Tea is an important part of the Japanese culture. Even though Japanese tea is sold and appreciated around the world, 99% of the 90,000 tons of green tea produced is consumed by the Japanese. The Japanese earthquake and tsunami did not harm the tea farms, but they did decrease the market for tea within Japan.. In one area alone somewhere between 40 and 50 retail teashops were lost.
Obubu Tea, a tea company located in the prefecture of Kyoto, Japan, is glad that their plantation was unharmed. They are more concerned with the fate of 50 of their customers. These dedicated customers were members of Obubu’s Japanese Tea Club. Some of them were hit very hard by the disaster.
In order to help their customers and others in Japan, Obubu has come up with a plan to help tea lovers donate money for their fellow tea lovers.In the spirit of the Operation Sakura theme “letting hope blossom”, they have devised an interesting way for people to donate money. On their site, tea lovers can purchase virtual teas. Sencha Sakura of Hope is available for $5.00 and Sencha Sakura of Cheer for $10.00. You will receive no real product. This is strictly an easy way of making a donation.
Obubu Tea will use the money first to help their customers affected by the disaster. Second they will use it to help tea farmers and tea businesses affected.
Third, whatever is leftover will go to the Japanese Red Cross and other agencies specifically helping with the recent disaster.
The site also allows those purchasing the virtual tea to post their personal messages to the tea lovers and companies Obubu is trying to help.
According to the Obubu site, so far more donations have come from the US than any other country. Still, there is no doubt that it will take far more donations to help Japanese earthquake recovery.
Sakura is the Japanese name for the beautiful cherry blossoms that appear in Japan each spring. They are sometimes used to flavor teas or even as an herbal tea by themselves.
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