Bukubuku-cha
ぶくぶく茶Bukubuku-chaa (ブクブク茶)DrinkYear-round; traditionally served at New Year and celebrations
Bukubuku-cha is Naha's whipped ceremonial tea: a mound of foam beaten from roasted-rice water is spooned over sanpin-cha or bancha with a little red rice and sprinkled with crushed peanuts. It nearly died out after the war, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs certified it as a '100-Year Food' in March 2025.
Photo Opqr · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 and others, credited in the gallery
The foam is the whole point, and it takes work. Roasted rice is boiled in hard water, then whipped in a wooden bowl about 25 cm across. The whisk is over 20 cm long, and you hold it between two fingers and drive it in straight strokes across the bowl. How dark the rice is roasted changes how well it foams, and suitably hard water is said to keep the foam standing for an hour. The foam goes on top of a bowl of tea with a little sekihan (red rice), and crushed roasted peanuts finish it.
One theory links it to roasted rice flour served as a tea at Hideyoshi's great Kitano tea gathering in 1587, and a 1757 record from Ryukyuan sailors describes old women whisking tea in Ryukyu. By the Meiji era the custom had shrunk, and the writer Tonon Kanjun described it in 1939 as limited to Naha. After the war it all but stopped. Volunteers rebuilt it around 1980 from research, and the Okinawa Traditional Bukubuku-cha Preservation Society formed in 1992.
Worth knowing
- Whip in straight strokes across the bowl; circling the rim or the centre knocks the foam down.
FAQ
Quick answers about Bukubuku-chaよくある質問
What is bukubuku-cha?
Bukubuku-cha is a whipped tea from Naha, Okinawa. Roasted-rice water is beaten into a thick foam and spooned over sanpin-cha or bancha with a little red rice, then topped with crushed peanuts.
Is bukubuku-cha still made?
Yes, on a small scale. The tradition nearly vanished after the war, volunteers rebuilt it around 1980, a preservation society formed in 1992, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs certified it as a '100-Year Food' in March 2025.
How do you order Bukubuku-cha?
Order bukubuku-cha (ぶくぶく茶) at a tea house that serves it, and expect to whip your own foam or watch it made. Eat the foam with the tea underneath and the peanuts on top.
Is there a vegetarian Bukubuku-cha?
Yes. Bukubuku-cha is roasted rice, tea, red rice and peanuts. It contains peanuts.
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