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This is a pet bottle of Tochu-cha, tea made from the leaves of the Eucommia tree, in China called Duzhong. The Duzhong has long been used in traditional Chinese medicine. The bark of the 15 meter high tree is, for example, believed to alleviate lower back pain and aching knees.

The deciduous leaves contain rubber (it comes out when you fold them), but are also used to brew tea. Tochu tea is supposed to possess the following qualities:

• Lowering high blood pressure
• Helping to slim down
• Cleaning the body

This all according to the website that Kobayashi Seiyaku, the maker, has dedicated to its product.

In fact, the tea was first made popular in Japan by Hitachi Zosen, a shipbuilding company on the path of diversification. Hitachi Zosen caused a small boom with Tochucha in the nineties. Afterwards, the company sold the product rights of this health food to Kobayashi Pharmaceutical, who is now the main manufacturer of this type of tea in japan.

Duzhong trees have to be cultivated, they do not grow in the wild anymore, but they have been succesfully imported to Japan and planted in the Ina area of Nagano Prefecture (according to the Japanese wikipedia).

I am not in the position to testify for the health food qualities of Tochucha, but I used to drink it now and then in the past, and like the taste and therefore I was pleasantly surprised to find it today in the Ikari Supermarket in Osaka!