It’s a Replant!

Hello everybody! ~ ^ _ ^ How are you?!   This time we will show you the second stage of replanting!   In the last time, where the tea plantation was, we dug out the soil and installed drainage pipes! ,   I am digging a ditch with the excavator! Originally, this was a bad place […]

Award Winning Obubu!

【Award report】The Food Service Organization for excellence in commerce for export Japan product In the first year of Reiwa, we received a prize an award, the Chairman’s Award, from the Chairman of the Food Service Organization for excellence in commerce for exporting Japanese products.   This award is for companies engaged in the export of […]

Our New Warehouse!

We want to send tea from our new warehouse! There is a 150-year-old warehouse between Obubu Tea House and Obubu House. We make and also send the tea to our customers and our Tea Club Members! The refreshing aroma of the new tea season and the scent that the rich umami of freshly roasted green […]

Autumn Moon Sencha Production Day

  In September last year we started out our Autumn Harvest season with a harvest and production of our Autumn moon sencha. The field we harvested may be recognisable to some of our tea tour guests! We started the day by headed into the fields at 8:00am and made our way through the rows of […]

The Magic of Hojicha

    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!   […]

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, […]

【Japanese Tea Internship】Intern No.100 Introduction

Hello everyone! My name is Moe from Japan, and I am a intern coordinator at Obubu. I have been writing some article on our Japanese website about our internship students since this April and from now am going to translate it so I can share more information about Japanese tea, Obubu, Internship Program and more! […]

【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 […]

Chakabuki Event

Over the weekend, I was able to take part in a Chakabuki here in Wazuka! A chakabuki, in short, is a blind tea tasting game that is played in Japan. I’ve never been to one before, so I thought it would be fun to bring everyone along! Chakabuki was originally played by the aristocrats, but […]

Adventures in Tea! Issue 4: Conclusion (For Now?)

Hi everyone! My name is Jessica, and I’m the author/illustrator for Adventures in Tea! Thank you to everyone for reading my mini-series! I spent a great time at Obubu learning about Japanese tea, and this mini-series was my way of showing people what I’ve been learning and giving everyone a little bit of cuteness and […]

Japanese Tea: a Comprehensive Guide

Obubu is proud to say that our international department lead – Simona Zavadckyte has recently published a book about Japanese tea. The book is called Japanese Tea: a Comprehensive Guide and includes a wide range of topics about Japanese tea: from history and culture, to cultivation and processing, to different tea kinds and how to […]

Tea Ware: Modern Western Tea Wares and Japanese Tea

More and more individuals are becoming enchanted by the Japanese tea room and ceremony service. Chado (the Japanese tea ceremony) searches for finesse in simple movement, and showcases elegance and purity in form. When coming to Japan, it seems as if these qualities are inherently ingrained within the lifestyles of the people. Coming to Japan […]

Tea Ware: Chawan, Houhin, and Kyusu

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 […]

The 88th Day: Spring tea picking tradition!

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 […]

Tea Cultivars: All About the Plant!

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 […]

Japanese black tea

Introduction to Wakoucha: Japanese Black Tea

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 […]

What’s in a Name? Part III: Bancha & Hojicha

Are you ready for part 3?! Here come bancha and hojicha!  Bancha  番茶 The character for ban includes the characters for rice and field, and refers to a turn or a number in a series. Bancha is usually translated as coarse or common tea, and is made from mature leaves picked in between the four main harvests […]

What’s in a Name? Part II: Gyokuro & Kukicha

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 […]

What’s in a Name? Part I: Matcha, Tencha, and Sencha

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 […]

Organic Tea: A Brief Overview

Today’s post is about organic tea. What makes a tea organic? What are the implications for farmers and tea drinkers? Is organic tea better? What does “organic” mean? The term “organic”, referring to farming, came into use in the 1940s, referring to a balanced relationship between plants, soil, and nutrients. However, since the 1960s, the […]

Wazuka: 800 Years of Tea

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 […]

Japanese tea & dessert pairings

Pairings with Japanese tea and desserts exist albeit uncommon. Matcha is a popular choice for many although the variety that Japanese tea could offer is fascinating. One will be surprised how it could pair well with foods such as desserts. Dessert and tea have both their own unique character.  When paired together, it makes one harmonious […]

The Calendar of Tea Fields

Tea fields are spectacular sights regardless of season. During spring, vivid green, well-manicured rows of tea plants look beautiful with the sakura as a background. Warm summer weather signals for the peak of harvest. The autumn foliage provides a contrast between the hues of red and green, then as the winter chill sets in, one […]