Sayama Tea Apprentice: Picking Tea & Taiko Drums at a Family Farm

Tanaka Seichaen has grown Sayama tea since the Edo period, on family land an easy trip from central Tokyo. For a day you join them as an apprentice: learn how Japanese tea is actually made, pick leaves in the field yourself, watch them steamed and processed, and finish by drinking the tea you picked. At harvest the family plays taiko as an offering, and you take part in that too. The farm grows without pesticides and handles everything through to the finished tea in its own factory, so the whole chain is in front of you. Held in Japanese with a LIVAPON interpreter alongside the group. The experience starts and ends at the farm; travel there and back is not included. A meal is included, using seasonal ingredients — the photos here give a sense of the style, not the exact dishes served on your day.