Tags：Food and AgricultureChubu

On May 10 and 11, the “Tea Picking Experience” was held at Ohito Zuisenkyô. This event was organized with the hope that participants would enjoy touching, seeing, hearing, smelling, and tasting while being in nature, allowing them to feel a moment of healing. Participants experienced the processing of tea leaves picked from the MOA Nature Farming tea fields and made instant sencha to taste.

 

 

On the 11th, under clear skies, 12 participants, including families, took part. After receiving explanations from the farm staff, they carefully entered the “Yabukita” tea fields, where the tea plants are cultivated using the Nature Farming method, and began to pick the tea leaves.

 

 

After washing and steaming the harvested tea leaves, they performed hand-rolling while drying them on a hot plate to remove the moisture. As the leaves were heated, their green color deepened and their aroma intensified, prompting cheers from both adults and children as they continued hand-rolling the tea leaves.

 

 

Freshly made tea leaves were placed in a teapot, hot water was poured, and tasting commenced. Participants enjoyed their teatime with cookies, sharing feedback such as, “It was very enjoyable and meaningful to experience everything from tea picking to tasting,” and “The staff kindly interacted with the children and provided a stable platform for easy tea picking, allowing our family to enjoy the experience.”

 

 

Unfortunately, rain fell on the 10th, but students from the Nature Farming School participated in the experience, providing them with an opportunity to learn about tea cultivation and processing.

 

Organizer: MOA Nature Farming Culture Foundation