Exploring Tea Culture: Wazuka, Japan (Day 1)
Arriving in Japan was a blur, it took over a day of travel in total. It was a long 18 hour flight (with a layover thankfully) and then immediately upon arriving we were forced to figure out the Japanese train system where unfortunately, we do not understand Japanese. Then we had to figure out how to get to Tokyo, which we did successfully accomplish and went straight to reward ourselves with some Japanese Ramen in Shinjuku. Tokyo was a bit overwhelming and we really had to make it to Kyoto that night so we quickly set out back to the train station to make our way to Nara.
In Nara, we stayed in a traditional Ryokan, which is a traditional Japanese Inn. It was hands down the best place we have ever stayed in. Upon entry, you are greeted onto their tatami mats, where you are required to take your shoes off - of course. Onyado Nara offers hot spring baths, unlimited probiotic yogurt in the morning, unlimited late night ramen and ice cream in the evening, massage chairs, and the hottest saunas I've ever been to, scented with the most amazing smelling blends of essential oils. It was truly a magical experience and I've never felt more relaxed than those few days at the onsen. We visited the hot springs 6 times over the span of 4 days and got 3 bowls of ramen each, so I think we got our money's worth haha. I am dying to go again, plus it seems Nara was a lot less crowded than Tokyo which was nice.
The day after arriving we traveled to Wazuka to visit our first matcha farm, Obubu Tea Farm. Traveling through Wazuka felt like a Studio Ghibli movie, getting to personally witness a small Japanese town covered in farmland. Wazuka produces over 50% of all matcha grown in Kyoto even though only about 3000 people actually live there.
Despite the fact that it was raining, the views of the matcha farm were still gorgeous. We got to walk among the field and experience it first hand. There are rows among rows of Camelia Sinensis shrubs covered in black shade cloths until they are ready to be harvested.
This type of matcha farming is referred to as covered cultivation and is used to create matcha tea with a rich umami flavor by cutting over 95% of sunshine. Shading creates a low-light environment, forcing the plants to perform photosynthesis with limited light. This causes the leaves to adapt by becoming thinner and broader while at the same time increasing the chlorophyll production to enhance photosynthesis efficiency. This results in a deeper green color in the leaves, which is why deeper green matcha is considered to be higher quality. Shading needs to start at the right time, when the tea plant sprouts with 3 leaves and continues until just before harvest.
We also got to see the machine used during the harvest season and how it takes 2 people to control and requires heavy lifting and lots of adjusting.
Throughout the day, we got to taste 15 different teas - all grown at the farm. Turns out, I've been oversteeping sencha! I always thought all green teas needed about 3 minutes to steep but quality Japanese sencha only requires about 60 seconds of steep time and you can resteep if multiple times! We also got to try Hojicha, Genmaicha, & even Wakoucha, a Japanese black tea. Black tea isn’t very popular in Japan, so it was interesting to try! Our last tea was a sencha cold brewed with only ice cubes. It took the entire tour for the ice to melt which made for a nice refreshing treat after the tour & presentations!
For lunch, we had a tea themed lunch spread that was unlike anything I've ever had. There was hojicha rice onigiri (made using the farm’s tea of course), tea infused soba, miso soup, some veggies (also flavored with tea leaves), tofu, and sweet hojicha and matcha jelly (my favorite part!).
After lunch, we took a tour of the processing factory. We happened to visit right after the very first matcha harvest of the year so all the machines were freshly used. There were a lot of steps to process the tea leaves, which to be honest I didn't fully follow but it was still cool to see hehe.
At the end of the tour and tasting, we had a business meeting about wholesale matcha and tea which was more successful than we expected! I wasn't expecting to hit gold at our first farm tour but luckily we did! The matcha was of such high quality and they had a lot of other tea options too which is great since we want to offer other Japanese teas as well!
This farm also has internship opportunities throughout the year and my best friend and I are really hoping to get accepted next year!