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In August, the summer begins to move away from us. It's time to head outdoors for those tea sessions we've been planning, perhaps serving tea to kind strangers at the park! As we always say, this is a tradition of service - every aspect of Global Tea Hut is about serving tea. You can learn more about tea by serving it than any other way. In that way, the spirit of these envelopes extends beyond you and the people you know, and out into your community: changing societies, changing the world! One bowl at a time...
Here at the center, we spend the summer drinking some organic green teas, spring oolongs (like this month's tea), a lot of newborn sheng puerh and a small amount of freshly harvested Japanese green tea (called "shincha", which literally means "new tea"). Such teas are cooling and nice on a hot day, reminding you that tea is the antidote for everything: warming when you are cool and cooling when you are warm! As I always say, "If you have problems, drink some tea; if you don't have any problems, drink some tea!"
We have had a great summer. Because the weather is nice at home, and very hot in Taiwan, we tend to have fewer guests in June. This means we can take a break from serving you all, work on some improvement projects around the center and I can go to Malaysia to learn some new tea wisdom from my master. I had a great trip this summer, returning with an assortment of tea, teaware and new lessons to share. Also, we installed a whole new shelving unit in the main tea hall here, which opened up the room, making it feel twice as large as before. We used antique wood we purchased from a warehouse in Northern Taiwan. Through a beautiful synchronicity, we found a local carpenter who enjoys tea and is also a meditator and a vegetarian. He did an amazing job! You can see a bit of his work behind us in the videos...
And that brings us to the biggest change to the Global Tea Hut experience: the videos! Of course, one of the lesser aims we have in making these video discussions is to help promote this magazine, opening this community to more people and generating the energy to build our future center. But that isn't the primary motivation behind them. We really just want to continue improving and enhancing this experience, adding new content in more media forms so that the experience of receiving Global Tea Hut gets better and richer from month to month. And we feel very proud of all the work we've put into achieving that aim: the magazine looks stunning, the articles are improving and the new videos add a whole other dimension. We want them to give more of a face to the authors and help you feel what it's like to visit the center for those of you who haven't yet been here. We also want to expand upon the article in the magazine, adding tangential and interesting backstory for those who want to hear more. Whether you have ever been here or not, the videos leave you with a feeling like you have dropped by for some tea and a chat - an experience our guests love when they are here and miss after they go!
We are deeply grateful for all the help you have given in promoting this magazine and all it stands for. We are growing steadily. And we hope that you find us true to our word: as the membership to Global Tea Hut increases, so too will the experience improve! We hope to travel more, gather more journalistic articles, introduce you to more tea farmers and producers, as well as teaware artisans and, of course, find more excellent teas to share with you! We hope that the improvements we've already brought to the tea table are motivation enough to encourage you to keep sharing Global Tea Hut.
This community has changed so many lives for the better - ours most of all! And as it grows, we get closer to building a permanent place we can all visit and share tea spirit, learning and self-exploration. With these envelopes we send to you all our prayers for your health and happiness, as well as a heartfelt invitation that you come visit us in Taiwan and see how your funds are utilized to share tea wisdom, and awaken harmony through Cha Dao.
