I want to talk about how I became a more conscientious tea drinker, but first I have to tell you that I didn’t drink coffee at all until I came to Japan. Growing up, the coffee around me (mostly Dunkin’ Donuts) had a distinct flavor that never really interested me. The “coffee flavor” in ice creams or baked goods wasn’t appealing, and I’d accepted that, although many people like it, it simply wasn’t for me. This was a large reason I started my tea journey in earnest. My grandmother had a wonderful store of herbal and British teas, and the flavors I found there were varied and interesting. When I traveled to Japan in college, I was introduced to several types of tea from this country, and my horizons expanded further. Over the next years, I wound my way through teas from all over the world, always keeping my distance from coffee while developing my tasting skills.
Fast forward to my time in Japan just before my internship (Summer 2023), and something about Japan’s cafe culture made me hesitant to resist trying coffee when it was offered. I think the care and craft put into the pour-over coffee at most small shops made me want to slow down and appreciate what was happening in front of me. I still didn’t love my first few cups, but the skills I had developed in tasting tea (skills I didn’t consciously realize I had yet) activated with every cup. I can thank my assistant manager, Jean, for opening my eyes to the world of “sensory analysis”. He gave a lecture, called “tea lounges” here at Obubu, on how professionals think about tasting, and how we can expand our tasting horizons by paying more attention to the senses we use every day. That first day, we tasted single-origin chocolates and had to provide tasting notes. This might seem strange since we were working on a tea farm, but it became clear that by studying flavor in many places, not just in tea, we can broaden our tasting vocabulary, strengthening our abilities. With that frame of mind, I began enjoying the specialty coffees I found in coffee shops around Wazuka.
I also gained a new appreciation for many of the teas we drank every day. My co-intern and fellow assistant manager, Maren, ran a tea tasting lounge that put those particular skills to the test. It was really nice to see how my senses have changed and grown. When I went back to the US after my internship, I got a job as a part-time coffee roaster and learned even more, and in a full-circle moment, the skills I gained there are helping me to enjoy the tea back here in Wazuka even more. We have many group tastings here, and in particular, tasting the tea that interns and assistant managers get to make themselves from start to finish is always one of my favorite activities. I love sharing my experience with interns who are also new to the world of tasting and sensory analysis, and I hope that it makes every cup just a little more special for them in the future.