#203 | Summer Intern (June-September) 2025 | Aachen, Germany | Instagram: @mara.tealeaves
Bringing Mareike to Japan
For years I’ve been studying tea in my freetime as well as work related. I take in every bit of knowledge about tea, every teashop I can find and click on every ad on tea. Is it a passion? An obsession?
I am fascinated by this beverage that connects the world, as each place has their own history with tea. It is connected to politics and philosophy, shows the evolution of a civilisation and all the narrow roads and steep climbs that shaped their culture. It is a living heritage different in the presentation as well as the self-understanding in each single place. I am fascinated about this and still after five years working in my beloved teashop at home in Aachen there is more knowledge to gain. With every customer that talked about their travels to the origins of tea and visiting a teafield, the desire in my heart to once see it for myself just grew. Finally I started searching and found through Obubu this perfect opportunity to fulfill my wish.
I spent over half a year from the first decision of applying to the internship to the moment the plane lifts off, much longer since the first idea about this internship. Years since the decision came to someday visit the teabushes in person. Still after almost 3 months of waking up next to a teafield, I can’t believe that this is actually happening. I am miles away from my comfort zone. How did I get here?
Well, if I look deep enough into my teacup I might be able to find the answer to this question.
Since the first day, my time here in Japan has been challenging, with many ups and downs on the road. I have never been away from home so long, so far, so alone. A female solo traveler. That didn’t sound like me. But I had a goal in mind: I wanted to meet a hard working Teabush in person. Finally see and feel fresh leaves, understand the processing and the different machines.
So I made this big jump forward. To challenge myself.
I guess through this trip I finally found this urge to travel in myself. I’ve always felt very bound to my home and haven’t traveled a lot in my life, so this experience at Obubu gave me a completely new perspective. I not only got to dive deep into Japanese culture and countryside but I was also able to meet people from all over the world with all kinds of backgrounds and lifestyles. I understood how different people could be and how little I actually knew about the world I’m living in, about my country and about myself. Nothing teaches you more about your home country than being far away from it. So it has been a real pleasure to meet so many amazing people in and around Obubu. I am grateful for being able to communicate with them in English. I feared this would be a big barrier for me, never being really good in englisch classes in school but it worked out great for me! The first time abroad, living together with half of the world and I just wish I could take them all back with me. But “ichigo ichie”; it wouldn’t be the same without our beautiful teafields and tearoom. Without the summer heat. Obubu isn’t only a place. Neither is it only the people. It is the combination of both of them, mixed with a lot of tea, that truly makes out this place and its indescribable energy radiating from everyone connected to it.
I had a lot of concerns regarding this trip but probably the only right one would be about the work in the Japanese summer heat. And maybe the concern about spending too much money. Because I went to Tokoname and I got that pottery big. I am normally not the person for souvenirs but Japan just makes it very easy for me to just wish I could pack it all up and take it with me. I’ve truly enjoyed every weekend trip I did, whether it was the classic tourist trip or the specialised tea nerd trip. There are so many things to do already in the surroundings of Wazuka, I could never get enough of this. From teastores to tea cafes, pottery to special teaceremony supplies, temples connected to tea history and tea museums.
It’s again something I wouldn’t believe in myself doing, planning one trip after the other, going out on my own and just staying at Hostels booked last minute, spontaneously jumping on trains to new places and in cars with strangers, not speaking each other’s language. It has truly been adventurous, and you get so much more input through all the people here at Obubu, making your To Do List neverending. It’s like after each trip I felt like I needed three more days at that place, having found new shops and places to explore, never finishing off my list.
I often wished to do trips together to spare myself some of the planning work but as it is always hard to match the off days and our interests, it was mostly easier to just hit off on my own. But I found it very comforting to have this save place at Obubu to which I would always be coming back after my trips, unload myself mentally and physically (my room got pretty cosy after a while), rest and then roam around once more.
But of course there is also a lot of time spent working at Obubu, five days a week from 9 to 6 I got a full schedule that was totally different from day to day but could sometimes also change at the last minute. You therefore need to be just open minded about this, as there is always a good reason for this change due to the demand in scheduling. Work could range from the farmer’s work in the fields, where you never know before to which field you would be going and what you would be doing: Harvesting, trimming, weeding or shading. In that sense it was always a bit hard for me as I like to be prepared. Also I had my fair troubles coping with working in the heat as you get to learn all states of overheating and fatigue as well as coping strategies for it. So it was probably my most feared work going outside or also in places with bad aircon like cafe. I loved the scenery but the temperature often got me to my limits, being exhausted for the rest of the day.
