Tea production area: Nago City, Kunigami City, Ogimi Village
Brand: Goga tea, Ogimi tea
Types of tea: Bukubukucha, sencha (medium-steamed tea), hojicha (roasted green tea), bancha, black tea, flavored tea, etc..

The tea fields located at the southern extremity of Japan
Okinawa Prefecture is the place where the earliest tea pluck is conducted in Japan.
The woodlands were reclaimed and tea fields were cultivated after the Showa Period. Sencha, black tea and bancha are produced in Okinawa Prefecture.

Tea fields in Goga, Nago City (July 2019)

There is a stone monument near the tea fields in Goga, Nago City. The monument engraves that people created tea and pine fields after 6 years of their hard work and efforts from 1950.

The stone monuments in Goga, Nago City (July 2019)

Sencha and black tea produced in Kunigami are sold at Michino-Eki (roadside station) “Yuiyui Kunigami”. Cheese tart using Kunigami tea is sold and eaten at Yui Cafe in Yuiyui Kunigami.

Kunigami sencha and black tea at Yuiyui Kunigami (July 2019)

Cheese tart using Kunigami tea at Yui café (July 2019)

Sanpincha
Jasmine tea called sanpincha is drunk even more than sencha in Okinawa Prefecture. The tea leaves of sanpincha are imported from Taiwan and China. Different companies produce sanpinchan in plastic bottles.

Million’s sanpincha in a plastic bottleミリオンのさんぴん茶
Photo provided by Milion https://milion-okinawa.jp

Bukubukucha (Bukubuku tea)
Bukubukucha has been drunk traditionally in Okinawa Prefecture. There are various theories about the origin of bukubukucha and one of them says that it began to be drunk during the Ryukyu Kingdom Period (1429-1879). The tea was called fukufukucha and fuku means lucky and happy. The tea was drunk at celebrations.
After World War II, the custom of drinking bukubukucha went out of vogue, but the members of the Bukubukucha preservation society began to conduct activities to revive bukubukucha.
Now there are some cafés and restaurants where bukubukucha is served in Naha City. Some couples feed bukubukucha to each other at their wedding party.

Bukubukucha at Uchinaa chaya Bukubuku(July 2019)

How to make bukubukucha
Put hot water brewed with roasted rice and sanpincha in a large wooden bowl. Whisk it with a large bamboo whisk in order to make it frothy.
Bancha or genmaicha is often used instead of sanpincha.
Put some sekihan (steamed rice with red beans) in a tea bowl and pour the hot water over the sekihan and add some of the froth. Sometimes, sekihan is not used in bukubukucha.
Add some crushed peanuts into the tea to taste.
When whisking bukubukucha using hard water, it froths well, but if using soft water, it does not become frothy easily. Tap water in Okinawa Prefecture is hard water or soft water depending on the region in Okinawa Prefecture.

Bukubukucha at Uchinaa chaya Bukubuku(July 2019)

Tea related facilities:
うちなー茶屋＆ギャラリーぶくぶく https://bukubuku.jp
道の駅ゆいゆい https://www.yuiyui-k.jp
Yui cafe https://www.yuiyui-k.jp/gourmet/yui-cafe/
奥茶業組合奥共同店

Tea mascot Yuru-Chara: 

Ceramic and pottery art: Yachimun

Reference:
松下智 (平成3年) 日本名茶紀行 (初版) 雄山閣出版
高野實・谷本陽蔵・富田勲・中川致之・岩浅潔・寺本益英・山田新市 (2005) 緑茶の事典 (改訂3版) 柴田書店
大森正司、阿南豊正、伊勢村護、加藤みゆき、滝口明子、中村羊一郎編(2017) 茶の事典 初版第一刷 朝倉書店
うちなー茶屋＆ギャラリーぶくぶくhttps://bukubuku.jp/
ミリオン https://milion-okinawa.jp

*When visiting the shops and facilities introduced in this article, please check the business hours on their website, etc. before visiting.
*The information provided on this site may be updated. If you find any information in this article that is incorrect, new, or incomplete, please contact CHAMART.
*The site does not describe all “Teas of Japan” or all “Teas of the World”. Additionally, each article expresses the writer’s personal experience and feelings.

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