Sara Hagstrom | Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms

Sara Hagstrom

USA

Intern #152

Instagram: toma.puddle

Before Obubu

Hi, I’m Sara! I’m a freelance illustrator and designer from suburban America, but I’ve always had a huge passion for plant life, nature and agriculture. I stumbled upon tea through a dear friend later on in my life when the world was in upheaval and we were stuck at home for a while. I thought I didn’t like tea as a child- the only tea I grew up with was bagged English Breakfast, or an over-sweetened iced lemon tea. But once I was exposed to tea that had intention, knowledge and love behind each step of its creation, I was engrossed into tea’s expansive world. That one could extract wholly unique flavors, evoke distinct emotions and effects and sensations, all from a single plant, astounded me. The breadth of tradition and variance throughout the world, paired with hard work and passion, compelled me to look deeper into tea and the story it has to tell. I found tea when I needed to be quiet and listen to the voice of my heart, and it continues to be a dear friend walking with me throughout my path.

Why Obubu

Amidst moving, being in between jobs, and a pervasive sense of burnout, I had a summer’s-worth of time to spend and an intense desire to travel slowly. After working on several farms as a sort of enrichment outside of my desk job for the past year, I wanted to try my hand at living on a farm and in the countryside for a longer period of time. I also wanted to expand my knowledge of tea- while I had been invested into tea for a couple of years, I wanted to uncover even just an inkling of the knowledge that exists about the plant, the processing, the cultivation, and the lives that live beside and by the leaf. When I stumbled upon the rare opportunity to do exactly that through Obubu’s internship program, I knew I found something that I needed to be a part of.

During Obubu

From the first day I arrived, I felt an overwhelming sense of belonging, welcoming, passion, and love. Our first day, I had arrived in Wazuka after traversing from Tokyo to Kyoto with my 3-months-worth of luggage, feeling like a complete fish out of water, 6000+ miles away from home in Japan for the first time. When I walked through the doors of the Obubu house for the first time, my feeling of displacement immediately evaporated. Laying down on my tatami, staring at the ceiling while rain softly fell on the roof and a bird I’d come to know well chirped its then-unknown song, I knew deeply and resoundingly that my 3-month-home would have a permanent, immense, and essential place in my heart for the rest of my life.

From our high-spirited welcome party, my next 3 months felt like a natural progression of adventure, new experiences, beauty and excitement. My first experience meeting the tea plant and harvesting the leaves remains brightly illuminated in my memory. I remember clearly how nervous I had been when Miwako-san handed me the handles of the harvest machine and Akky-san directed me through my first row of harvesting. I was so concerned about hurting the bush with my lack of experience, but after finishing that first row, Akky-san looked at me, smiled wide, and said “Don’t worry, relax.” With a simple gesture, I knew the tea would rather be harvested by someone happy to do it. I think too of Nakai-sensei, who we would meet with for weekly Sado and Senchado lessons throughout my internship. While softly but expertly whisking matcha during our first lesson, she instructed us to put our heart into the tea we brew, because the recipient will be able to taste it. From my time at Obubu, I know this is true. I think tea is a vehicle for ourselves, for awareness, for presentness, and most of all for connection to ourselves and to other people. In our tea tours, we always start with the Japanese idiom “Ichigo, ichie,” meaning each moment lasts just once. At Obubu, this pervaded my experience and wove my time together in a marked, singularly special way that I won’t be able to forget for the rest of my life. From hand-rolling with Matsu-san on my absolute favorite day, to riding in the back of the work truck with bags full of tea leaves, to processing sencha late at night in the factory, Obubu has been a string of intensely meaningful experiences that will shape me indefinitely.

While living and working on a tea farm has been an incredible, informative and transformative experience as a whole, what feels the most lasting to me about Obubu is the home they’ve created and the genuine kindness they’ve shown to people from around the world, each with their own unique experience that brought them to this special place. That tea could lead me to a place like this feels serendipitously fitting.

After Obubu

When something changes you to your core as much as Obubu has for me, I think it’s hard to anticipate what exactly will be in store. I came here during a transitional time in my life hoping for answers to appear, and now that they have, I have to work hard to enact the changes I want to see. I know I want to live in the countryside, and I know I need to be tending to plants with my hands- hopefully I’ll be able to do that soon. For now, I’ll keep on drawing and traveling, trying to move slowly, and taking the things I’ve learned here with me close to my heart. Hopefully, this isn’t my last time at Obubu and in Wazuka- I hope to be back as soon as I can, ready to continue exploring and growing within this remarkable space!

Thanks

I want to take some time to extend my deep and unending gratitude to the people I’ve met here who have fostered my experience in ways I really can’t put into words. While I didn’t know any of you before arriving, you have each shown me parts of myself I never knew existed. I’m deeply grateful to have met the bright, incredible people here, in this space, for this moment, that will never exist again. Sorry to be so sappy, but what did you expect?

Thanks to my Houjicha house family: Jean, for your vast knowledge, for inspiring me, for making me smile when I needed it the most, for giving me constant support that I didn’t even realize I needed, for making me feel welcome from the very beginning, for being a dear friend and confidant, and for your genuine passion, care, and heart. Yena, for your unceasing support, comfort, creativity and innovation, your immense passion and wisdom and guidance – with you, I am always able to make the most out of a summer nightmare. Itsaya, for your smile, your bright & open heart, your intense love of life, your love of mangos, your wonder and awe, and your ability to see the beauty in the world- I can never thank you enough for showing me how to traverse this world with compassion and love and excitement. Thanks to Miwako-san for being my absolute #1 role model ever, for teaching me so much about the world around me, for making me laugh harder than anyone, for letting me be silly, for eating curry with me and showing me how to make umeboshi, for teaching me everything about farming with patience and expertise, for helping me play Wazuka Bingo, and for indulging my bug obsession! One day, I hope to be as cool as you! Symphony, for your immense unending kindness, warmth, silliness, knowledge and quality time spent with me- you always, always want to help and I will never forget the supportive space you’ve made for me during our time here together. Juliette, for your resolve, your strength, your scientific knowledge but kind and compassionate heart, your smile, for your enthusiasm and hard work and for always playing the perfect music for our day. To my entire summer cohort, thank you all for being here with me during this meaningful distilled 3-month summer- for letting me come into myself around you, for making me smile, for cooking with me, organizing & constructing with me, sorting leaves for black tea, for sharing snacks over harvesting break times and drinking cold-brewed tea in the summer heat, for walking to Lawson with me for ice cream, for dusting the factory dancing to old music, for staying up too late and watching movies, for being my family for 3 months. Thank you to my amazing senpai Sophie, Jack, and Thomas for your guidance, knowledge and reassurance. Thanks also to my incredible kouhai Maren, Julien, Lukas, and David, for your enthusiasm, your smiles, for geeking out about tea with me, for helping me paint and supporting me on ladders, for your jokes and songs and pictures, for connecting with me so deeply in such a short amount of time. I feel genuinely honored to be a part of each of your journeys and I am so thrilled to see where the next 2 months take each of you. Most of all, thank you so, so much to the Obubu staff: Hiro-san, Kayo-san, Akky-san, George, and Matsu-san, for creating this space and for opening it up to the world. What you built here changed my life forever.

Thank you all for meeting me with, around, and through tea. I can’t wait to drink tea with you again.

またね

-Sara

Please feel free to reach out to me & say hi, even if we’ve never met!

Instagram: toma.puddle

Website: www.sara-hagstrom.com

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