Friday April 24, 2020 - Tea Roasting

Video Subtitles

Hello Internet Happy Friday
TGIF this is gonna be the last stream of
of this of this week actually
so I've you know said before that I was
going to take the weekends off so if you
wanted to get a little tea social time
in today will be the day so yeah we
should have a lot of fun together today
I'm going to be talking about roasts and
tea so I'm sure we've all heard of
different types of roasts and a lot of
us first associate roasting with like
roasted new lungs that we've seen and I
recently got a question from from a
client of ours that you know wants to
better explain to their customers about
roasting and degree of roasting and when
a tea has roast in the title what does
that mean and is it always like a
post-processed type of a roast so today
I will be drinking a type of roasted tea
I have two roasted teas here so this is
a roasted long the forever spring medium
roasts and then here this is a rested
tea that maybe we don't think of being
roasted all the time this is the the
sticky rice shown port and this is the
type of roast that people don't don't
often think of because it's it's the
roasting is actually part of the process
it's part of the the drying process and
I'll speak more of that and I'll even
show some videos too to give an
explanation visualization of what I'm
talking about here so you know first
I'll I'll talk a little bit about the
typical roasts that we we usually think
of with long tea and and this is
something like kind of cool that has
become
something of interest for tea hobbyists
that are trying their hand at roasting
themselves they'll roast in the oven
they'll roast on the stovetop and if
they're lucky they'll actually acquire
an actual roaster like a bamboo roaster
bamboo electric roaster like what's used
in Taiwan so Taiwan is when I think of
roasted alongs a place that you know
always comes to mind because they like
residue ones that you know always me
comes to mind
yeah and roasting and Taiwanese lungs a
lot of time is not done by the farmer
it's done by the merchant or the the
person that's storing the tea the person
that is selling the tea roasting is
actually a way of rejuvenating the tea
and bringing out some fresh aromas and
flesh fresh flavors it's also a way to
change the character of the team and it
can be done electrically so the the
bamboo electric roaster that's I was
just speaking on is one way that
roasting is done but additionally and
more traditionally it's done with
charcoal charcoal roast and that's
that's pretty advanced I'm not seeing
any hobbyists that are taking on
charcoal roasting in their own spare
time but the electric roasting is
something that that's exciting if you
guys have ever done any roasting on your
teas just for the fun of it from fun of
it or for experimentation go ahead and
leave a comment or are later on when I
do open up the soul
I'd love to have you come in and talk to
us about your experience about roasting
tea let me just put a photo up real
quick what the charcoal roast process
looks like they will also use bamboo as
well but underneath the the big bamboo
baskets where the tea is put and the the
team will be roasting sometimes for
months so this is not a fast process and
this is another reason why it's kind of
a more advanced technique and of course
costlier so you know that's that's
another way to think about the
difference you know in your choice of of
getting a roasted tea if you want the
the deeper roast flavor you'll want to
go for the charcoal roast but there is a
higher cost because of the extra leveled
skill in our craftsmanship and in time
that goes into roasting teas it was
always interesting how when you know I
really should have these all these media
things lined up before I even start so
that way there's no delay and getting
these up but I always get inspired
whenever I
I get online and get an idea about
sharing with you about about these
things another example of a tea that is
roasted after perhaps processing is
houjicha which is a roasted green tea so
it's not only long set that are roasted
and even black teas will be roasted most
of the roasted black teas that I've come
across though are typically roasted as
part of the processing not at post
process but of course you can roast a a
black tea I don't know why this is not
giving me a result I always collect a
bunch of videos of charcoal roast when I
go to Taiwan and visit with alfredo
because his business partner is a very
famous charcoal roaster and ningún he's
got a nice facility where he roasts
teeth and they do the charcoal roast as
well as the electric roast so you know
TT roasting and people that do t
roasting are you know not exclusively
doing one or the other they they will
swap between just go and search there
I'll start prepping my tea in the
meantime so I don't have any industry
updates today I don't really see too
much you know I haven't seen a bunch of
updates from our network of hi Gabby
good to see you of of tea being produced
so you know it is a happy Friday I'm
doing really well enjoying this one
wonderful weather just as a point of
reference here in Vegas my coconut oil
has gone complete liquid so if that
means anything to anybody that's uh
unbelievable I can't find these photos
I can find a bunch of photos for other
people but I don't want to exploit their
content I have plenty of our own yeah a
sign that things are getting warmer when
you're coconut oil look with eyes my
friend Nick can to the the gentleman
that makes all the art here he was the
one that introduced that joke to me that
that's the way to tell the seasons are
changing is the state of your token oil
so I'm gonna drink tea I'm gonna chill
out and relax hi shailu good to see you
