Hello!

My name is Jessica, I’m intern number #225, and I’m part of the 2026 spring cohort. I’ve never been known to be a woman of coherent words so apologies ahead of time for the lack of eloquence and grammar errors in my writing. I’ve been reading a lot of romantasy lately (thanks to the curtesy of my co-intern Jen) and wanted to make an attempt at sharing my experience at Obubu with you through my eyes. Please enjoy! 

Instargram/Tiktok: @jessydistressy

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I stepped out of the bus and waved bye to Arty and his wife, two strangers who sat behind me and graced me with conversation on our 30 minute drive to Obubu. Obubu is a tea farm in the countryside of Wazuka, Japan that hosts tea tours and sells tea, which I learned that Arty and his wife were traveling all the way from California for. It’s also a place that runs an internship program where individuals get to learn about tea through hands-on work and where I’m about to call home for the next 3 months.

I applied to Obubu’s internship program because I have dreams of opening my own cafe one day. I’ve always had this dream since I was young, but I always thought it was going to be some time in the future after I retire from my “real” corporate job. However, after a very emotional turbulent year that started with the passing of my beloved grandma (啊人), I knew that there was no time like the present to choose yourself wholeheartedly.

As I stood on the gravel in front of the bus, I looked into the distance and realized I was surrounded by valleys of trees and a sea of green. This was so different than the sky scrappers I grew up with, and it felt like I was walking into real life Stardew Valley.

As I scanned the horizon, I started thinking back to how I felt back at home in Chicago just three months ago. Right before I applied to Obubu, I had quit my first “adult” corporate job after 4 years due to burn out, and spent the days trying to force myself to relax (a little counterintuitive I know). Ironically, even though it was the most free from responsibilities I’ve ever been in my entire life, it was also the most lost I’ve felt in a long time. As I was waiting for an answer from Obubu, my life was in limbo. It felt like the outcome would decide how the trajectory of my life would go for the next decade and I know I’m being a little dramatic, but I can’t help it. This meant a lot to me.

This was the first time that I whole heartedly made a decision for myself regardless of what others had to say or think. I spent so much of my childhood and adult life putting others first, whether it was a parent, a partner, a boss, or friends. But with the recent events that happened in my life, I realized that I was tired of putting my aspirations on pause. I decided to lay out two choices on the table:

– Go live in Asia for a year to learn as much about tea as possible to gather inspiration for my future cafe
– Stay in Chicago and find a local cafe to work at to gain experience

I had tussled with both ideas extensively but thankfully around March, I stopped doing mental gymnastics. I received an email that titled “Congratulations! Welcome to Obubu!”. I was accepted into Obubu’s slot 2 spring cohort and that meant I’ll be living in Japan and diving head first into my journey with tea. I had recently just finished reading The Alchemist so I became a strong believer that once you decide to chase your dreams, the universe will conspire to help you. After a year of trials and tribulations, this acceptance seemed like a sign from the universe that I was finally walking in the right direction.

Once I discovered that I was accepted, there was no time to waste. I had to get my life in order to move across the pacific ocean for a year. I stuffed a year’s worth of essentials into 2 suitcases and 1 backpack. I said goodbye to my loving community, and did what I knew best, throw a cafe inspired goodbye party.

After I saw Arty and his wife get guided away from my view, I turned back to the bus, ready to carry my large orange suitcase out. But before I could grab it, the Obubu bus driver had already brought it down the steps of the bus and onto the gravel beside me. This was going to be the first of many kind and genuine interactions I’ll experience here at Obubu.

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The first few moments of the internship went by in a blur. My co-interns arrived one after another and before I knew it, there were 7 of us in a room together attending orientation. The 7 of us huddled and sat around one large table on the floor. Our orientation was held in our main tea room, filled with tatami floor, teaware displayed in an alclove in the back of the room, wooden beams supporting the space along the ceiling, and a projector presenting a powerpoint humming in the background. Not long after we sat down, an overwhelming amount of people started pouring in. The energy in the room was electric, filled with laughs from inside jokes and wide smiles. I was quite shy since everyone was still essentially strangers…but something about the way that every person seemed at ease with each other put me to ease. 

Our orientation began with a powerful burst of energy from one of the staff members, Miwako-san. And that energy was what kickstarted the ball rolling on what would become one of the most challenging and rewarding 3 months I would face. Being a tea farm intern during spring harvest was no walk in the park. It tested the limits of my physicality, my mental stability, and my emotional intelligence to a new degree. 

