Small Tea Gathering

I've been thinking about water. During the rainy season, it rains often. A quiet, steady drizzle. We Japanese call this season tiresome — yet somewhere, I think we love it too. Listening to the sound of rain, a thought suddenly came to me. That so much of what we eat and drink is made of water. The Water of Yakiyama Yakiyama, home to Cacaogoto, is known for its delicious water. Several spring-water stations dot the area, and locals come to fill their bottles. The groundwater

I was looking for soy sauce. A soy sauce to pair with cacao. But when I started searching, I found that soy sauce made without additives was far rarer than I had expected. At Cacaogoto, we make chocolate and confections without additives or artificial colorings. So I wanted to use a soy sauce made with the same kind of care. That’s when I came across Kanayoshi Shoyu, a local soy sauce producer. A brewery with over a hundred years of history. In 2022, they revived the traditio