Japan’s big cities are fascinating, but I think the small and rural towns are easier places to interact with local people, and that’s where you really get a taste of what makes Japan special. If we decide not to do the tour, can we still visit the farm? Wazuka is a small farming town in the Kyoto Prefecture, about an hour and a half from Kyoto Station on transit. There were different herbs with different taste, this post remind me the sweet gone by days. We were sitting in the back seat of Matsu-san’s little jeep, climbing the rolling hills of Wazuka, Japan. In less than two weeks, I will take a press tour to visit tea fields in Fukuoka. The tour begins after meeting in my café, “d:matcha Café & Kitchen,” then we will drive up to mount Jubu, and start the hike walking uphill through the town’s winding streets surrounded by houses built in Japanese traditional style. The tour is available for up to 12 people and is 12,000yen/person. Hi, I’m Cassie! In this three or six-month program, tea apprentices come from around the world, assist with marketing, social media, and the website, do translations, and lead tea tours. Did you have to wait for another bus to continue your journey or could you walk the rest of the way? Address: Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms, 2 Otsuka Sono, Soraku-gun, Wazuka-cho, Kyoto, Japan. お茶どころ静岡で、ほっこりする日本茶体験やってます。 The “Tea 101” presentation was accessible for new tea drinkers. Kochi: Tea Farm Tour, Japan’s Rarest Tea Tasting Embark on a unique trip hosted by a locally-based American deeply involved in the green tea cultivation process, learn about growing sencha, taste Japan's rarest green tea. your stop off at the cafe on your way back…since you got off the bus (after leaving the farm) to go there, how far away from the train station was it? Experience the best Shizuoka has to offer in a two-day, guided Japanese green tea inspired tour. We help you experience something new and create memories that will last a lifetime. [CDATA[ Travel & food adventures in California and beyond, June 30, 2016 by Cassie Kifer. Choose tours based on style, interest, date, or season. Thank you! After the tea field tour, we stopped at a local, family-owned restaurant for a tea-fueled lunch: Cha soba — green tea soba noodles! You first have to take the JR train to the nearest station to the farm, Kamo Station. (e in b)&&0=b[e].o&&a.height>=b[e].m)&&(b[e]={rw:a.width,rh:a.height,ow:a.naturalWidth,oh:a.naturalHeight})}return b}var C="";u("pagespeed.CriticalImages.getBeaconData",function(){return C});u("pagespeed.CriticalImages.Run",function(b,c,a,d,e,f){var r=new y(b,c,a,e,f);x=r;d&&w(function(){window.setTimeout(function(){A(r)},0)})});})();pagespeed.CriticalImages.Run('/mod_pagespeed_beacon','https://everintransit.com/japanese-green-tea-plantation-tour/','8Xxa2XQLv9',true,false,'V6P4mS5PFkQ'); Has anyone else done this tour? The best Coffee & Tea Tours in Japan according to Viator travelers are: Harajuku Pop Tour with Kawaii Monster Cafè; Private Tour - An adventure in The World of Tea, Iruma; Private Tour - World Heritage of Tasty Sweets! Two years ago, I was lucky to be chosen to join a three-day press tour related to Japanese culture, and two of those days focused on tea areas in and around Kyoto. | As Japan's No. If the tea contributed to Japan's National Tea Competition wins the award of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, it brings extreme and deep honor for the farmer. Whether you’re interested in Japanese cherry blossom tours, festival tours, autumn leaves tours or special interest tours, our Japan tour packages will bring your vacation dreams to reality. A few weeks later, my Japan guidebook pointed me in the right direction–one of the top things it listed to do in Kyoto was “visit a tea farm.” I did some searching and found Obubu Tea Farm offers an all-day tea farm tour and tasting workshop on their Wazuka tea plantation. 