(Here is where I will end my attempt at being an author because writing is not my strong suit and it took me 2-3 weeks to come up with something semi-coherent. The next portion of my blog will just include what my experience as a slot 2 intern was like in 2026.)

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If I had to break down the internship, it would best be described in four parts:
Farming, Tea Tours, Cafe, and Co-Habitating:

Farming 👩🏻‍🌾

Spring harvest is the most anticipated time of the season for all the farmers here in Wazuka, one might even say that the success of a farm is highly dependent on this one harvest season. Everyday, you’d find someone driving their keitora up the winding roads of the tea fields and leave with no less than 100kg (~220 pounds) on the way back down. Sometimes a harvest can even reach up to 300 kg (~661 pounds).

In anticipation of spring harvest, I went to the gym everyday at home for about 2 months. I had hopes that strength training would help make the transition from my previous sedentary corporate life to a tea farmer a little easier. In some ways it helped, but in most ways it didn’t. My body didn’t quite want to cooperate with the grand ideas I had for myself. I ended up getting sick, sneezing atleast 15+ times throughout one harvest session, and was constantly fatigued. Moreover, I would never get a good night’s rest the night before a farming session because I was always so nervous about what the farming day would entail. We were always at the mercy of mother nature. Rain or shine, we would go out to the fields. My first farming day was at a field called Jingja, which was known to be our leechiest (actual leeches, not the fruit lychee) field. I remember that it started drizzling on the ride to the field but once I got my assignment from Maren, my assistant manager, it started to rain rain. By the time we were soaked, it was time to head to the next field. I was slightly traumatized to say the least from my first farming session.

As one of my co-interns put it, sometimes a farming day felt like a humiliation ritual. Imagine trying to haul up a 20kg harvest bag from the bottom of a valley on your back, but the tea field demanded you to be on all fours. One of our most beautiful tea fields, Tenku, always had me slipping down its side despite wearing the grippest shoes I owned. It was one of the highest tea fields in Wazuka and it sure felt like it. I would have to crawl on all fours during our farming sessions in order to make sure that I could safely get to the top of the field just to go home. I still remember the look of amusement on Akky-san (our co-founder/head farmer) as he stared at me trying to climb up the side of the mountain with a harvest bag. That man has seen it all.

Although farming was one of the most challenging parts of my time here at Obubu, it was also what made me feel the most accomplished. I pushed my body to its limits under the heat of the sun and I felt the strong thrum of heartbeat in my ears whenever I was out on those fields. There were multiple moments on the field where I felt the sentiment of “If I can do this, I can do anything” Every time I holstered a harvest bag on my back and made my way up to the top of the field, it felt like a level of growth was unlocked. Every time I held the machine steady for an even harvest across the entire row of tea bush, I felt a sense of satisfaction. There’s nothing like hitting your bed at the end of a farming day knowing that you did the best you were physically capable of. I realized that I could push myself further than I ever imagined, whether it was physically or mentally.

I want to thank my co-interns, assistant managers, and staff that I’ve harvested with. Although I never felt stronger than ever before in my life, I know that I am not the most physically capable person. Because of this, I know that others might have had to pick up the physical slack for me, moving at a much quicker pace than I could. But no one ever made it a point to condemn me for that. Everyone at Obubu was super understanding and always cheered me on, knowing that I was trying my hardest and contributed in the best way I could. For that, I am beyond grateful to be in such an empathetic community during one of the most physically challenging season of my life thus far. 🫶🏻

Our farming activities varied by field but it ranged from: pulling out weeds, clipping shading material to the tea bush, unshading and rolling the shades to be carried, trimming the bush, putting tea bags down at the end of each row, harvesting tea leaves at just the correct height with harvesting machine, holding the harvesting bag as the harvesting machine went down the row, carrying full tea bags to where the keitora is, loading the harvest bags onto the keitora, unloading leaves into the cooling container, flipping the harvest bags inside out, etc)

Tea Tours 🫖

Tea tourism at Obubu peaks during the spring, and my biggest tour to date was ~38 people. It’s not a big surprise since we run a pretty tight ship to ensure that the guests leave with a wealth of knowledge about Japanese tea. Guests get to learn about Japanese tea at a theoretical level during our morning session, then go up to our tea fields to learn about the anatomy of the plant, enjoy a tea-inspired lunch, walk through our sencha processing factory, and do a tea tasting session. Sounds like the perfect way to spend a day in Japan if you ask me.

