On a slightly cold Sunday afternoon in late November, a wonderful and unique event took place in Malmö, Sweden.
After months of planning and hard work by a group of 20 Japanese students from Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and other European countries, the first ever Japanese Tea Festival in Malmö opened its doors at the old Commander building, just next to the old Malmö Castle.
Up until a few weeks before the event, there were worries about how many (or how few) guests would show up.
In this coffee-drinking part of the world, Japanese tea is not a big thing, but when the doors opened at 1 p.m. on that Sunday, it quickly became clear that it would be a great day.
More than 120 guests entered the doors and paid the entrance fee of 70 Swedish kroner, which included 6 cups of different Japanese teas plus Japanese and Swedish cakes. A Japanese version of the Swedish “fika.”
Apart from tasting the different teas, the guests could also whisk their own matcha, listen to music from a violinist beautifully dressed in a kimono, and watch, or participate in, a tea ceremony.
As the local GJTea Tea Catalyst, I had the pleasure of helping the students as good as I could – answering questions and providing some of the tea, teaware, etc. required – but it was an easy job since they were all doing a great job in planning and organising the event.
Though I was basically not part of the event, the students kindly offered me a table, so I took the opportunity to serve tea to the guests and explain about the Global Japanese Tea Association and what we do.
The tea I served was the black gyokuro that George from Obubu Tea talked about excitedly at a GJTea Members Gathering a few months ago (which made me pass by Obubu when I visited Wazuka last month). It is a very nice tea with a pleasant and slightly sweet aroma.
It was a great day and time passed fast. When we closed the doors at 4 p.m. everyone was tired but happy. We packed things down, cleaned the place, and ordered a large amount of sushi.
It was the first event of its kind in Malmö, but I hope it will not be the last. A huge thanks to the Japanese students who organised and carried out the event, and to the Global Japanese Tea Association, whose tea training for the Japanese Tea Evangelists made it possible and encouraged them to share their knowledge of Japanese tea during their time abroad.
As a GJTea Tea Catalyst, it has been a pleasure to be introduced to the Swedish and Danish Tea Evangelists by Simona and Anna, and I can only encourage other Tea Catalysts to do the same.
And to the 20 Japanese students I will just say arigatō gozaimasu ありがとうございます. It can’t be appreciated enough how big an effort it is for young students from the other side of the world to arrange an event like this after only a few months in a foreign country where people speak a strange language, have a completely different culture, and where rules don’t always seem easy or logical.
But with hard work and persistence, and despite a very low budget, they managed to plan the event, rent a place, find a few sponsors, advertise it to more than 1,000 people, and finally open the doors for 120 guests on this cold Swedish afternoon. Big respect!
Article and photos by our Tea Catalyst in Denmark, Steen Pipper. You can follow Steen’s activities on his official page.