This year the Obubu Europe Tour starts in Madrid. With the help of our friend and Obubu internship alumni Anna, we were able to hold two events about Japanese tea: a tasting event and a workshop.
Welcomed again by the Japan Foundation in Madrid, we introduced Japanese tea to Japanese culture enthusiasts in Madrid. Because of the language barrier Anna helped us to translate and present the material about Japanese tea: where and how it is grown and processed, how to make brew it and what components you can extract from the tea leaf. Invited by the Japan Foundation, around 15 people joined the event.
The Japanese Tea Workshop was held at a Japanese sake bar ShuwaShuwa, that same as Obubu, wishes to spread Japanese culture beyond its shores. Around 20 people came to try their hand at brewing Japanese tea and Anna once again helped us to convey the information in Spanish. The sake bar has been already organizing sake events and is planning to hold more cultural events, including some about Japanese tea, so in the near future there may be more Japanese culture in Madrid.
That is also confirmed by the recent establishment of Japan National Tourism Organization in Madrid (JNTO), that wishes to introduce Japanese culture to Spain and invite more Spanish people to visit Japan. The director or the organization seemed really supportive about showing more Japanese tea to Madrid, so some kind of collaboration with Obubu is likely in future.
This time we had also time to explore the tea scene in Mardid, and could visit 3 tea shops there. We first stopped at Tea Valley Gourmet and were surprised with a unique tea blend, that mixes tea leaves with olive tree leaves and thyme – a fusion of Asian and Mediterranean cultures. The second teashop – Lfont Tea Mountain – showed us that the popularity in Japanese tea is growing and that Spanish people are looking for high grade Japanese tea such as Gyokuro. We also stopped at a tea chain – Tea Shop, that has tea shops in Spain, Italy and Brazil.
It was also really wonderful to meet Obubu Internship Alumni: Anna, Fernando, and Carla in Madrid. it is great to see that every year the tea community in Madrid is getting bigger and bigger.