History of ITO EN

Develops the world's first canned oolong tea and starts selling it in select markets

• Starts selling canned oolong tea across Japan
• Establishes OKINAWA ITO EN, LTD.
• Starts selling black tea imported directly from Sri Lanka

• Develops green tea cultivation method employing organic fertilizers
• Becomes the first in the tea industry to include date of manufacture and best-before date in labeling

Successfully develops canned green tea (the predecessor of Oi Ocha) after inventing the T-N (Tea and Natural) Blow process, which removes oxygen from the can to maintain the pristine quality of the green tea

• Starts selling canned green tea
• Hosts the first ITO EN Ladies Golf Tournament

Opens the Central Research Institute in Makinohara-shi, Shizuoka

Establishes ITO EN (USA) INC. in Hawaii

• Renames its canned green tea Oi Ocha
• Launches the ITO EN Oi Ocha New Haiku Contest

Goes public on the OTC market

Releases Jujitsu Yasai.

Opens a new coffee roasting and processing facility at its Shizuoka Sagara Plant

• Introduces the Tea Taster System
• Establishes ITO EN AUSTRALIA PTY. LIMITED in Australia where it starts a tea plantation
• Establishes the joint venture, Ningbo Shunyi Tea Products Co., Ltd., in China

• Goes public on the Second Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
• Launches Oi Ocha in 500 ml PET bottles
• Patents the Natural Clear production method for PET-bottled green tea

Partners in the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center's clinical trials with approval of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Stock advanced to the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

• Markets the industry's first beverages in heatable PET bottles
• The Shizuoka Sagara Plant and Central Research Institute become ISO 14001 certified

• Launches a Tea-Producing Region Development Project (new tea plantation business) in Miyakonojo, Miyazaki
• Establishes the consolidated subsidiary ITO EN (North America) INC. in continental USA.

Production headquarters becomes ISO 9001 certified

• Launches Oi Ocha Koiaji (Oi Ocha Dark ) and Ichinichibun no Yasai (A Day's Worth of Vegetables)
• Crude tea factory gets up and running at ITO EN AUSTRALIA PTY. LIMITED (Victoria, Australia)
• Commences mail order sales

• Makes FoodX Globe Co., Ltd. (now Tully's Coffee Japan Co., Ltd.) and Mason Distributors, Inc consolidated subsidiaries
• Launches a Tea-Producing Region Development Project (new tea plantation business) in Oita Prefecture

• Corporate divisions become ISO 14001 certified
• Class 1 Preferred Stock listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange

• Signs an exclusive distribution agreement with the Danone Group to sell Evian in Japan
• Establishes ITO EN・ITOCHU MINERAL WATERS CO., LTD.

• Becomes ISO 14001 certified company-wide, an unprecedented scale in the beverage industry
• Launches the TEAS' TEA black tea brand in Japan
• Launches its first canned coffee under the Tully's Coffee brand

Establishes GREEN VALUE CO., LTD.

• Makes Chichiyasu Company a consolidated subsidiary to strengthen the dairy product business.
• Launches Futatsu no Hataraki Catechin Green Tea (certified by the Japanese government as a “food for specified health uses”), the first ready-to-drink green tea with dual health benefits
• Wins the Minister of the Environment Prize at the 20th Global Environment Awards for its Used Tea Leaves Recycling System

• ITO EN SANGYO, LTD. expands its tea bag production plant
• Establishes ITO EN Asia Pacific Holdings Pte. Ltd. in Singapore.
• Establishes ITO EN BEVERAGE (SHANGHAI), LTD. in Shanghai, China

• Establishes ITO EN (Thailand) Co., Ltd. in Bangkok, Thailand
• Establishes PT ITO EN ULTRAJAYA WHOLESALE, a joint venture for marketing beverages in the Indonesian market
• Makes Tsuchikura Co., Ltd. a consolidated subsidiary

Opens the Saryo ITO EN café in the Haneda Airport International Terminal

• Makes Distant Lands Trading Company, Inc. in the U.S. a consolidated subsidiary
• Launches the global brand product, ITO EN Matcha Green Tea (tea bags)

• Constructs Maccha Kobo on the site of Shizuoka Sagara Factory.
• Constructs Kobe Factory in Kobe-shi, Hyogo.

Cumulative sales of Oi Ocha top 30 billion bottles

Agreement to conduct clinical trials to verify the preventive effect of Matcha on dementia (Collaborative experiment between Shimadzu Corporation and MCBI)

• "Oi Ocha" brand recognized by Guinness World Record ™
  * "Largest natural healthy RTD (latest annual sales) green tea beverage" Sales Results (January to December 2018)
• Develops products containing used barley tea leaves through "Mugi Chakara Recycling System"

Establishes a new tea bag production plant in Victoria, Australia.