30/12/2025
Choose your tea Pokémon! 🍃
…Wait, chotto matte — not that.
As the end of 2025 steadily approaches, it feels like a good moment to pause, take a sip, and reflect on all that this year has brought. So many wonderful interns, assistant managers, and volunteers joined our team. We welcomed visits from ambassadors, endlessly curious tea tour guests, and tea club members who made the journey to Wazuka for special moments like hand-picking and hand-rolling events.🌱🍵
This year was full of shared experiences: workshops with local Wazuka artisans, tea competitions (regional ones such as Kyoto and Kansai, and even national ones in Shizuoka), harvesting and production seasons, new tea fields taking root, plenty of creative and educational projects and collaborations, and even the opening of a brand-new matcha grinding facility. We also launched the Obubu shuttle bus, officially connecting Kizu, Kyoto, and beyond with our beloved town of Wazuka (yes, we’re still excited about it).🥳 Yes, so many things happen, as you know!
None of this would have been possible without your continued support for our mission — and your shared passion for Japanese tea. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you to every single person who shared a cup of tea with us this year. We’re already looking forward to many more cups, conversations, and slightly muddy shoes (especially, jikatabi) in the year ahead. 💪🍵
A huge thank you from all of us at Obubu. We’re also delighted to share a gorgeous new illustration of our team by our wonderful former intern, Sara Hagstrom (.puddle), whom we’re always lucky to welcome back from time to time. Every visit brings plenty of smiles, light, warmth, and this time, some truly beautiful new art, too. ☀️
May the coming year be filled with good tea, shared in excellent company — with friends, family, and maybe a few tea Pokémon too. 🍃
Wishing you all the very best in 2026 🍵✨
良いお年を!🎍