Note to recorder:
Natural speed please
We have had a custom of drinking hot green tea since early times, but we recognized it as something to make at home, not to buy outside, 30 years ago.
Many people in Japan had a feeling that it was a waste of money to buy unsweetened drinks.
There were only a handful of beverage products, such as Coca Cola, Sprite and Fanta, in the RTD market at that time. SUNTORY launched canned oolong tea in 1981, and then ITOEN released canned green tea in 1985.
Those two products generated and expanded the unsweetened RTD tea market in Japan.The unique thing about RTD teas in Japan are unsweetened and non flavored. Most of products sold in Asia and US are sweetened and flavored.
