Sunday began just like any day off (that I remember anyway, it’s been awhile since I’ve seen the light of day). I woke up and instantly began thinking of the many activities, places, restaurants in Okinawa that I still need to visit. We decided to drive up north to attempt to find The British Wine and Tea Shop. The attempt to find equates to following sketchy directions provided by an outstanding website. Now keep in mind there are no road names/signs and everything is in kangi, so we weren’t entirely sure we’d ever find the place but an adventure we wanted and an adventure we were going to get. Danielle, Pat Parker, Dustin and I piled into Danielle’s death machine (her car) and were on our way. We almost died multiple times on the way up, having nearly been blown off the road by hurricane forced winds. I’m fairly certain that with a car vs. a curb, the curb will always win in Okinawa.

It took us a few u-turns, even more wrong turns and a phone call to the owner for more precise directions to finally find the house. The tea shop turned out to be a big house tucked away in the hills of Nago quite off the beaten path. There is absolutely no way anyone would happen upon this place by accident. It’s actually up a private driveway, off the main road, no where near anything remotely considered civilization. I still can’t figure how people find themselves there but he insists that they do. When we arrived the owner, John (who’s from London), excitedly welcomed us into his home. He introduced us to his Japanese wife, Maki and their 2 dogs, Ollie and Cromwell and then sat us down to what turned into a 3 hour lunch extravaganza. Not only did we get some pretty tasty food, but we received a crash course in British hospitality and culture. John proceeded to converse with us throughout the entire meal, pausing to occasionally bring out food, taunt the other Japanese guests, and explain to us his theory on “the temple of love” (i.e. his body). He also introduced us to “nipple stoppers”, what John would prefer to call macaroons. John schooled us in British tea etiquette (at one point I thought he might smack me for not sitting up straight). The following is your free tea British tea drinking lesson. Take notes, because it seems the British take tea drinking very seriously and I would hate for any of you to someday be beaten by a British chef. First, you should never add milk to Earl Grey, the milk always goes in 1st and then you pour the tea into the milk so as not to stain the very fancy cup (and “for $#%*’s sake don’t put too much milk in, you’re ruining it”). Secondly, the tea and saucer always go to the right of your serving plate (even if you’re left handed). Never hold the tea cup like a mug (“bloody Americans and their mugs). And finally, NEVER, EVER lick the sugar spoon and “for Christ’s sake” don’t then put that spoon on the table or your plate, “that’s what the bloody saucer is for”. Turns out Dustin had the right idea. He made no attempt to add anything to his tea and then waited while Pat, Danielle and I did everything wrong so that he wouldn’t get yelled at. Nice Dustin, thanks for throwing us under the bus! No matter, the tea was delightful and the freshly baked rock scones were well worth the verbal and emotional abuse!


The adventure begins!


Success!


John, Maki and the bloody Americans

Below are precise directions on how to get there.

take the expressway or 58 north to nago
follow signs to pineapple park and aquarium
take L on 84 (towards aquarium), go 5.8km on 84 and take a left (you will pass the intersection for 72, look for a small brown sign on the left that says Izumi, there is an immediate left after that sign, DO NOT take this left but the next one), you should also see a sign in kangi with a big shrimp on it, take a left here, after you take this left you will curve past the shrimp shop and take a left where you see the sign for the british cafe (you will also see another sign for another cafe), go down the hill approx 0.4 km where you will come to a driveway (you will also pass the other cafe)
turn R and go up the driveway to the big brown house. you will see flags hanging out on the porch seating and you will feel like you're about to enter into someone's house (you are, but you are in the right place), if you get lost in this general area, the phone number is 098-047-7133