Do you need help choosing your next brew? Then you are in the right place. This is Zehra (intern #196), and for my our intern project at Obubu, I teamed up with Izzy (intern #200!) to create a short, fun quiz to help you discover which Obubu tea to try next. The idea came to me after browsing through the extensive tea catalog and realizing how overwhelming it can be—especially if you’re new to Japanese tea.
During our very first tea tour at Obubu, I saw just how wide the tea selection is. For beginners, it can feel a bit intimidating. Imagine this: you’re standing in the tea shop, the bus to Kizu leaves in 10 minutes, and you’re trying to pick the perfect tea to bring home. Where do you even start?
As someone who studied computer science and math and worked in the corporate world as a software engineer, I naturally approach things from the user’s perspective. I like to ask: How can we make this experience easier and more enjoyable? I sometimes find it hard to ask for recommendations. I prefer reading quietly about teas—but let’s be honest, long descriptions can be a bit boring or hard to digest. That’s when the idea struck: what if we had a playful, interactive quiz to guide people toward a tea that suits their tea background, mood, taste, and tea-drinking habits?
When I shared this idea with Izzy, we realized we were thinking along the same lines. In fact, a customer had just told her how hard it was to choose the right tea, so we knew we weren’t alone. Problem validated!
We started by listing the teas we wanted to include and brewing them all (great excuse to drink every kukicha in Obubu!). Then we brainstormed what kinds of questions might really help someone make a decision:
How would you describe you tea brewing skills?
When do you usually drink tea?
Do you prefer drinking tea alone or with company?
Some answers were straightforward: if you love roasted notes, houjicha is probably your best friend. But other questions were more personal and subjective, like: “What’s an all-day tea for you?” For those, we reached out to the broader Obubu community: interns, staff, and alumni. We created a little survey and loved reading everyone’s unique answers.
One question we asked was: “Which tea do you enjoy drinking just by yourself?”
As we expected, opinions varied a lot—turns out we all have our own personal “me-time tea.”
The core challenge was designing the quiz logic. Should questions branch? How do we handle ties? How many teas should we recommend? After some exploration, I settled on a percentage-based point system: each answer contributes weighted points to different teas, and at the end, your top-matched tea is the one with the highest relative score based on its maximum possible appearances.
Once that structure was in place, the rest flowed naturally. I implemented dynamic image rendering for each question, multi-select answers, and a results page that displays personalized tea cards with Spotify playlists, brewing tips, and links to learn more. Honestly, it felt like I was combining two separate worlds together: coding and tea. In a sense, I feel grateful to be able to use my skillset that might make someone else smile!
Working with Izzy on the visuals made it even better. Her pixel art and style brought so much fun to the experience. When we are working together, ideas come up really quick and we brainstorm the best ways possible. [Read Izzy’s blog here]
Click here or scan the QR code to discover your next brew!
