere. Fish populations in nearby rivers were declining. Fireflies that had once been abundant were disappearing. He knew that any method of farming that relied on killing other life was neither desirable nor sustainable. His family had grown tea for generations using traditional methods, and he believed those methods had wisdom that modern agriculture had forgotten.
So he refused. He stopped using the chemicals. He was expelled from the cooperative.
Expelled from JA, Toshiaki had to build everything himself: his own growing methods, his own processing, his own market. It took three years of hard work before he got a harvest that met his own standards for quality. But he was tenacious. He founded the Hito to Nō, Shizen wo Tsunagu Kai (人と農、自然をつなぐ会 — "Society Connecting People, Agriculture and Nature"), gathering nearly ten neighboring farming families and a dedicated group of consumers into a cooperative. Producers and consumers together — learning, researching, and supporting each other.
Over time, the quality of Toshiaki's tea spoke for itself. As his organic methods proved that exceptional tea could be grown without chemicals, the skepticism that had surrounded him began to give way. What had started as a solitary rebellion became something closer to a movement. The cooperative that had once expelled him came to recognize the value of what he had built.
Today, the farm is run by Toshiaki's children — Kazuki, who handles farming and first processing, and Tamiko, who manages final processing, quality control, and business operations. The entire operation is vertically integrated — from planting, to growing, harvesting, processing, packaging, and selling directly to customers. Naturalitea is certified organic under JAS (Japanese Agricultural Standards), and in 2021 the family received a Special Grand Prize recognizing 45 years of organic farming.
"A good farmer knows that to produce good crops, one must first develop good soil. Thus, the taste of good organic tea is made half of tea leaves and half of the hearts of their farmers."
— Toshiaki Kinezuka
— Toshiaki Kinezuka
