Sophie’s insights on Tea in Britain

We were pleased to welcome intern #147 Sophie this summer 2023. Sophie is from the United-Kingdom and is giving us her insights about tea in Britain! Tea In Britain Whilst tea drinking has become almost synonymous with British culture, tea wasn’t introduced to the country until 1660, almost 900 years after the introduction of tea […]

Life of an Obubu Intern 151 Itsaya #2

[2023年 06 月] My first month at Obubu is finished! It went by so fast! During this month, I have learned a lot about processing and each step of the transformation of the leaf, but it doesn’t end here. For example, we cleaned the soft and rough rolling machines. It was very funny because we […]

Assistant Manager Blog by Pau [Autumn season]

Hello, my name is Pau, one of the new assistant managers here at Obubu. This is my first monthly journal in the blog. I hope to show you my experiences living in Wazuka and working in its beautiful tea fields. I arrived on the 7th of September, already three weeks. Time has gone by so […]

Assistant Manager blog Sarah [2023.09月]

みなさん こんにちわ! My name is Sarah and, together with Pau, I have recently joined Obubu as a new Assistant Manager. Actually, you might have seen me before, trotting around Obubu’s blog and social media [The (not so) Secret Life of An Intern – May 2023] as last spring I first joined Obubu as an intern […]

Meeting Toshiyuki Matsubayashi of Asahiyaki by #145 Jia En

Overlooking the Uji River, Asahiyaki is a pottery studio and gallery shop presently headed by its 16th successive generation of potters and has a rich history of 400 years. For the first time, the studio held an exhibition, ‘Asahi Yaki 423 Exhibition’ that featured works from all its 16 generations. Through the exhibition, one could […]

Painting Two Countries with a Chawan by #145 Jia En

As someone who picked up ceramics as a hobby over the last two years during the pandemic, I was enamoured by Japan’s long pottery history and the relationship between tea and pottery. I decided to interview the ceramic craftsmen who built some of the chawans (matcha bowls) that Obubu uses for tea tours and carries […]

Life of an Obubu intern, 151 Itsaya Blog#1

[2023年 06月 TO 08月] Hi I’m Itsaya! I’m intern number 151 at Obubu and I will share a little part of my history! I’m from France and I dreamed of coming to Japan since 6 years ago! I have a degree in Japanese. I learned the Japanese culture, history, and literature at university. I also […]

The (not so) Secret Life of An Intern – May 2023

Hello desu! This is Jia En and Sarah reporting live from Obubu. You might have seen us trotting around Obubu’s instagram account over the last three months, from March till June. We had such a fun time preparing and helping out in this year’s Spring harvest. But it is almost time for us to say […]

Assistant Manager blog Jean [2023.06月]

Konnichiwa! Jean here to tell more stories about Obubu Tea Farms. May was busy with the spring harvest. But June is time for the summer harvest. So exciting! We prepare the harvesting machine and tea bags to collect the tea and interns and I often ride at the back of the truck. Riding in the […]

Assistant Manager blog Jean [2023.05月]

Hello everyone! It’s Jean again. On my previous blog post, I shared about my arrival at Obubu in Japan and everything I’ve been up to on my first month. We are now at the end of May, and it is time to share with you some of my adventures. May is the month of the […]

Building the Houjicha House

“If today we can enjoy Obubu as it is, it is thanks to all the work of those interns who arrived before”. The words of George got stuck in my mind, as the car embarked on the steep climb across the fields. It was my second day at Obubu Tea Farm, and together with my […]

Assistant Manager blog WJ Justin [2023.02月~03月]

Hello everyone! It’s me, WJ Justin! Coming back with updates from February to March. It feels like time flies so fast! February and March passed in a flesh! How was your February and March? Well, for me, I think it was very intense with a lot things happened at Obubu. And, I would like share […]

Assistant Manager blog Jean [2023.04月]

Hello everyone! My name is Jean, and I am working as an Assistant Manager at Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms in Wazuka. I am also a former intern at Obubu. You are presently reading my first blog post! Yaaaaaay! This blog will be about my life in Japan and what Obubu has been up to. You […]

Hojicha Nama Chocolates

Hi everyone! This is Tran, intern #141, otherwise known as Obubu’s resident professional baker! During my time here at Obubu, I hope to be able to share with you recipes of my baking using Obubu’s tea powders and I hope you’ll enjoy making them as well as eating them! As today is White Day here […]

Assistant Manager blog WJ Justin [2022.9月~2023.1月]

  Hello everyone! Welcome to my first blog! I’m Justin and you can call me Woo Jae also. Right now, I have been working as an ‘Assistant Manager’ since September last year. So, I’ll be uploading a blog each month, showing you guys how Obubu is, what we’re up to and giving you guys some […]

Wazuka Water : The Prime Water Experiment

Over the last several posts we’ve tested four of Obubu’s teas from all over Japan and all over the world. At least as much as one can do with eight waters, but it does illustrate an important fact. Depending on the water used to brew tea, the flavour of the tea can be drastically changed. […]

Solan & Suntory Water Experiments

Hi! The Tea Potato this week! And nothing has caught on fire. We will always consider that a win. The Waters We have something special today for water. No, it’s not the Suntory Natural Mineral Water. Don’t get me wrong, it is a fantastic water. But we’re constantly dealing with Japanese water in these blog […]

Acqua Panna & Kuju’s Water Experiments

Hi! It’s the Tea Potato again and welcome back! Today is a very exciting day for me in terms of water, so we’re going get right to it. The Waters The two waters we have for your tasting pleasure today are Aqua Panna, a natural mineral water from Tuscany, Italy and Aso Kuju’s Natural Mineral […]

Matsu-san and Alex speak with Wazuka's town mayor.

People of Wazuka: Wazuka Mayor Tadao Hori

As a town with an over 800 year history of tea cultivation, Wazuka is a special place. We are lucky to have a mayor who also thinks brightly about Wazuka’s future. Recently, thanks to Matsu-san from Obubu Tea Farms, we were able to speak with Wazuka’s mayor, Tadao Hori-san. The mayor knows this place very […]

The chief abbot of Shouhouji drinks coffee while smiling.

People of Wazuka: Shouhouji Head Abbot Tetsudo Ozeki

Shouhouji is one of Wazuka’s beautiful temples, known for its red fall leaves. Recently, I had the privilege of speaking with its abbot, Tetsudo Ozeki-san. I was able to learn a lot about the deep history between Buddhism and tea. While drinking delicious tea out of teaware that Ozeki-san had made himself, we had this […]

Tea Adventures of Current Interns

Justin, Patrick, Katrina, Hannah, Alex, and Satomi-san here! During our internship, we went on several trips and tea-related festivals and events, both individually and as a group. Being located in the Kansai region, there are countless possibilities for discovering many different places in Japan. In this blog, we will tell you a little bit about […]