Hi friends! It’s been almost a month and I have been seriously neglecting this blog 🙈 Somehow I guess there’s always lots to do on a tea farm? Who knew!
Perfectionist brain has become a bit more active regarding how I want to structure this blog – I wanted to do posts around different topics, such as what I’m learning in senchadō classes, or different teas I’m exploring more deeply, or tea baking experiments, but I think these will have to wait a bit. I’m still gathering up experiences, marinating ideas, letting lots of things gestate, and it’s not all ready yet to be packaged and processed and written out nicely.
I’m also producing a lot of content for the Obubu social media, as well as doing more for my own project Leaf & Buds, and all of that needs to be a bit more nicely planned/drafted/edited into neatly packaged bits of content, and that isn’t leaving a lot of brainspace for developing a super refined travel/tea blog here.
So maybe a better approach to actually keeping my friends/family updated (which is actually more the purpose of this blog) is to just do weekly posts in which I brain-dump some experiences and thoughts I’ve had that week? Let’s try it today.
I’m currently sipping on the second infusion of a lovely green tea I picked up yesterday at O5 in Kyoto, Kirishima Asatsuyu. It’s taken me the first month and a bit here to really start getting into the spirit of buying things – so many Obubu teas to play with early on, but now that I’m getting more familiar with these, I want to play further afield.
So yesterday a few of us interns went for a day-trip to Kyoto to visit a few tea spots. First on the list was a teaware shop recommended by our senchadō teacher, Kitagawa Tea Utensils Shop – a small, slightly more obscure wonderland full of every Japanese tea utensil I’ve ever heard of, and several I haven’t. Browsing the glass-fronted shelves, picking up teacups and scoops and kyusu, and admiring this mixed collection of artists’ wares and antiques felt like the realisation of a lot of tea dreams I’ve had.
This isn’t a touristy shop – it’s a bit outside the centre of Kyoto, and I barely got by with my limited Japanese. But as ever I found that enthusiasm for tea and teaware went a long way as a communication aide. Today I’m brewing in the beautiful houhin I purchased there – the white porcelain interior is the perfect backdrop to a green sencha unfurling, and the pour is a dream.
After a quick detour to Nishiki Market for some food, we stopped at 7T+ – the perennial favourite Kyoto tea shop of Obubu interns. It’s a tiny room with capacity for maybe 5 people at a time, and in addition to their wide leaf selection, they offer delicious cold- and hot-brewed tea to drink in or take away, as well as tea gelatos. I’d been here before, for only a very quick stop, so this time I really enjoyed taking my time to explore the teas on display.
7T+ carry a lot of non-Japanese teas, as well as rarer Japanese varieties like awabancha and goishicha, which I’ve been itching to explore. Having spent a good amount of time with other Obubu interns by now, I also have a good idea of what teas I know and love that other folks here haven’t had a chance to try yet. So my approach this time was to get a lot of small exploratory samples, both for my own curiosities as well as for sharing in comparative tastings with the other interns. The shop assistant (I forgot to ask her name 😭) was incredibly nice and enthusiastic, and I think I picked up a few of her favourites with the Benifuki black and Ureshino Tamaryokucha. A shout-out here to the Tao of Tea’s Ureshino Tamaryokucha, one of the first teas that really got me into Japanese greens many moons ago 💚
The last stop yesterday was O5 Rare Tea Bar, a gallery/coworking space/garden/teahouse/all-round beautiful place full of tasty things and interesting people. Sometimes it pays to be a big nerd in the right place at the right time – O5 are currently trialling a tea/cheese pairing tasting set, and we got to try this free in exchange for some feedback on the experience. I was excited to come to O5 already with the promise of rare/unusual teas, and this tasting definitely delivered.
The teas included in the tasting were a shincha, a Koji-fermented tea, awabancha, houjicha, and bata bata cha. Good representation on the fermented front, something you don’t usually see so much here. The cheeses we tried were aged cheddar, brie, and blue cheese. Standout pairings for me included shincha and cheddar, matcha and blue cheese, and bata bata cha and brie – all of these unexpectedly generated some really interesting sweetness that wasn’t present in the teas or cheeses separately. I can’t wait to go back and try this again, or one of the other tastings O5 offer!
Today’s been a more relaxed day, with some cleaning, laundry, and lots of tea tasting. I helped out with an Instagram live for the Japanese Obubu Instagram earlier, and hit Akky and Miwako with a super strong infusion of Oolong Needles, oops! In the meantime I’ve been brewing up some of the teas I got yesterday, testing out my new teaware, and getting some creative time in.
The double whammy of perfectionism and imposter syndrome have been rearing their heads a little in the past week, which has been somewhat annoying. Our intern senpai group have now gone home, and we’ll be welcoming a new group in a few days. It was easier for me to let go of insecurities and all these things when I was newly arrived, and when there was nothing to do but approach this whole experience with a beginner’s mind. That’s changing now, and while I do love feeling more settled in my existence here, I don’t love that it’s bringing up these old demons. Maybe once our kouhai group is actually here, and I have a few new friends who’ll be in the position I was a month ago, it’ll be easier to let go of the demons again.
And anyway, they don’t have a lot of power over me when I’m brewing tea, so that’s a big bonus I’m getting here! Last week we spent some time weeding in Somada tea field, which has an absolutely incredible view. All of this physical work with the tea plant before any leaf is even harvested is giving me a much better appreciation of the work involved in tea production, and it keeps the crazy brain calm, too. Looking forward now to some bancha harvesting in the not-too-distant future – if I fall off again with blog posts, it’s probably a good bet to keep an eye on the Instagram stories instead when things get crazy 🌱
Tea with Maren 
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