Hello everyone !
My name is Alix and I am Assistant Manager #6 at Obubu. I come from the North-West of France (Brittany and Normandy !) and I studied agriculture and food engineering. My combined interest in Japanese culture and high quality products of origin pushed me to apply for this amazing opportunity. I am so excited about spending a year in Wazuka !
This is my second time in Japan but first time in Obubu so I have a lot to learn. I arrived at Obubu in the middle of March, at the same time as my amazing co-Assistant Manager (#5) Mac and a new cohort of wonderful interns : Miko, Patrick, Lana, Kali, and Nathan. We were very lucky to arrive at this season as it was right before the start of the sakura blossoms and we were able to enjoy the beautiful colors of these flowers in different cities.
On our first week, our senpais introduced us to the Tea Tours and to farming by training in Aoimori field. There, we harvested bancha, the lower leaves between the main harvests, to produce Kyobancha. Sarah (Assistant Manager #3) wrote a blog post about it if you’re interested in learning more about Kyobancha harvest !
During my second week, Jean (Assistant Manager #2) hosted a Tea Lounge were he introduced us to Nepali teas and described his experience working with tea farmers in Nepal for four months. His knowledge about tea and his insights as an experienced Assistant Manager were incredibly helpful in learning about tea and about Obubu. It was hard saying goodbye to him at the end of March when he completed his year at Obubu and went back to France to pursue his career in tea. We wish him the best !
As the time went by, activities intensified at Obubu with many different things like Sweet Sakura making, shading the fields, weeding, and preparing the harvesting season !
The spring harvest was an incredible learning experience. Indeed, it is the highest quality harvest of the year, as the young shoots have had more time (over the winter) to accumulate the nutrients responsible for the delicious taste of tea. For this reason, it is also the season in which tea farmers make most of their income. During this time, we farmed daily in Aoimori (the staff and intern-run field) and in all of our other fields with Akky-san to produce some delicious sencha. Farming is very fun even though it can take a few trials to really understand how to harvest properly. My favourite part of the spring harvest however, was processing with Miwako! She taught me how all the machines work and how to know when the tea leaves are ready for the next step just by touching them. We produced lots of Natural Sencha, Natural Gyokuro and Natural Yanagi. We love to drink tea while we process, and especially cold brews when it gets hot in the factory. For example “抹茶 ビール” (“Matcha beer”) just made by pouring Okumidori matcha over ice in beer glasses (no alcohol involved!).
We have also been keeping busy on our days off by visiting nearby cities (Osaka, Nara, Kyoto…), going on hikes and enjoying Japan !
One of the highlights of this first quarter was a weekend trip with the spring interns to Ine, a beautiful traditional fishing village on the opposite coast of Japan. We enjoyed the view of the Amanohashidate coastline from an amusement park nestled high up on a hill and danced traditional croatian dances on the beach before heading to Ine. After a peaceful walk through the fishing village we finally drove to beautiful rice paddies overlooking the sea.
See you soon to learn more about my tea adventures !
またね !
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