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I opened Čaj Chai Teahouse in 2004, motivated by my longing for a space to drink tea as I became accustomed to while living in Prague in the 90`s... Barcelona didn't have a single specialty teahouse dedicated to pure teas, so my girlfriend at the time and I went out and made it ourselves! Our logic was that if people were content drinking artificially aromatized tea with little attention to preparation, surely they would flock to our teahouse once they found out what traditional tea was really about. And they did... but the flock sure moved slowly...
Once we made the crazy decision to embark on such a pure venture (no alcohol, no smoking, no coffee), in a festive country such as Spain, I began devouring tea literature of every sort, and ordering as many samples as I could get. Thus began this endless pursuit to understand and appreciate tea better, a search that progressively led me to seek out better and better organic and traditionally processed teas and to learn, experience and share the greatness of tea in a much more profound and spiritual way.
I first contacted Wu De years ago, when I read his articles for The Art of Tea Magazine. His beautiful writing resonated deep within me. I wish I could have met him there and then and shared tea with him. I also loved his artwork and wished we could exhibit them at Čaj Chai, so I wrote him and asked him about it and he replied affirmatively with such great enthusiasm, generosity and appreciation! Over time this exhibit clearly became an installation!
Global Tea Hut is an amazing initiative that I'm happy to be a part of and share with our customers. Every month we hold GTH gatherings at our teahouse or, weather permitting, somewhere out in the open. Each month our group continues to grow, even if it's admittedly difficult to get everybody together on a given day. I also make it a point to invite 1 or 2 new people to the group to experience GTH for the first time. I also let people repeat the experience when I see they are really appreciating it, even though for one reason or another they haven't signed up yet... GTH is clearly not about exclusion! All knowledge is meant to be shared. May we all drink organic tea; may be all find peace in drinking organic tea and knowing we are supporting good people, good farmers who are caring above their land and us people more than the size of their harvest. We are forming part of something truly beautiful on a global scale.
This month I'm at Tea Sage Hut, living a blessed life, learning, sharing tea and meditating with Wu De, Kaiya, Lindsay, Daniel and others passing through. I don't want to speak too much about it now because I'm very much living in the moment... but when I return to Spain I'll be sure to write in depth about my time here with them! I'd love to share what they've shared with me and share a bowl of tea with all of you. If you visit Spain definitely get in touch:
cajchai@yahoo.es or www.cajchai.com
