This autumn, each autumn intern had the chance to harvest and process a batch of bancha from the Blue Forest Tea Garden (Aoimori) with either Miwako-san, Pau, or Katrina. In the mornings of these special tea-making days, interns would go with one or two of the staff members in a keitora through the forested road to Aoimori […]
Autumn has always been the most nostalgic season to me. As the days finally start to cool down and the leaves turn yellow, the bittersweet of the last part of the Assistant Manager Program really hits differently, trying to enjoy every moment to the fullest. While we are still experiencing a lot of “first times,” […]
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 […]
On the 13th of November 2025, the National Hand Rolling Competition was held in the city of Fujieda, Shizuoka Prefecture. Yearly, the Wazuka Hand Rolling Preservation Society participates and this year was no exception. In 2023, the team consisting of Kenta-san, Simona, and Akky-san secured first place. Last year, Pau also had the opportunity to […]
Intern project by #207 Andreas Fuji (Denmark) I will be speaking about my Obubu project, which was interviewing the four artisans we collaborate with. These artisans are Toshi-san (mochi), Saito-san (pottery), Hosoi-san (hand rolling), and Ishida-san (wagashi). My project actually started out completely differently. I went through five other project ideas before I realized this […]
Intern Project: Fixing and Repairing an Assortment of Areas Around the Farm My intern project evolved a bit from my original plan, which was to create a garden space. Instead I decided that I would take the time to fix and improve a couple features around the office tea field that required repair, in order […]
If you’ve read our previous newsletters, you will know that Obubu interns who are here during a harvest season get to make their own batch of wakoucha. Our autumn interns also had this opportunity, but their tea was extra special. They handpicked their tea leaves from Inari, the tea field we began to regenerate this year, marking Obubu’s first […]
The journey of Japanese tea terms into foreign languages is a fascinating example of cross-cultural exchange, with a fair share of bumps along the way. Words like matcha, sencha, and hojicha have been embraced worldwide, but not always in their purest form. Common misspellings (from macha to maccha) and creative adaptations in branding have introduced […]
A study on the possibiliteas to upcycle tea leaves in the process of paper making (Summer 2025) Hey there my dear readers! Nice of you to come along to my blog page, I am Mareike (#203). Please take a seat and explore with me the difficult and sometimes very smelly journey of recycling infused tea to […]
How to use this guide You may follow the story chronologically, from its roots to its buds, or choose your Brewer from the menu to unroll their scroll. At any point, you may change your Brewer, or linger for the 2nd brew, a deeper infusion from the same lives. The guide also carries a Google […]
“暑いですね?” (atsui desu ne?) or in other words, “Isn’t it hot?” is a phrase that you will hear EVERYWHERE you go in Japan in the summer and even here in the Obubu office every day. Hi everyone! Tran again, here to report that I survived my first Japanese summer in the sweltering heat! Truthfully, the […]
I spent the summer of 2025 at a small tea farm called Obubu, nestled in the countryside village of Wazuka, Japan. I was in a little car, went through the forest, moving from one tea field to another, living a life that felt straight out of a Ghibli film. I captured these moments through my […]
If Japan had a “Summer Wrapped,” it would surely read: “You have produced 86 liters of sweat.”
Maybe you’ve heard of the rise of a powdered green tea called matcha. Recently, Obubu staff member George, previous intern and co-founder of the Global Japanese Tea Association Anna (#50), and previous intern Maren (#156) were interviewed alongside other voices in the tea industry for a special on “The Rise of Matcha” by BBC’s The Food Programme. You can […]
During my internship at Obubu, I wanted to bring a little piece of Japanese culture into our tea fields. In Japan, stamp-collecting (Hanko or Goshuin) is a beloved tradition. Whenever people visit shrines, temples, or even train stations for the first time, they collect a stamp as both a memory and a way of showing […]
July – August 2025 Among other things, Summer at Obubu was full of sweaty farming days, delicious Summer Sencha, insects, countless cold brews, beautiful sunsets, and black tea-making. It was hot yet beautiful and restful yet eventful. July One of the highlights of July was making Wakoucha with Tran (AM #12) and interns Zehra (#196), […]
And just like that, we’re halfway through our time here. The summer is here – formally hailing the arrival of Tsuyu (the rainy season) and informally, Frog and Bug Season. The frog choir in the rice paddy across from Hojicha House has now been joined by the cicada chorus, drowning out the hum of the […]
Goodbyeee winter, hellooooo spring! As long as we waited for the spring season, it came and left in a blink of an eye just like the fleeting sakura season that was brought with it. The cake making continued to flow from March into April as Pau and Miwako had birthdays during this month, just a […]
Are you ready for another thesis-length blog about how much I adored spring harvest? Buckle up and please bear (🐻) with me!!! It was the BEST!
This month, five students and instructor Nakano-san from Yokohama High School visited Obubu for a summer study trip. When they arrived, they embarked on a three-day experience during which they immersed themselves in the world of Japanese tea through a guided tour, handpicking and hand rolling, field work, group discussions, and more. We were so glad […]
Everyone tried to warn me about the Japanese summer and every time I would respond with confidence: “I am from Italy, I will be fine”. It was not. Summer has always been the strangest period of the year, full of very high ups and very low downs and…this year also was no different! Still, summer […]
Background I was born in a tea-producing region and currently work at a Japanese tea store.I believed that the internship program at Obubu Tea Farm could offer some clues to solve problems such as “labor shortages” and the “increase of abandoned tea fields” that have been great problems the tea industry, so I decided to […]
From the cold and dry winter we finally started stepping into the blooming season. Spring here has such an enchanting and magical power! The awakening of the season started in the most precious way! We took part in a handpicking and handrolling event held by Kenta-san, president of the Hand Rolling Preservation Society but also […]
May-June 2025 Hello again! Welcome to the second chapter of my assistant manager blog series. One of the most memorable parts of this quarter was the Spring harvest and processing. I still clearly remember the first day of Spring harvest, Hachiju-Hachiya. It was so incredible to see the factory alive this night and throughout the harvesting […]
I’d always heard the legends about winter being the “quiet season” for tea farmers—when tea bushes lie dormant and the fields, along with the tea tours, rest under the chill of the colder months. Well… my winter turned out to be anything but quiet. It was still very much genki—lively, bustling, and packed with exciting activities. In fact, I might even say it felt busier than autumn, thanks to all the tea-related shenanigans we dove into.