in my search for this video that I'm
looking for I found one of your videos
Shiloh I don't know if it's exactly what
I'm wanting to show here but
all right so I have a video of roasting
dragon well here and actually it's in
slow-mo so it'll be a good one oh go
ahead and sure so this is an example of
not like the charcoal roasting or not
the the electric rusty and then I was
like the post-processing roasting I was
talking about this is an example of the
term roasting that's applied to
[Music]
during so this is so there is some
drying happening to believe at this step
but the purpose of this step is for
[Music]
roasting by crying and a lot of things
right this way it's very common diseases
Crosse Jaycees cut the leaves there
that's been shaped and you can see
traditional shape and then it goes on to
be a slow process
[Music]
and there's the final product so you see
in that processing there was never a
drying machine like what you typically
see with tea processing there's not you
know like you've really like the oven
drying so that's like when they separate
different different shapes and sizes of
the leaf I will try to find the video of
the sticky rice roasting so sticky rice
pores this is shown poor Rob where it is
I guess I didn't post it very similarly
it's not done by hand it's done by a
machine and there's several different
grooves that that the T fits within and
those there's a fire heating underneath
it and as those this whole table kind of
shakes I really thought I had the photo
of that there but the the the video that
I just showed you was definitely what I
wanted to share with you which is the
the hand roasting of the green tea and
you know the reason why I wanted to talk
about this today was because when you
see the name roasted on a tea on the
title of the tea you know there could be
different many meanings to it it doesn't
necessarily mean that it's it's roasted
post processing after its dried and
ready to drink although that is a very
common way that that tea is roasted it
can also be roasted as part of the
processing and there's been times when
I've seen you know in a very rudimentary
process facility ie someone's kitchen
that if they don't have a dryer or an
oven to properly dry their tea that they
will use they will use a wok and they
will just keep it in that heated wok
long enough and keep moving it moving
the tea so that doesn't burn of course
you wanted to evenly heat in order to
drive the tea
yeah you got to keep it moving just like
that video I just shared of dragon well
and that is called roasting so like
other examples of teas that we have on
our catalog that are like that are like
the the sticky rice core oh and
something important that I didn't
mention and when I was talking about
that is that us in in the shank poor
processing this style of roasting they
also add in the herb that gives the
sticky rice aroma and that's why it
smells like sticky rice it has such a
unique aroma like very noticeable unique
aroma that aroma is it's not integrated
into the T similarly to how like jasmine
flower aroma is added into Jasmine green
tea the aroma is roasted in what during
that roasting process and that that
machine I was talking about that shakes
the leaf on that heated plate they'll
put the tea leaf with the herb together
and that really helps kind of integrate
the aromas into the tea leaf Yankee tea
factory in Darjeeling is doing something
similarly for a special tea blend that
they're making for big heart tea where
they're roasting Tulsi with the black
tea in the final drying process so that
as the tea is drying all those aromas
from the Tulsi is getting into the tea
you know for those that are interested
in those and those types of characters
and flavors and whatnot but the temple
offers a green tea that's roasted but in
that case the roasting is like the kill
green step versus the drying process I
think they're still using like the
quality dryers versus the you know like
the the walk or the hand drying like
what I showed
the dragon well so yeah there's lots of
diversity and you know really it's a
testament to how intriguing tea can be
and how limitless it can be hi Adam
so yeah Jeremy if that answered your
question about tea roasts and and we
could even dive deeper especially if
we're talking about you know like the
post process type of roasted tea so
difference between charcoal roasts and
electric roast as well as the degree of
roasts that you can take it and how many
times you roast so like young chives
leash on long teas the number of times
the tea is roasted plays a big role in
the value of that teeth so currently the
the roadway that we have in stock is
triple roasted and usually we would have
taken maybe like the the double roasted
just because that is a fair fit with the
price point of the North American market
but we were a little too late to get the
double roast and the only stock that was
left was the triple roast so this season
we have a little bit higher quality for
a way just because there was an
additional roast on it so yeah hi Adam
Elyse how are you I'm good how are you
all right we started yeah happy Friday
likewise that's cool it's like you're
your son is like watching over you he's
watching over your gun food making sure
you don't make any mistakes
perfect right yeah I got I got that too
Bitcoin Bitcoin is sitting right behind
me making sure I don't make any mistakes
drop any food more like it
what do you snacks on the table
I don't but on the drive over I ate my
lunch and yeah he got some of it of
course he always gets some of it I can't
not give him snacks or whatever he
desires but he wants more he can he this
hunger is never satisfied reason the
volume here to tighten it roasty about
roasting yeah I was talking about
