March 2020 Newsletter
-about d:matcha tea field（by Hiroki.A )
This year we experienced a record warm winter with relatively warm days, often working out a sweat while out on the tea fields. During winter however, there is an especially unwanted guest that often appears on our tea plantations. These ‘guests’ are the deers. Deers are considered pests for tea trees because when there is a scarce availability of vegetation in winter, these deers will seek out the branches and mature leaves of the tea trees to eat. A section of the plant that is especially important as this is the foundation of the tea trees. Furthermore, when the deers jump through the tea fields, this vigorous motion has the potential to break off branches, as well as disturb the top most layer of the trees. Tea trees with leaves that have been eaten or disturbed will not produce young shoots of high quality, and this could potentially affect our first harvest!
Perhaps the deers in Wazuka enjoy eating the leaves of our tea fields because it is especially delicious? Now I am confused as to whether I should be pleased or not.
- about d:matcha pop-up-store（by Natsuki.S）
We held pop-up stores at several locations this Winter! Travelling and bringing our products out of Wazuka is a very interesting experience for us because we are able to meet and talk to a lot of new customers. The team also feels especially motivated when the new customers we meet are not only interested in buying our products, but also listen attentively when we share and explain to them more on d:matcha, the work that we do, as well as the quality of tea in Wazuka. Thank you for your support and we will work harder to ensure that Wazuka’s tea will be more famous in due time!
-about d:matcha（by Daiki.T）
In Feb. 2020, we received a new partner who has joined the team as a full time employee. Her name is Ryhan and she is originally from Singapore. She was formerly an intern with us in Sep. 2019. As we found that she fits with our company culture well and had expressed plans to work in the agriculture sector in Japan, I decided to offer her a position with d:matcha while she was staying with us and proceeded to obtain the working VISA for her.
Overall d:matcha has been accepting interns not solely from Japanese universities, but also international applicants. Thus far, we have hosted interns from France, U.S., Brazil, Australia, Ghana, Thailand, and Singapore. Our interns mostly share a common interest in tea farming and seek the experience of working in a start-up company located in the Japanese countryside. The experience of hosting interns has also brought numerous opportunities for us to enjoy different cultures and be exposed to different ways of thinking. Some of our happiest and proudest moments have been when are interns share their plans with us to start their own tea businesses in their home country. As a matter of fact, the workshop I conducted last month in Paris was with Lucie, d:matcha’s very first intern! I enjoyed myself immensely and it was a great way of introducing Japanese green tea culture and Wazuka tea to the world.
Starting from March 2020, we will also commence our Tea Business Class for entrepreneurs who are planning to start or are currently running their own tea business. Our goal is to enhance and support them through the sharing and exchange of knowledge. Ultimately, my dream is to be able to conduct yearly workshops with students and interns alike, all over the world.
Daiki Tanaka, Founder and Owner of d:matcha
