With the help of microbiome from a 950-year-old Japanese camphor tree, Sri Lankan tea sets a Guinness World Record. Photo credit: Janat Paris
When a small lot of black tea grown in Sri Lanka’s rainforest crossed the auction table at Expo 2025 Osaka, most bidders expected a novelty item — something unusual, perhaps, but still within the realm of specialty tea pricing. Instead, the tea shot past all expectations, setting a Guinness World Record as the most expensive tea ever sold. What pushed the price skyward was not the rarity of the leaves alone, but the unconventional science behind them: the tea had been cultivated using a microbiome sourced from a 950-year-old sacred tree in Japan.
The project is the result of a collaboration between Janat Paris and Innovation Labo, a microbiome research platform based in Tokyo. For years, the lab had been studying the microbial ecosystem around an ancient camphor tree growing in Kagoshima’s volcanic soils. These soils, enriched and disturbed repeatedly by eruptions, support microbial communities adapted to heat, acidity, and scarcity. Innovation Labo’s researchers isolated this ecosystem — led by a strain named Lactobacillus fermentum IL-108 — and began experimenting with how these microbes might influence crop resilience and nutrition.
This microbial consortium was eventually formulated into Aquabiota, a probiotic biofertilizer. When applied to tea fields in Sri Lanka’s rainforest belt, the team observed changes in soil structure, root development, and the plants’ ability to tolerate heat and moisture stress. Farmers participating in the trial reported that the treated bushes flushed more steadily and produced leaves with higher levels of amino acids and polyphenols. The tea produced from these plots made waves in Osaka.
A Cup That Surprised Tasters
Tea professionals who sampled the lot during the Expo described it as unusually rounded, with a denser body and a finish that lingered longer than typical high-grown Ceylon teas. While the flavor differences alone wouldn’t explain the record-setting price, the context certainly did: this was the first documented attempt to use a microbiome — rather than soil amendments or genetic selection — to influence the sensory and biochemical profile of tea.
Lab reports presented at the Expo indicated elevated concentrations of L-theanine, catechins, and other polyphenols — compounds linked with calmness, focus, and antioxidant activity. The producers also highlighted research suggesting that the same microbes could support beneficial gut bacteria in humans, though these claims are still in the early stages of scientific validation.
A Turning Point for Tea Agriculture
The interest around this tea goes beyond its collectible value. In many producing regions, especially those vulnerable to climate stress, the idea of rebuilding soil health through microbial pathways is gaining traction. Microbiome-enhanced cultivation could reduce reliance on chemical fertilizers, restore biodiversity in plantation soils, and improve crop resilience — goals increasingly shared by growers facing fertilizer shortages, erratic weather, and declining soil vitality.
At Osaka, delegates from India, Kenya, China, and Indonesia attended the tea’s unveiling. Several scientists said the approach aligns with emerging research showing that rich microbial diversity in plantation soils correlates with improved tea quality. While not all were convinced by the more ambitious wellness claims, most agreed that Aquabiota represents a direction worth watching.
Beyond the Record
For Janat Paris, the world-record recognition is an attention-grabbing milestone, but the company’s messaging emphasizes something broader: a fusion of traditional craft with evolving biotechnology. Innovation Labo, meanwhile, is positioning its microbiome platform for applications far outside tea — from regenerative agriculture to functional nutrition and skincare.
Whether microbiome-enhanced tea becomes a niche curiosity or a genuine agricultural shift remains to be seen. But this particular lot, grown under rainforest shade and fed by a microbial legacy from a thousand-year-old tree, has already nudged the global tea world to imagine new forms of terroir — ones defined not just by climate and soil, but by the invisible communities of organisms that shape both.