1 tea producer, there are many tea production areas across Shizuoka prefecture. The town is “steeped” in tea history — it was the first place in Japan that tea was grown after having been introduced to the islands from China more than 800 years ago. 9 Comments. The first spot to visit is the scenic Yubune tea field. ":"&")+"url="+encodeURIComponent(b)),f.setRequestHeader("Content-Type","application/x-www-form-urlencoded"),f.send(a))}}}function B(){var b={},c;c=document.getElementsByTagName("IMG");if(!c.length)return{};var a=c[0];if(! Tea has played a vital role in Japanese culture for centuries - from the basic green tea served at mealtimes to the highly elaborate rituals of the tea … For many, it's also a home. Your photographs of the Kyoto food market were fantastic. Coming to Shizukuishi, you can spend time at Koiwai touring the farm while admiring the wonderful view, enjoying the attractions at Makiba-en Park and participating in the nature walks. We sampled different varieties of tea, including some you won’t find outside of Japan — like this “wakoucha,” Japanese black tea…. Sign up to get more inspiration delivered right to your inbox, once a week. Enjoy tea from the fertile soils of Kagoshima and its subtropical climate, or join a tea farm tours in the Uji region south of Kyoto City or in the prefecture of Shizuoka, Japan's highest producer of tea. Japan Tours & Vacations. When I was learning Chinese, our instructor brought the tea cups and a little kettle same as here and served the tea. More than 14 days before the tour date: Full refund, 14 – 7 days before the tour date: 80% refund, 6 – 3 days before the tour date: 50% refund, Less than 3 days before the tour date: No refund. Combining elements of the whole tea plant, Obubu specializes in this method as we believe goodness of the whole tea plant, resulting in less waste. The Obubu Tea Fram provides the visitor with a full introduction to tea farming and production. //]]>. At about 2,000 feet, it’s not exactly rugged mountain terrain, but we still had a stunning view of the Wazuka valley. They also pointed out fields with fans that promote air circulation and prevent condensation on foggy mornings. !b.a.length)for(a+="&ci="+encodeURIComponent(b.a[0]),d=1;d=a.length+e.length&&(a+=e)}b.i&&(e="&rd="+encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify(B())),131072>=a.length+e.length&&(a+=e),c=!0);C=a;if(c){d=b.h;b=b.j;var f;if(window.XMLHttpRequest)f=new XMLHttpRequest;else if(window.ActiveXObject)try{f=new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP")}catch(r){try{f=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP")}catch(D){}}f&&(f.open("POST",d+(-1==d.indexOf("?")?"? We were in Japanese green tea country, exploring the mountain-top tea fields in Wazuka, Japan. Yamaguchi-san, the producer of Japanese tea and our tour guide will take you to the farm virtually and explain how Kagoshima tea is special. From Kamo Station, you need to either get a taxi (approx. The Farm has foreign interns who stay and work at the farm for 3 months at a time and in addition to working the farm and the tea factory, they act as guides for visitors. Explore a tea plantation to learn about the cultivation process. Enjoy spectacular views of green tea plantations while sipping delicious tea and sampling seasonal sweets at Kanebun tea farm. One of Obubu Tea's goals is to bring Japanese tea to the world and make it more accessible to tea lovers. Thanks Cassie. We opted for the public bus, but we were pretty confused about how to use the on-board bus ticket machine and how to identify the correct stop. As a tea blogger, that would be a dream tea tour for me as well. Several years back, I toyed with the idea of starting my own tea shop. Getting there was a snap since I had rented a car with GPS. The former interns become global ambassadors of Japanese tea, and many of them go on to open tea businesses back in their home countries. It takes five years for new growth tea plants to be able to yield their first harvest. I even went to the “World Tea Expo,” a global industry trade show, two years in a row to research and network with suppliers. Thanks for commenting, Sara! Wazuka, Soraku District - You can join this tour from Kyoto, Osaka or Nara. He has traveled around the world to visit tea farms and source top-quality tea. How was your trip? We were there in the off-season (March) but if you come during the spring, summer, or fall harvest you might catch the Obubu team in production. I booked a tour for our March trip. The tour will involve a visit to some beautiful tea fields in the surrounding mountains to learn about tea farming followed by an in-house tea tasting session of a wide palette of our teas: from everyday houjicha and genmaicha to premium sencha and matcha. Join us