Before Obubu:
My journey began with plants. Horticulture has been something I’ve loved all my life and chasing this passion has brought me to the most incredible places. I started out studying organic farming at the Green String Institute, a 120-acre organic farming school in Petaluma, CA, where I learned so much about the principles of sustainable agriculture. I then was accepted to a horticulture program at Kew Royal Botanic Gardens in London where I earned my certificate in horticulture – improving my skills and knowledge in plant science, glasshouse display management and propagation techniques. Following that, I interned at Obubu Tea Farms, where I fell in love with tea, Japan and traditional tea farming practices.
I then moved back to the US where I was hired to help renovate a traditional Japanese Garden at Lotusland in Montecito, CA. I spent two years helping to preserve and enhance this beautiful space. More recently, I worked as a floral designer, using my horticultural knowledge to express myself creatively through color and texture. All of these experiences have been incredible and helped me to explore lesser known parts of the plant world.
During Obubu:
As we say here at Obubu – “many things happen”. This could not be a truer statement. Obubu is magical in that it is a wild mix of age-old practices and new and exciting thoughts and ideas. It’s a place where it feels like anything can happen and everything is possible. It had been 9 years since I was an intern here and returning to this place really felt like coming home.
This year was full of so many wonderful things – from the opening of the upstairs factory to handpicking and hand rolling events in the spring to making black tea in the summer. Not to mention the epic adventures around Japan on the weekends. During one of these amazing trips (to the island of Shikoku), I discovered a newfound love for fermented teas – specifically Awabancha. Some of my favorite memories were the days when we would harvest all morning, load up the farming truck with freshly harvested tea leaves and then ride down the mountain on a big bed of tea bags. I also loved working in the processing factory – I spent lots of time learning about the machines from master processors Pau (AM #3) and Sarah (AM #4) as well as farming masters Miwako and Akky san. There’s something really amazing about watching the tea travel from tea to factory to cup.
During my time at Obubu, I was encouraged to take on many responsibilities and make them my own. The freedom to be creative was really inspiring and I worked hard to achieve set goals and tasks. Some of my job roles involved taking over the social media department (creating reels became a new passion), managing Assistant Manager recruitment, teaching AME classes, supervising construction projects on property and leading the tea tourism department, all while learning about how a small, independent tea company works.
I also worked on several personal projects such as cleaning, organizing and decorating our much loved Obubu House (with the help of former interns Patrick and Spencer) as well as making it a fun environment for interns to let loose – Club Obubu was born! Weekly dance parties in the tea room is something I’ll never forget.
When I first interned at Obubu, I dreamed of someday creating a photo project that would help people to understand how special this place is. This year I was able to work towards that goal, I took hundreds of pictures with my film camera during my year here which I plan on using to create an Obubu photography book. My hope is that these pictures will help tell a story about the hard work, passion and knowledge that goes into making Japanese tea.
After Obubu:
Life after Obubu can feel a bit strange, it really does feel like a family here and leaving is never easy. Sometimes it can seem like tea is the main focus here at Obubu but really the heart of this company is the people. I am so grateful for all of the incredible people I’ve met while on this amazing journey. Even though this year has come to an end, I’m thrilled to be able to say that I’ve accepted a job offer in Osaka and will be staying in Japan! I’m looking forward to continuing to explore all that Japan has to offer, try new teas and to be able to visit my home away from home here at Obubu.
– Mac :)
(If you’d like to check out my Obubu photography you can find it here on my website under the drop down menu item titled “Portfolio”)
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