An Overview of the Commodity and its Trade in Japan from 538 AD to 2024 AD Jack A. Ryan Obubu Intern #180 Foreword About the Author and Introduction This work is a brief primer which focuses on the commodity and trade history of tea in Japan. The impetus for the writing of this document stemmed […]
Tea is one of the cornerstones of Japanese culture (and history). Perhaps the most well-known of these are the Japanese green teas: sencha (煎茶) and matcha (抹茶). Matcha especially has seen a global meteoric rise in fame in recent years as matcha lattes, smoothies, and various sweet treats. Did you know that Japan produces other […]
Hello, my name is Lana and I am intern #167. I came to Wazuka and Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms at the very end of the winter. Because of that, I was lucky enough to see the nature wake up and birds start singing. One of my co-interns mentioned that our Kukichas were named after the […]
In spring, Japan is steadily covered in a blanket of pink. From late March to early May, cherry blossoms decorate the landscapes of Japan as sakura trees burst into bloom across the country. As the sakura are only briefly in full bloom, they are celebrated for their beautiful reminder of impermanence and seasonal changes. In […]
Winter is a time when we need countless cups of hot tea. It goes without saying at this point that every cup of tea is an excellent time to eat a bit of wagashi as well. During winter, multiple occasions call for sweets, notably New Year celebrations, which are of great importance. Wagashi is also […]
Hello, fellow tea lovers! My name is Kirstine, but I usually go by Kia when I find myself in Japan. I am a tea enthusiast, a Japanese studies student, and a die-hard wagashi lover from Denmark. I also have the great pleasure of being intern #165 at Obubu! For a while now, I have been […]
My name is Emma, intern #162, from Denmark.During my time at Obubu and Japan my interest for the Japanese culture grew bigger and especially the history behind the traditional tea garments caught my attention. During my time at Obubu, I wanted to explore the traditional garments worn in relation to tea. Which uniform is worn […]
If you are following our tea journey for many years, you probably noticed that we’ve been producing Japanese Black Tea “Wakoucha” in the last couple of years. Also, last year, we produced our very first Oolong Tea here at Obubu. It is unlikely that you will find this beautiful needle shape in oolong tea anywhere […]
Akihiro Kita, the President of Obubu Chaen, has been a tea farmer and processor for about 25 years including his training period. From the emotional encounter with a cup of Kabuse Sencha Tea by experiencing a part-time job at a tea farm in Wazuka, Introduction to Japanese Tea Akky 16 years ago?! He dropped […]
Hello everyone! How are you doing? I think there are many people who are having troubles or are having a hard time due to the influence of the new coronavirus. I hope that these things will come to an end quickly. At times like this, everyone is amazed with the power of Japanese tea. For […]
Today is a sunny day and the staff and the intern all planted baby tea trees. The variety is called Saeakari and it is the first time we are planting this cultivar! This is going to be a gyokuro tea field, so we will set up more shading shelves for this. We are making it […]
This blog post is the creation of one of our amazing previous interns Carly De La Cruz. She came to Wazuka to learn about tea and she delved into the rich history and culture with fervour. It’s always a pleasure to see people so passionate about tea and so keen to learn more about how […]
10 years have passed since Obubu tea farms started the tea club membership system and supported by tea club members! It has been 10 years since we started our Tea Club Community and we are planning various new additions to renew the tea club membership system for the next 10 years! Totaling 35 countries! What […]
[Thank you for the award] The White Enterprise Award and Special Commendation Award This time, Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms won the White Enterprise Award and Special Commendation Award. The White Company Award was created six years ago with the wish of increasing the number of companies (white companies) who value their employees’ happiness, job […]
When asked ‘What is your favourite tea?’, one tea which I find myself drinking every day is Hojicha it’s soothing, robust and always a good choice. I may be bias on my opinion for this tea, however, once you have tasted this tea you will feel the same I have no doubt! […]
There are many ways to make tea, and just as many kinds of teapots. Today we’re going to talk about the three types of Japanese tea ware we use most often at Obubu: the chawan, houhin, and kyusu. Chawan 茶碗 Chawan, or tea bowls, are used together with bamboo whisks for making matcha in the […]
Hachijuu-Hachiya, the 88th Day 八十八夜 The 88th day of traditional Japanese calendar, which falls right around May 1st or 2nd, is famous as an important date for farmers, and especially tea farmers. For several hundred years, the 88th day has been considered the best day to start the spring tea harvest. Those tender new shoots […]
During tea tours, we are often asked whether there are different types of plants for different teas. Read on for the answer! Tea Cultivars A cultivar is a group of plants that have been bred by farmers for desirable characteristics. Cultivars can be more or less suited to weather conditions (frost hardy or early […]
Shrines and temples are everywhere in Japan, from the huge buddha at Todaiji in Nara to tiny Jizo statues along roadsides, and Wazuka has its own collection of beautiful cultural sites, several of which are part of our hiking tea tours. Tenmangu Shrine The picture at the top of this page is of Tenmangu, the […]
As we’ve seen in the “What’s in a Name?” blog series, Japan is famous for producing green tea in great variety. There’s sencha, tencha, matcha, gyokuro, kukicha, bancha, genmaicha, and houjicha. These have been central to Japanese production for hundreds of years. However, if we look beyond green tea, there is even more delicious tea to […]
Welcome back to our blog series on tea names! Today, we’ll cover gyokuro and kukicha. Gyokuro 玉露 Gyokuro, meaning “jewel dew,” conjures up an image of morning dewdrops collected from rare jade, and the tea liquor is a vibrant green color to match. Gyokuro is famous as a luxury tea; it’s harvested just once […]
Hello everyone! This week’s post is the first section of a series on Japanese tea names. If you’ve ever been curious why a tea is called by a particular name, this is the post for you! Tea 茶 Perhaps the most important word on this list is cha, or tea. The Japanese character has its […]
Today’s post is about the history of tea in Wazuka, the beautiful hometown of Obubu, where all our teas are grown. Chagenkyo, Wazuka’s nickname, means the home origin of tea, or Teatopia, as we like to translate it. In fact, Wazuka has cultivated tea since the Kamakura period, over 800 years ago, when Japanese green tea […]
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