More to my liking was insider work, mostly desk work like posts for social media, personal projects (I did some tea paper) or labeling and packing teas. You have to organise yourself in this time but you can go in your own pace and start being creative as well. But you also need to be alert for some spontaneous short tours coming in or helping with dishes wherever it is needed. So there is always more to do than there is time.
Or it could also be surrounding teatours, cooking lunch in the cafe, preparation, cleanup and actually holding the presentation for the tour. I really enjoyed this work in the teatour, as I like the hospitality work of preparation, the meeting of new people and the explanation about tea and answering questions. It is always a bit like travelling around the world myself if I talk with them and learn about their (often tea related) stories. I like how all parts of the team work together to accommodate the tour and of course I always love the shopping afterwards. I would like to say that it is not about the sales and it isn’t about the money but … to see the people interested in the product because of your description and being passionate about trying it out just makes me happy. It is like direct feedback after the tour. Also many of them are quite grateful and start talking with you at that time, exchanging stories and contacts, so it is just an overall nice experience.
I especially have the day in mind on which I was presenting for the first time my selfmade Wakoucha, my black tea. I spend so much time producing this tea and then having three people buy it because they liked it… The thought that my tea will now travel around the world, come back to Germany even before me is truly sensational.
I learned so much about tea through this process and I’m excited about taking it with me and presenting it to my tea boys and girls back home. I also tried for myself to pick and dry some fresh teabuds to create a white tea I was always very fond of, as well as the Houjicha roasting in cafe time. I was happy to be part of Obubu’s workshops on handrolling tea, pottery making and mochi making.
Through Obubu I got to take classes at Nakai Sensei’s, a lovely lady (the perfect representation of a japanese granny) teaching my colleagues and me in senchado and chado. It is a great opportunity to sit in a different tearoom and learn a different style of tea brewing. It always calmed me down and took my mind for two hours away from all my stress, being almost meditative and very beautiful. So I found a new activity I always wished to get in contact with. I hope to be able to take it back home, find a teacher to keep on learning so I can also share it with other people.
And I really got my camera in action, practicing my skills on it further and taking a lot of memories home with me. Definetly in need of a good tripod now. A shoutout to my handmodels, you will soon hear from me about upcoming shootings!
In summary: Obubu taught me not only some new things about tea in theory and practice. It taught me that tea isn’t a science but always very subjective for each and everyone. It taught me a lot about working life and how I deal with difficult situations, where I struggle and what working type of person I am. To be less critical about other people as well as myself. And it taught me the importance of community before singularity. You have your task for which you have the responsibility, but that doesn’t mean that you have to do it all by yourself. It showed me how quickly a group can build up.
At Obubu I learned to live in the moment, to adjust to sudden changes, to work on my own and take over responsibility. Most importantly you have to find calmness and happiness in very stressed situations. Especially since I always give 150% (I can’t help perfectionism), I suddenly after a few weeks realised how I totally forgot about having fun. In this regard I was always happy to rely on Milan, who is simply the complete opposite of me. Always relaxed and having a great time, he helps me to get out of my stressed head again. And Andreas and Kirill have always been there to hear about my complaints of the day and just build me up until I was calm and reenergized again. I loved our gang. And our weekly trips to the delicous pizza place.
I learned many things at Obubu but the most amazing thing is the way how a bunch of people from all around the world become a family. To have some sort of routine, knowing how people will act, being able to rely on another, exchanging kindness and to grow together is an amazing experience here at Obubu.
The world became a great deal smaller and challenges too. All doors seemed to be open and many of the boundaries I have set myself, lifted. Here at Obubu I can feel free and self-confident.
So I hope to stay connected to Obubu through tea, as I would love to try doing tea tastings and workshops back at home. To bring japanese tea to the world. Maybe someday I will once again start my journey to revisit the teafields. To bring Mareike back to the japanese tea. Or explore some other teagardens, maybe visit Milan in Assam, to see how his Assam Sencha is doing? And to finally get some Massalla Chai! Or go to a tea ceremony with Mai, whether in France or Vietnam. Visit Andreas in Japan at his bar/cabbage farm/language school? Or go to whichever place Kirill ‘s spiritual journey is taking him and his Capybara to? Look if Trey actually started a teafarm in the US or get served Wagashi by Marusya? I want to do all of it! I am thankful to you guys as well as my senpais, my AM’s and the Obubu team for making this journey so beautiful. And I thank you, dear reader, for your interest in my story.
And to everyone out there, whether planning to come to Obubu, already there or just interested in my story I can just say:
Enjoy Japan!
