A Swedish-born ambassador for Japanese tea
SHIZUOKA, Japan: Fascinated by Japanese tea, a 31-year-old Swedish man started working as a member of the Japan Tea Export Council in June. The Tokyo-based council aims to stir up interest in Japanese tea abroad.
Oscar Brekell, an expatriate living in Japan, became the first foreign staff member in charge of promoting the attractions of Japanese tea. The likelihood is high that he will become an ambassador for Japanese tea.
Brekell became acquainted with tea ceremonies in history class when he was a high school student. Soon after, he went to a supermarket to buy some Japanese tea.
He was impressed by the depth of the tea through brewing it in his own style. He found the taste could easily be impacted by the temperature of the water and the amount of time it is steeped.
“The process of tasting tea can be deep,” he thought.
When he was a college student, he came to Japan via a homestay programme to learn Japanese. After graduating, he came to Japan in April 2013 to live. Working at a manufacturing company, he used his time off to visit tea plantations nationwide.
The following year he earned certification as a Nihoncha Japanese tea instructor. Later, he moved to Shizuoka, a major tea-growing prefecture, and studied management styles among tea plantations through this spring.
“A cup of tea has everything in it: taste, relaxation and the culture of hospitality,” he said.
Brekell advocates the depth of Japanese tea in events aimed at the overseas market.
In addition to working at the council, he is writing an instructional book in English in which he intends to convey the subtle differences in the taste of teas, depending on their variety and area of origin.
“I want people from all over the world to know the happiness of finding good teas,” he said. — Yomiuri Shimbun