for an organic tea farm tour in Shizuoka, an area that is well-known for green tea production in Japan. Tea Cup Trip -Tea Farm Tours and Experiences in Shizuoka-Interest. Obubu Tea Farm isn't just a workplace, an internship, a career, a livelihood, or even a farm. Copyright © 2020 • Ever In Transit • All rights reserved • Disclosure & Policies, Don’t Get Hacked: Internet Safety Tips for Travelers & Bloggers ». Our host Tamiko picked us up on the main train station in Fujieda, and together with another curious soul from Canada we started our tour. The interns raved about it so Kevin, Giandomenico, and I planned a stop on our way back to the train station. I love tea. Feel free to drop me an email if you ever have any tea related questions or comments or if you just feel like talking tea . Wow, what an amazing trip! The helpfulness of the tour guide and the pleasant disposition of Mr. Uchino made it easy and enjoyable to follow along in my language as well as Japanese. (He is living my tea travel dream!) We drove through the rolling hills admiring the vibrant and carefully manicured landscape. While I never wound up taking the plunge into tea retail, I had always wanted to visit a tea plantation–you might remember it was on my “tea travel bucket list.”. Had a question re. An Uji-Matcha Tour! You will get to experience the tasting of many different varieties of tea and tea preparation, making this tour just perfect for tea lovers! Aracha teas give our teas a signature green color and bold taste that isn’t found in any other teas. […] A Day in Japanese Tea Country: Visiting a Tea Farm Near Kyoto [Japan] Ever In Transit […], Your email address will not be published. (function(){for(var g="function"==typeof Object.defineProperties?Object.defineProperty:function(b,c,a){if(a.get||a.set)throw new TypeError("ES3 does not support getters and setters. Enter your email here to have new posts delivered right to your inbox once a week. Makinohara is the largest tea plantation among them. I would love to get back to Wazuka someday… maybe as an Obubu Tea intern? Giandomenico, Kevin, and I were a fairly unusual group for the tea teams because we already knew quite a lot about Japanese tea, but I like to think we challenged the Obubu team with our unusual questions. We saw many tea fields that were newly planted. It was a long but exciting day, and certainly a highlight of our entire trip. We are looking forward to welcoming you on an unforgettable adventure to tea sites and flavours! Or how matcha, a It looks like a huge green carpet! If you are taking the bus from the farm back to the JR train station, you can ask them to let you off at the Yamajin cafe (ask for the “Lawson Market” that is diagonal across the street). Visit a green tea plantation where we'll introduce you to a tea grower named Shimoyama-san. Nonetheless, visiting a Japanese tea farm has always been a dream of hers and last September that dream finally came true. Great, glad you appreciated it, sorry I missed this comment before. I’ll be going to Kyoto in April and will definitely be visiting this tea farm if they’re open. 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It was clear that local growers were trying to grow as much tea on the irregular terrain as possible. The custom-crafted tours are a combination of abundant, hands-on, invaluable tea experiences mixed with real involvement with the native cultures of tea producing and consuming regions. It’s exactly what I was looking for. They did a great job with detailed directions and instructions, especially with the bus connection. Visit an Organic Tea Farm in Japan (5-hour tour) Voyagin Verified Add to Wishlist Share ID: 1227. The visit includes a introduction to tea and tea farming, a visit to the mountainside where the tea is grown, a visit to the factory and finally a tea … We learned proper steeping and pouring techniques…, We tried our hand at old-fashioned stone-grinding of matcha tea for the traditional Japanese tea ceremony…. Learn more…. The Farm has foreign interns who stay and work at the farm for 3 months at a time and in addition to working the farm and the tea factory, they act as guides for visitors. "),d=t;a[0]in d||!d.execScript||d.execScript("var "+a[0]);for(var e;a.length&&(e=a.shift());)a.length||void 0===c?d[e]?d=d[e]:d=d[e]={}:d[e]=c};function v(b){var c=b.length;if(0