Far over the mountains, hills and sea Tomáš dream was born!
Tea to the world and endless joy for the TEA-community!
Before Obubu
Short intro to my tea journey. It began with one hot day in the summer of 2013 when I was struck with an idea, where I should hide with my friends from the insufferable heat which was scorching us. And i got an idea why don’t we go hide into the Tea house called “Čajka” located in Kalinovo a small village, which my sisters have created years ago as a space where people can play board games drink tea and be present with one another. No alcohol no drugs only tea and good vibes. I have ran the tea house through my high school which was in total almost 5 years.
During that time I gathered lots of experiences on tea brewing and creating a community space for people from different backgrounds. It gave me a lot and stayed with me till this day.
One day I was sitting in my room in Bratislava, that day I had terrible sickness and I was vomiting all day. But it left me wondering what can I do in this state? I felt complete harmony of my mind and body. It was like uninterrupted stream of consciousness. Maybe, I could apply for that tea farm in Japan and become a tea farmer for 3 months?
I wanted to do this years ago but at that time I wasn’t ready, but now I am. That’s when I opened the application form and started to fill it out and after hours of coming up with the best answers and creating a video where I introduced myself I was done. I had this feeling of “it may just workout well”
During Obubu
Days are getting hotter and hotter, and my body is slowly adjusting. By now I have gone through all of the internship tasks. Tea tours feel natural and calm filled with laughter and ease. Farming with Akky san is a form of meditation, both me and Akky supaaaaaa focus on the level of harvesting while scaling steep hills of Wazuka tea fields.
The amount of things I have learned, the new friendships I have created. I came here with mindset I have to learn everything about tea and its production, but I was came to realize was that I was learning so much more about myself. Through the interactions with my beloved co-interns I could see what I was missing or where I could grow. All thanks goes to them! Let them know!!!
Also we said our goodbyes to previous slot 1 interns, tears were falling down our cheeks and hugs were chotto longer than usual… But not long after they left a fresh batch of interns came! Full of life and energy and expectations. So as their senpais we gave them a warm welcome. Shared food and tea on every occasion possible.
Days got even hotter and the end of our slot 2 journey is coming to an end. As I’m writing this post we have only 2 weeks left. But it’s okay, I’m happy for every interaction and event that I could be part of.
These are some of the glimpses of how awesome this journey was!
After Obubu
My plan for the future is to start my tea brand. Tea tastings and workshops on brewing and tea rituals. I want to share as many cups of tea as possible to as many people as I can. With the help of Obubu I feel I can do this. I saw the ever going machine of tea tourism. I’ve crawled through all of its stages. I learned as much as I can and made myself a proper building block for future tea encounters.
Who knows where tea will take me next?
PS: never give up on yourself!