Diana Farah

DUBAI: Japanese-owned tea house Janat Paris embodies the richness, splendor and prestige that comes with a cup of tea, guaranteeing customers with high-quality, sustainable products.

Machiko Gozen, a 13^th-generation Samurai woman and owner of Janat Paris, has a family history of growing green tea plantations, which is how she came to taking over the French tea house.

Speaking exclusively to Arab News Japan, Gozen said her family have known Janat Dores, founder of Janat Paris. “Janat’s family imported and exported tea from us, so we have a long history between the two families,” she said.

The French tea merchant worked with Gustave Eiffel and helped develop one of the many wonders of the world: the Eiffel Tower.

Gozen said she wanted to honor the hard work Dores did and wanted to ensure customers knew the rich history of Janat Paris, adding value to the cup of tea.

“Dores had strong beliefs and wanted to work on [the Eiffel Tower], something that was never done before,” the Japanese owner explained. “Much like Samurai women, they are very strong people who want to create things that will last long-term.”

Gozen made sure that the sustainability and deep-rootedness culture of Samurai women was applied similarly to Janat Paris’ tea process. She said having a green tea plantation in Sri Lanka was not enough, therefore, a type of bacteria was introduced to the tea plants to make the end product unique.

“All the products have their production dates on them and none are produced more than 6 months ago,” Gozen told Arab News Japan. “It is important to bring awareness to our consumers.”

“My responsibility is to make sure the plantation is good quality and have buyers visit Sri Lanka to be able to check the quality and see the added value,” she said.

Janat Paris is also in line with the theme of strong women, as Gozen wanted the tea house to be exclusively women managed.

“My main purpose is to empower women my origin is Samurai,” she said, which is exactly what she achieved with the project ‘Tea for Two.’

Janat’s Tea for Two project offers a free cup of tea for each box of tea sold. “This cup of tea helps people stop and think of a woman that is inspiring,” Gozen said.

The tea house is also a supporter and contributor of the ‘Femme Du Mondes’ foundation, which aims to empower women of all ages and backgrounds around the world.

The foundation started its projects in Sri Lanka in the tea plantations, as more than 90 percent of the workers are women. Femmes du Monde supports women from plantations to entrepreneurship projects.

Janat Tea Paris offers its products in over 500 supermarkets in Japan and has six caravans in Dubai.

Gozen said the tea house has plans to expand in the Middle East, including in Saudi Arabia.

Over the last six years, Janat Tea was also recommended in the Tokyo Louis Vuitton City Guide.