With June comes the rainy season here in Japan! After the madness of May, this is a welcome respite for us – a bit of a recovery season as spring harvest concludes and tourism slows down a little.
This month has seen lots of change here at Obubu: we’ve said goodbye to our first intern slot of the year and welcomed our third cohort. After the conclusion of spring harvest and processing, we’re focusing more on trimming, weeding, and summer field maintenance.
Meanwhile, the rice in our neighbouring field continues to grow as Wazuka swims amongst the rainclouds. The scenery of the town changes dramatically in this season as the weather systems create dramatic cloudscapes in our tea mountains. This month’s photo of the month competition was a close race with so many dramatic depictions of the typhoons that swept through town, but of course many other things happened too – read on to relive June at Obubu!
Spring tea processing update
With the help of this year’s interns, Assistant Managers, and staff, Akky-san led us on another successful spring harvest and processing season! Every morning meeting in the office involved a tasting of the tea produced the night before, and at the end of the season Katrina organised a shincha tasting for the team to compare all the teas we produced this spring. Super thank you to everyone’s hard work this season for our lovely new green teas!
Some facts and figures for the curious: this year we processed around 600 kilos of sencha, 700 kilos bancha, and 1800 kilos tencha to be milled into matcha. Nowadays we are balancing our farm work between rainy days, field maintenance and weeding, and summer harvest when the conditions are right.
Matcha behind-the-scenes
We are still seeing a lot of interest in matcha these days, which is very exciting for us as a small tea farm. But the matcha industry as a whole is very volatile right now, with prices changing fast. It can be hard to keep up and understand why this is happening.
For now, some key context on matcha pricing: this year’s tencha auction prices increased by 2.7 times in Kyoto Prefecture. Because most tencha is sold at auction before it’s milled into matcha, this sets industry baselines from which matcha prices are derived even outside the auction system. This means we’re likely to see matcha prices going up also.
For the moment, we are keeping our matcha prices the same and absorbing the increased cost. However, with a few new cultivars on the horizon and some new matcha products in the pipeline, it’s not guaranteed that we’ll be able to keep it this way. So if you’re running low on matcha, now is a great time to stock up – scroll down this newsletter for a few of our favourite recommendations.
Slot 1 intern graduation
At the beginning of June, we said an emotional farewell to our first intern group of 2026. Each of the interns in this group have left a mark on Obubu and in our hearts, and all of them have graduated with ambassador status. We’re so excited to follow their journeys in the future, wherever they go and however they end up sharing Japanese tea with the world!
You can read about their incredible intern projects on our blog here, or explore each intern’s profile on our website.
New interns arrive
When one intern group goes, so another arrives – welcome to our amazing slot 3 interns: Camille (#230, France), Donovan (#231, USA), Liszt (#232, Philipines), Chong Jun (#233, Singapore), David (#234, USA), Monica (#235, USA), and Isong (#236, South Korea)! These seven interns will be with us from June through early September, supporting us during the summer harvest and one of the toughest weather seasons in Japan.
They’re already showing incredible dedication and creativity during their first training weeks: learning tea tour and developing their presentation skills, brewing Obubu teas, taking our Japanese Tea Basics course, and getting to grips with summer farming tasks like trimming.
Japanese Tea Master Course visit
Twice a year we have the honour to host part of the Global Japanese Tea Association’s Japanese Tea Master Course at Obubu. This two-week course is an immersive experience involving classroom instruction, meetings with industry professionals, and hands-on learning across the tea production process.
During their time at Obubu, participants on the course had the chance to harvest tea with Akky-san, and to process green, black, and oolong teas under the guidance of Hiro-san and Matsu-san. They also learned traditional hand-rolling techniques with Kenta Hosoi of the Wazuka Hand-Rolling Preservation Association.
The course is also a great opportunity for our interns and staff to make connections and network with other tea professionals from different parts of the world. This year’s courses are fully booked, but keep an eye on the GJTA’s website for next year’s course dates and applications!
Upcoming at Obubu
In addition to our regular 4-hour tea tour and 2-hour matcha tour, we also have a few exciting workshops coming up in collaboration with local Wazuka artisans:
🌱 4 August: Handrolling workshop with Kenta-san, president of the Wazuka Hand Rolling Preservation Society. You’ll be able to make your own tea from start to finish completely by hand – you’ll pan fire the leaves, and hand-roll them on hoiro, a traditional Japanese hand rolling table, and then take home the tea to enjoy with friends and family!
🫖 1 September: Pottery workshop with Atsuko-san, a local Wazuka resident who runs a pottery school and has been a ceramicist for 30 years. With this tranquil experience, you’ll be able to hand-build your own cup or chawan!
🌸 9 July & 27 August: Wagashi workshop with Ishida-san, a third-generation master of Japanese traditional confectionery from Wazuka. In this workshop, you will learn to create three wagashi from start to finish. Then you will enjoy them with a cup of our matcha in a traditional chawan!
🍡 16 July & 20 August: Mochi workshop with Toshi-san, our long-time friend and partner, and a 3rd-generation sweets-maker and mochi specialist. You’ll pound your own rice into mochi, create tea-flavored anko and fillings, and finally craft the perfect mochi daifuku to be enjoyed with a delicious cup of our tea.
Teas of the month
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Samidori Matcha – 25g tin
¥3,500 -
Okumidori Matcha – 25g tin
¥3,500
Silky and smooth, Samidori Matcha has a subtle sweetness with undertones of banana and rosemary. Its forest green colour is accompanied by a lovely avocado aroma.
Rich and savory, Okumidori Matcha is delicately sweet with underlying elements of green pea and mango. Jade-green in the cup, it has a subtle coconut aroma. The cultivar’s name, Okumidori, translates to ‘late green’ – late because it sprouts a bit later than the standard Yabukita, and green for its vibrant colour.
Both matchas are made by slowly grinding tencha leaves from the first harvest of the year on a stone mill; they are magnificent examples of ceremonial grade matcha.
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