Tea tour has climbed up the ranks to becoming my favorite shift during the internship, although I was quite nervous about it at first. I recall my brain being so scrambled during my first tour that I told guests I was from the state of Chicago in America, which is not true at all because Chicago is not a state. Despite the fact that it started out with being unable to pronounce Japanese words and rambling embarrassment, I now look forward to being the presenter of tea tours the most. I enjoy learning about each guests’ backgrounds, what their connection to tea is, seeing the spark of joy when they taste a cup of tea they haven’t tried before and deciding that they do indeed like it.

Each tour is unique and reminds me of a dance. As a presenter, I tango back and forth with the guests, trying to find a rhythm where everyone in the room feels comfortable. I do my best to anticipate the needs of that day, pausing and giving attention on a certain topic the room shows interest in, recalling a guest’s favorite tea from the morning and incorporating it into our conversation later in the afternoon, or even checking the weather before the guests go up to the tea fields to ensure no umbrellas are needed. It slowly dawned on me that thinking through these small details and knowing that I helped contribute to a guest’s positive experience that day brings me a lot of joy.

Cafe 🍽️

Our cafe sits cozily on top of our factory, with big open windows to Wazuka’s rice patties and tea fields. It is home to cafe lunches during tea tour, staff lunches every tuesday/thursday, and various fun workshops. It’s an open space with high ceilings that easily became one of my favorite spots to do work at. 

Cafe came easiest to me. Years of working at my family restaurant finally paid off and being in a kitchen environment felt like home. As interns, we help prepare guest lunches for the day. The lunch incorporates tea in various ways to show that tea can also be eaten. Aside from preparing guest lunches, we also get a chance to explain to the guests what they are about to eat. It brightens up my day to see the guest’s face light up as I explain what ingredients we’ve used and which item includes tea. It especially makes my heart sing when they enjoy a specific dish that I’ve helped make that day.

But a big reason why cafe is one of my favorite spots is because every Tuesday and Thursday, we get staff lunch. Anyone’s who has ever met me knows my deep love for good food, and when I can get that for the price of 500 yen? That’s chef’s kiss right there. The meals prepared by our senior assistant manager Tran on Tuesdays blows me away every time. Without fail, whenever I taste her food, I urge her to open up her own cafe/restaurant soon so that everyone can have the pleasure of eating her food. I would have come to the internship for her food alone. Aside from Tran, we also have many amazing chefs here at Obubu. I vividly remember Katrina’s Tunisian hummus and falafels, Kayo-san’s curry rice, Maren’s Hojicha Bagels, the list goes on. The town of Wazuka and its inhabitats really bring Ratatouille’s movie quote to life “Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere.“

Special shoutout to the individuals who have helped prepare a staff lunch: Tran, Kayo-san, Katrina, George, Garance, Dhvani, Maren, Tomáš, and countless others.

Co-habitating/Community 💚

My blog post is definitely getting too long so I’ll try to keep this next part short even though this is what makes up the most of Obubu.

A large part of what makes Obubu such a special place is the combination of its people, the transience, and being surrounded by nature. There’s a pulse that beats throughout Obubu, and it’s ever-changing depending on who its current residents are. Each combination of assistant managers, interns, and staff will bring about their own flavors (much like cultivars, something you’ll learn about during the internship if you ever decide to go from reader to applicant). It’s so rare to meet such wonderful humans all in one place and I thank the universe that our lives were intertwined for 3 months.

A few years ago, I was talking to my friend, talking about how it’s such a shame that I’ll never live with roommates again. I loved my roommates from college and missed the nature of that relationship. I’m a few years out of college now and most people I know are either living alone or with their partner. But I missed the deep connection that you build with those you live with, where you share your most vulnerable and intimate sides just casually without thinking too much about it. Moments where stories are shared over the dining table even when a bed was calling your name, early morning conversations when eyes are barely open.

Fast forward to now, I’m living with ~21 people on one property and 6 others inside one home. It’s been a really nice reminder of what living inside a small community looks like. I am beyond thankful for all the souls that I’ve come into contact with while at Obubu, my experience would not have been the same with anyone else. Thank you for making the space so welcoming, inviting, and jubilant.

What’s Next?

After Obubu, I am planning to travel to China and Taiwan to learn more about tea. I will also attend a baking school so that I can add pastries to my future cafe! Alongside that, I am considering volunteering at a buddhist temple since there’s still a bit of soul searching I want to do. I want to make sure that when I finally achieve the dreams of opening my own cafe, I have enough knowledge to share with the guests who will pass through my shop. Maybe my dream will evolve as I travel across Asia, but for now, this is where the universe is telling me to go.

If you want to follow along my journey, I am documenting it on my instagram/tiktok: @jessydistresy!