Spring Teas Are Here!

Hachijyu Hachiya symbolizes the 88 nights of spring and marks the beginning of the spring tea harvest, also known as Shincha. While the date fell officially on May 2nd, this year’s harvest came early — on April 26, to be exact. In fact, it was the earliest that Akky-san had ever harvested in his entire […]

Lemon cupcakes & matcha frosting + matcha-blueberries Muffins

Hi lovely tea lovers, This week, I got ambitious ! I don’t have 1, but 2 muffin recipes ! The idea was to give a try to a combination matcha/fruits. Fruits such as raspberry, or yuzu, because they have a bit of sourness, are great to be associated with matcha. AND as another constraint, I […]

Comparing Matcha Powders

May it be for baking, cooking, making drinks (anything that comes to your mind!) — doesn’t it ever make you wonder “Hmm, which Matcha should I use?”. At the Obubu house, it is a common question when we are up to something. Before we go through how our taste test went, let us first give […]

Genmaicha powder Focaccia

Focaccia is a popular italian flat bread made with wheat flour and olive oil and usually seasoned with herbs such as thyme, rosemary and oregano, or tomato. Here, I made a version with genmaicha ! It turns out that for some reason, I prepare dishes that require some preparation the day before…But as usual, you […]

Matcha Cream Cheese Cookies

We’ve been playing around with recipes recently using other tea powders — somehow straying away from the commonly used Matcha as we want to explore the unique flavors and qualities of the lesser known wakoucha, houjicha, sencha, and genmaicha powders. However, it should also be known that Matcha comes in multiple grades out there that […]

Wakoucha (Japanese black tea) crème brûlée

One fine day, at noon, while Mikie and I were talking about the next recipes to come, we asked George and Moe, whom we were sharing table with, whether they had any idea of dessert. With a sparkle in the eye and a mischievous smile, George suggested, with his British accent : « well, I do […]

Chunky Houjicha Cookies

As a person who is fueled with sugar, I have a special place in my heart (and tummy) for sweets. However, living in the countryside (which is awesome btw), it will probably take a lot of time and distance for me to get my sweet fix. Oh noooo. What to do?! Simple. This calls for […]

Matcha ganache tart

What to do when it’s raining outside and you have free time ? Baking of course ! Today’s treat : matcha ganache tart ! This was a first trial, and finding the balance between sweetness and the subtle bitterness of matcha was quite a challenge. Got this idea one morning while talking with Hiroe, Akky-san’s […]

Five Types of Activities at Obubu for Interns

There are five main activities you will be involved in during your time at Obubu as an Intern. How many hours you will do of each will be determined by the season and weather.   Field work Days with Akky-san: these will most likely be your most memorable days at Obubu; Akky is a character […]

Genmaicha Ice Cream

by Mikie Mitsuhashi Summer days in Japan are hot – really hot (and humid). Then there will be days that it will rain pretty much every single day of the week. But you know, ice cream is good for all sorts of weather. Especially for a sweet tooth like me, there is not a bad […]

5 Ways To Reuse Your Tea Leaves

By Giedre Trumpiene Hello, tea lovers! This is Giedre. An exciting time of the year in a tea world, right? Amazing freshly pressed sencha aromas and flavours fill the air here in Obubu. This Friday, to switch things up, I would like to talk about what happens after brewing the tea. Sometimes it is so […]

Non-traditional Tea Brewing Methods And Tools I Part I – Brewing With Siphon

By Giedre Trumpiene   Tea has thousands of years of history over which many different forms and brewing techniques have been developed. Interestingly, unusual brewing techniques and tools foreign to our current times can be read about or seen in museums – it is a great testament to the lengths that tea has evolved over time. […]

Kai’s Kitchen – Fine Tea and Brownies

Kai’s Kitchen Fine Teas and Brownies   Greeting friends. Well this is it. We’ve come a long way, but all good things must come to an end eventually. But don’t think that just because this is the last Kai’s Kitchen post, I didn’t want to make one last satisfying dish for you all. We’ve run […]

Kai’s Kitchen – An entree Steeped in History

Kai’s Kitchen An entree Steeped in History        What’s good y’all? Welcome back to the 5th installment of Kai’s Kitchen! Well ladies, gentlemen, and everyone in between – we have arrived at the main course. We’ve had an appetizer, soup, fish, salad, and now we have our entree! For something as important as […]

Kai’s Kitchen- Roasted Rice and Leafy Greens

Kai’s Kitchen Roasted Rice and Leafy Greens        Welcome back all! Welcome back to another mouth watering installment of Kai’s Kitchen! This week we are going to go for something a little lighter and more refreshing. The next dish we have is a palate cleanser, but is still deep and complex in flavor. […]

Kai’s Kitchen – 1 Fish, 2 Teas

1 Fish, 2 Teas Kai’s Kitchen        Howdy all! We are back at it with more tea cooking, and this week I’ve found something very cool for you all. We are moving on to the later courses of our meal, so time for something a little more filling. We had amuse bouche (appetizer) […]

Kai’s Kitchen – Tea and Soup? A Matcha made in Heaven!

Kai’s Kitchen Soup and tea? A matcha made in heaven!         Buenos Dias friends! This week we are continuing our 6 course meal with something sweet and refreshing. After our first dish (Kabuse Parm Bruschetta), we are shooting for something a bit lighter, but still satisfying, so this week we have a light […]

Kai’s Kitchen – Brew, Bake, Fry; Ways to Cook with Tea!

Kai’s Kitchen Bake, Brew, and Fry; Ways to cook with tea!        Hello all! Here in Wazuka things are getting a little crazy. One of our founders, Matsu-san several years ago organized a town wide event called Chagenkyo Matsuri (or TeaTopia) where people from all over the area get together to talk tea, […]

Kai’s Kitchen- Nothing more appetizing than a good appetizer

Kai’s Kitchen Nothing more appetizing than a good appetizer         Hello all! Welcome back to Kai’s Kitchen. This week we kick things off by leaning a bit into the savory side of things. Japanese Tea is very well known for its insane umami flavor. Umami is a word overused and not very well […]

Kai’s Kitchen

Kai’s Kitchen Not Just for Brewing         The world of tea is a deep and ancient one. Japanese tea stretches back to the 9th century when a Buddihist monk brought the tea plant (Camellia Sinensis) back from China and planted it in Kyoto, Uji. From that point, Japan has had tea ingrained into […]

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Obubu Tea Powders using Hojicha, Sencha and more

Have you tried a Matcha ice cream, Matcha cookies or even a Matcha smoothie, yet? I bet you did! Matcha is going crazy all over the world in recent years. Not only because of the color of this famous tea powder, but also due to its many health benefits. What, if we told you that […]

【Kyoto, Uji, Wazuka】Tea Picking and Rolling Event

  Obubu organizes Tea Picking and Rolling Events 3 times a year to celebrate Japanese tea harvesting seasons.   This event is one of popular activities for tea lovers from all over the world. We believe that is because we have welcomed over 90 interns who love Japan and Japanese tea; and who always warmly […]

Kyobancha

Kyobancha is a green tea that is unique to the Kyoto region. I was fortunate enough able to experience this tea from farm to cup, and I wanted to share it! Kyobancha is a large leaf green tea that is roasted. The leaves are large because it is made from the leaves that survived during […]