This time, we are harvesting our Autumn tea on a clear sunny day. Claire, originally from France, will be graduating tomorrow from her internship at Obubu, also helped with the harvest. I thought she might be a bit sad to see her working in the tea gardens for the last time, but she was as […]
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 […]
Today, I interviewed one of the interns, Andre from Indonesia who has been here since Spring to talk about Indonesian tea industry! But first, let me introduce him a little bit! Andre was born and raised in a tea family who runs a tea trading company with a history of over 60 years in Sukabumi,West […]
In May the Spring Harvest is well under way! The terrain is very steep at the top of the mountains, so we will carefully harvest the plants while paying close attention to foot placement! The harvesting machine weighs about 10 kg. As the harvested leaves are blown into bags, the weight of each bag is about […]
DEEP CUT?? Hello and thank you! How is everyone doing? Here in Kyoto it’s so cold in the morning and at night but gets really hot during the daytime. Each year the tea harvesting season starts earlier and earlier – I wonder when this year will start … […]
Welcome Everybody! How are you doing ? Replanting is about to end! Creating a path for the tea truck in the middle of the field ~ Remove the large stones while smoothing out the fine unevenness of the ground! When you dig up the soil, the stones come out of the way and it gets […]
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 […]
Foreword Early in 2020 we had the pleasure of welcoming Ryuiti Izawa, a Japanese Masters Student, who studies tea at Shizuoka university. We are all so glad we were able to meet him and learn more about the details of tea genetics and diversity within it. He has written this blog post about his time […]
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 […]
Hello everyone! It’s already January, aren’t you feeling under the weather with more cold and warm days? This time, I did the cutting with the help of our intern students! First, we cut the elongated tea branches and leaves directly from the field with scissors, this becomes the base of the cuttings. Take the branches […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 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 […]
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 […]
If you search how to assess tea quality, one of the criteria you will find is a uniform, deep green colour and a consistent leaf size. However, are this criteria inclusive enough to appreciate the wonderful thing that is Aracha? What is it? Also called “farmer’s tea”, “raw tea”, or just unrefined tea, Aracha is the result […]
Illuminated by the mangetsu, the beloved full moon, we made our way down to the factory to witness the processing of our final summer tea: the Sencha of the Summer Sun. We were welcomed by Akki-San, whose sun-baked face, bright eyes and mischievous smile revealed yet little of the extraordinary effort he (like many other […]
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