Leamington Spa Japanese Tea Event – 3rd September, 2014

Do you know Royal Leamington Spa? It a beautiful small town in the UK, that was used as a resort in Queen Victoria times. Invited by our friend Darren and Laura at Auradaze, we were lucky enough to visit it on our Euro Tour 2014. Darren and Laura, had visited us in Wazuka at the end of July and at that time the idea was born to hold an event in their cosy and warm-spirited restaurant.

The day started with ‘technical difficulties’, when we missed our train from London to Leamington, as London attractions were too inviting. But travel stress was soon forgotten, when Darren welcomed us with a warm bowl of miso soup, and soon we did not know where we were anymore: the UK or Japan. Obubu’s tea already in the restaurant shelves as well as small notes everywhere reading ‘Come as a strangers, leave as friends’ or ‘Please turn of mobiles so that you can fully appreciate the now – the quality of food and the company’ made it a really pleasant place to be.

Because of our delay we had to prepare for the event with a bit more speed, but guests could start sipping welcome drink hojicha and were patient enough to wait for the preparations to finish. Before Darren started cooking and Laura serving beautiful and freshly prepared Japanese dishes, we made an introduction about Japanese tea and our town Wazuka and started brewing teas one by one. The event, full of beautiful dishes and cups of refreshing Japanese teas, was a wonderful occasion to introduce and spread Japanese culture far away from home.