September – November 2025
September
In September, the crowns of the rice fields around Wazuka began to turn gold, and new autumn leaves brightened the tea fields with pale yellow. Towards the beginning of the month, we finished AME and began to focus more on our personal projects. At the same time, we also had farming days, which mostly consisted of weeding.
One moment that stands out to me is a weeding party with an unexpected twist (weeding parties are what we call farming shifts that consist of weeding). It was the last farming day for Mai (#202) and Kirill (#208). We started out weeding the Office tea field, aptly named because it sits in front of the Obubu office. Amidst chopping bamboo (the greatest adversary of weeders), pulling up beautiful but invasive ferns, and untangling delicate but stubborn vines from the Yabukita trees, Miwako-san came over and relayed a message from Akky-san: Jinja tea field needed weeding, and we should change fields.
So, we gathered our kama and chabako and drove to Jinja tea field, which is well-known amongst the Obubu family for two reasons: It sits beside a shrine that one reaches by mounting a set of stairs and walking through a mottled gray stone torii gate, and it is notorious for leeches. Thankfully, we only experienced the more pleasant of the two reasons. As we had already been weeding for some time in the other tea field, we took a farming break near the base of Jinja tea field, on the mossy ground beneath a maple tree still holding its bright green summer leaves. We drank cold-brewed Kabuse Sencha and discussed snails, among other things.
We then moved to the tea field, which stretches across a relatively steep mountainside, each row accessible from a set of stairs running along its right side. Like a large theatre, Jinja is split into two sections: the main floor (lower section) and the balcony (upper section). Our task was to weed the lower section. We weeded our way from the top of this section to the bottom. Because of this field’s position, the sun had not yet touched some of the bushes, so we found the leaves cold and speckled with dew. Among the bushes, we found little moths with partially-transparent wings, a beetle with a shiny blue-green shell, and what Kirill described as an “oxidised mantis” (a brown praying mantis). It felt almost magical.
Jinja tea field was where I had my first Akky Support with Joshua (#189) in March. I hadn’t farmed in it since, so it was interesting to see the field in this different season, its leaves no longer dark green and dusted with frost.
On the same day as this memorable weeding party, we welcomed our final group of interns for this year: Nicholas, Shannon, Mariah, Florencia (Flor), Andreas, Stefanee, and Lotte, (interns #209-215)!
October
One of the most exciting parts of October for me was the blossoming of the tea trees. In early October, hundreds of silky white buds appeared on the tea fields, most noticeably on the abandoned fields like the one that sits beside Monzen field. These buds bloomed into beautiful, delicate tea flowers that graced the dark green autumn leaves.
A memorable moment from this month of tea flowers was going to the World O-CHA Festival in Shizuoka with Mariah, Shannon, Stefanee, Lotte, Flor, and Nicole (AM #10). Because this festival only takes place one every three years, I was so grateful to have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit this one. We tasted delicious teas from many different farms, including a roasted kukicha from Kanetou Miuraen that smelled like kinako and an Okumidori sencha from Samurai Tea that smelled delicately like fresh ocean water.
In October, Akky-san also began autumn harvest. One of my favourite memories from this season was an Akky Support with Flor. We harvested leaves for tencha in Somada and Tenku fields (this tencha will be ground into our Basic Cooking Matcha). It was interesting to see how different the leaves were in this harvest season; they were larger and seemed drier, and they filled the harvesting bags quickly. It was a long but very rewarding day!
November
Autumn harvest continued into the next month, where I had one of my favourite farming days. Stefanee and I met Akky-san at Monzen field, where we trimmed the Saemidori section. I was so excited for this day because I had visited Monzen field countless times while leading tea tours, but I had never actually farmed there. The cool autumn air, the velvety white tea flowers on the abandoned tea field beside us, and the morning light on the wet tea leaves wove such a refreshing and stark atmosphere from summer and spoke of the soul of the autumn season.
Next, we moved to Monzen Sugimoto, which Kirill and I had helped Akky-san deep-trim in the summer. The field, which had been cut far past its lowest leaves in many sections, still looked quite desolate. Akky-san said that the tea trees were likely suffering because there had not been much rain this rainy season. This was a reminder to me of how tied the practice of tea farming is to nature. In the afternoon, Flor and I went with Akky-san to a third Monzen field: a new Yabukita field that Akky-san had not farmed in before. The bushes were tall and wide and had beautiful autumn shoots. We trimmed this field, and during our breaks on the machine, Flor and I hand picked some of these fresh tea leaves. Flor harvested some leaves and buds to make oolong, and we also harvested some buds to make a small batch of silver needle tea!
This month, I also returned to Kasagi with Nicole, where I had first visited with Katrina, Tran (#12), Marilena (#11), and Nicole in April. We were hoping to see the sea of clouds that is known to be visible from the top of the mountain there in the early morning, but the sky was too clear for clouds that morning. However, it was still beautiful, with leaves of the maple trees catching fire with autumn colours. We enjoyed Tamaryokucha from Sonogi, Nagasaki (the home of Ikedoki Tea!) near the mountaintop.
When I was not farming or hosting tea tours, I focused mainly on project and graduation work, as my last chapter at Obubu is coming to a close. Tran, Marilena, Nicole, and I are all working hard on beautiful projects, and I am so excited to share these projects with you! Please keep an eye out for them!
This is my last blog as an assistant manager, and if you’ve been following along, thank you! I’m so grateful I was able to share this experience with you.
またね！
ミア