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.
Spring in Wazuka comes suddenly. Our Sakura trees took what felt like forever to blossom, with trees in nearby Uji and Nara beginning to burst with pink and white weeks before the ones that overhang the river that rushes through Wazuka town. The cold hung on until early April, and the cool mornings that trickled […]
This month, interns Zehra (#196), Garance (#199), Izzy (#200), and KD (#201) had the chance to make their own Wakoucha! They harvested Yabukita leaves each from Blue Forest Tea Garden, divided the leaves into 4.75kg each, and each created their own unique batch of Japanese black tea! While the general steps for processing black tea are […]
Hi everyone! Tran here, former intern #141, now back as assistant manager #12! It’s been two years since I’ve completed my internship and as you know, “many things happen” at Obubu and boy has many things happened indeed. This first month back was a little bit of me just reliving my intern days, mostly doing […]
Izzy Intern #200 From the UK Instagram: izzys_tea_notes The Idea For my project, I had the idea to create a tool that would help people decide on a tea, this could be deciding which one to buy from the shop, or just which tea to drink reflecting the mood of your day. It would ask […]
Do you need help choosing your next brew? Then you are in the right place. This is Zehra (intern #196), and for my our intern project at Obubu, I teamed up with Izzy (intern #200!) to create a short, fun quiz to help you discover which Obubu tea to try next. The idea came to […]
Hello everyone! My name is Garance (Gahonceee) and I am intern #199 here at Obubu. Spring batch from April to July :) If you ask anyone here at Obubu, I hate dates. I do not like making plans in advance, I don’t like planning in general. Specific times or any future commitment make me anxious. […]
“Tea Eggs,” sometimes called “Marbled Eggs,” are a beloved Chinese snack that has been enjoyed for centuries. Over time, the original recipe has evolved with many adaptations, making this savoury treat popular around the world. In this post, I’ll share my take on this classic snack using Japanese tea instead of the traditional Chinese red […]
Being here at Obubu, you meet all sorts of talented, inspirational people from around the world. Whether they be guests or interns, you learn and can grow so much from each other. I used to be seen as the annoying kid who always asked too many questions. However, growing up, I started seeing my innate […]
Hello! This is Cara, intern #189. My background is in food science with an interest in sustainability! In my eyes, sustainability is a practice of being mindful of our consumption of resources. As the saying goes, reduce, reuse, recycle! In this post we’ll be exploring the world of dyeing! That is, dyeing with upcycled tea. […]
Hi everyone, welcome to my first AM blog page! So excited to be writing it finally! Presentations first! I’m Marilena, AM #11, I’m from Italy and I came to Obubu just after my undergraduate program. I graduated in Food Science, and during my studies I had the opportunity to meet a friend from China that […]
Alexandra #193GermanyInstagram: @xalexty With this post, I want to share a little bit about my sourdough journey here at Obubu and also, I want to share with you three recipes that I invented during my time here. Since the day I baked my first sourdough loaf in my life, something changed. I didn’t just fall […]
On May 4th, Obubu hosted a handpicking event for the Kansai Tea Competition! Obubu staff, assistant managers, interns, and volunteers plucked fresh spring tea leaves from one of Akky-san’s fields in Monzen. Together, they picked 45.73kg of tea leaves, which were driven straight to the factory behind Wazuka-cha Café. Here, under the close supervision or Akky-san, […]
Helloooooo everyone and welcome to my first Assistant Manager blog! My name is Nicole and I am Assistant Manager #10 at Obubu. I was born in Aotearoa, New Zealand, lived in Australia for twenty-one years, then in Iceland’s Westfjords for a year, and then back to Aotearoa and then finally, here I am in Wazuka, […]
Bio: Hozan Tanii, a third-generation potter based in Shigaraki, is recognized as one of the leading innovators of Shigaraki-yaki ceramics. Born in Nara Prefecture in 1953, he is the kiln master of Tanikan-gama (谷寛窯), a workshop originally founded by his grandfather in Shigaraki during the early Shōwa period (1926–1989). In 1995, he built Shio-gama, the […]
Hi! My name is Mia, and I’m Assistant Manager #9 at Obubu! Welcome to the first chapter of my blog series about my time here. My interest in tea stems from time spent enjoying tea with my family. This interest grew as I explored tea through art, incorporating it physically and thematically into my work […]