みんなさん、こんにちは！
hello everyone!
My name is Lotte, intern #215, from Belgium and I had the opportunity to be an intern at Obubu in the autumn of 2025.
I’m writing this story in my last week, trying not to get too emotional but looking back at all the beautiful memories I got to make over the last few months. Here we go!
BEFORE OBUBU
After high school, I didn’t know what I wanted to study so I decided to take a year to do things I enjoy, work and save up to explore the world and find out what my next step in life would be. In my gap year, I wanted to find something that was meaningful, educational and also aligned with my passions and I think I’ve found the absolute best place on earth to spend 3 months fully immersing myself in the world of Japanese tea. I honestly can’t imagine what my life would have been like if I didn’t come here.
I started drinking tea as a kid and fell in love with the comfort and connection a cup of tea would provide. In fall and winter, I would bring a thermos to school and was so happy to drink my warm, golden beverage (eventho it was mostly tea bags and too much sugar haha). My grandfather brought me a little closer to the world of tea, mostly chinese teas.
Over the years, tea became more and more present in my daily life. I started drinking tea every day about three years ago. In the beginning it was more a casual thing but it turned out to become a passion and a practice.
In middle school, I became interested in Japanese language and culture and as a young traveller I wanted to come to Japan and experience the culture first hand.
The moment I found this place while looking for farming opportunities abroad, I knew this was exactly what I wanted to do, to come to japan, not just as a tourist, but to live here for three months and become a small part of this country and the production of tea.
Before my internship, my favorite tea was matcha. I love this unique tea for its special preparation method and nutty flavor. It became a daily practice and looked forward to drinking in the morning. Matcha was the tea that introduced me to the world of Japanese tea. Being here at Obubu changed the way I see tea, changed my prefenances, etc. My number one favorite tea during the internship was Kabuse sencha but I loved many other teas like black gyokuro, needle oolong, mejiro kukicha and sencha of the wind.
DURING OBUBU
Coming to Japan was my first time over-seas, my first, big, independent trip, nervous but excited to begin a new chapter of my life.
I arrived here and was blown away by the beauty of Wazuka town. The wild nature, the sound of the insects and birds in the trees, the summer heat, and the obvious presence of tea fields everywhere. I fell in love. This was the japan I had always dreamed of and could not believe my own eyes.
Sooo many things have happened over the last three months. Time has never passed this quickly. I truly lived my best life here in Wazuka.
One of my favorite memories from my internship was making my own small batch of hand-picked, hand-rolled black tea (和紅茶)
As interns we get the opportunity to experiment with black tea making and it was such a rewarding process. I will keep a bag of my tea for a year and see how the flavor changes.
My overall favorite activity at Obubu was farming. Being a small part of the tea production in Wazuka gave me a sense of purpose and belonging. If I could dream big, I dream of becoming a tea farmer one day. Even if it’s small scale, just making tea to make tea. Akky-san’s passion and enthousiasm for tea farming are what made me excited to get up early in the morning, put on my tabi shoes and head out the door for a full day in the fields. I feel so grateful to have worked alongside so many inspiring, beautiful indivituals, who are so skilled and have so much knowledge about tea and production. Here are some of many farming pictures:
The autumn here in Wazuka was magical. September was still hot, but as the weeks went by, the temperatures got more comfortable, the mornings colder, the sun set much earlier, the air felt crisp. The moment the leaves started to change, slowly at first and than, suddendly, the landscape turned into a pallet of crimson reds and fresh autumn yellow. This kind of autumn
AFTER OBUBU
I leave this place with a lifetime worth of memories and a passion for tea bigger than I could have ever imagined. I’ll bring a physical and metaphorical suitcase full of tea back to Belgium and will share it with my family and friends. I’m sure these past three months will be on my mind every single day for the next chapter in my life. Back home, I will figure out my next step in life, I’m planning on studying languages, (probably Japanese) at university starting in January.
This internship has inspired me so much, there are so many things I feel pulled to do like starting tea travel, learning more about tea from other places like China, Vietnam, Taiwan,…
I want tea to become a big part of my life. It’s the kind of passion that will grow the more I learn. Tea is a way of connection and I want to connect more people to tea, bringing tea back to my family and friends, maybe even start my own small business and host small scale workshops and tastings.
I hope you enjoyed reading this blog post
have a great day and don’t forget to smile :)
much love
Lotte