roasting of tea yeah cuz what if one of
my clients is you know kind of new to
selling tea and so he has a lot of
questions about how he can best
communicate you know the processing and
the story of the tea to his customers
and so you know he's asking a lot of
detail which is great like I always
encourage any like not even just
startups but any tea company that is
sourcing tea from us and you know
wanting to communicate the the quality
and the values of the tea to their
customers to ask deeper questions you
know don't just listen on the website as
a green tea from China like really dig
deep and you know I try my best to
proactively provide as much information
but at the same time you can't overload
you know there is a lot of information
that can be offered
you know like degree of withering degree
of roasting like and every step of the
process for every tea that we sell which
we've had you know over 400 teas in the
catalog up to now might be a lot of data
to present in our catalog and you know
so the data is accessible
of course if someone reaches out to me
and ask for it I'm always just like
super happy to provide it because it
means that they are caring and they are
wanting to make that a part of their
brand story and their customers
education so yeah he had a question
specifically around roasting and you
know he had bought two different teas
that had roasted in the title of the tea
and so he wanted to know the difference
between that and like what's the degree
of rosy on this or that and one of the
tea is like roasted oolong like a
Taiwanese style you know like roasted
mulan which is really kind of probably
what most people expect but then the
other one was a roasted green tea and
the roasting signified the the kill
greens style because that producer does
both steaming and roasting for their
kill green so yeah I kind of wanted to
the conversation earlier was more
focused on kind of the roasting during
processing in verses like post-process
roasting which a lot of teas actually
are like the drawing is is actually like
the the roasting they won't use like an
oven or like what's called a in india
and they like to call it the quality
dryer you know like the conveyor belt
system that runs it through the oven go
they'll actually dry the tea in a wok
like dragon well you know traditional
dragon lilies and then the tea I'm
drinking right now is a sticky rice Mao
Xiao Chun pour ice I love those yeah so
this is not like the sticky rice and the
pink tulle this is like real real chump
or like it's now cha so it's not even
pressed and I wasn't able to pull the
video hopefully I'll find it and I'll
share it another time but the last time
I was at this this farmers place
he was roasting he was showing us the
process on this stingrays Chung pours
it's a very popular
or catalog because it's just like it's
so sexy and just like appealing the
aroma from the herb and so I asked the
farmer if I could document the you know
where is it or come from what does it
look like how is it harvested and how is
it integrated into the tea because it's
always kind of a mystery to us how the
aroma gets introduced into the tea and
came to find out that they actually the
the final drying step for the the matcha
is done with the herb so is it's it's
kind of so like truly scented like
jasmine teas they'll like cure the leaf
with the flowers you know sometimes even
in a vacuum chamber to like get the
aromas to come together in the case of
the sticky rice they they roast the two
things together and then they separate
the herb out after they roast it okay so
they kind of like it accelerates the the
aroma exchange with the heat and the the
roasting and is that okay so this is the
process with the mouch oh that you're
drinking but with the other version that
which before you can clear this is
amount of chocolate you drink yeah is it
the same with a no idea I know nothing
about factory commercial teas I only
know handcrafted artisanal teas so
that's those pink Tuo's like they're
very you know mass-produced thing and
actually they usually use soup or you
know like cooked pour forth for those
rather than xiang pour this is like a
very you know small-scale traditional
small batch thing and actually this
style of tea is like it's it's not super
common you know like when when when i
asked to like document
story of how they make it the the farmer
was like kind of surprised kind of like
oh you know like that's interesting you
guys are interested in this type of tea
okay sure we'll show you you know I
don't think that there's a whole lot of
domestic demand for this type of tea but
you know sticky rice pour is just like
it's so widespread here like any tea
houses to go to especially a Chinese
style tea house is gonna have those pink
Tuo's like that's just very common and
that flavor
you know the American palate likes
sexiness you know we're really attracted
to sexy teas so it's sexy beam like you
know come on real strong with a strong
aroma
thanks to Teavana you know so I think
that's why the sticky rice pour has done
really well here in the States
hi Jeremy yeah okay some reason we put
speaker view you up there you are yeah
yeah I'm gonna do that too that was good
I actually came in late so I wanted to
make sure I watched it before I joined
you okay
it was kind of like on delay my own Oh
me too I was on the way so but it's
Friday no no I think that I mean that
really well are you still here in
Germany come back you know the beauty of
Technology that's why I always keep
myself plugged into a hard line cuz
he moves this is that tea is telling you
about the a-tellin company cast iron
[Music]
there you are maybe gotta trim some of
the beard you know get yourself some
more agility oh now he's gone he's
really gone now he's trying to so um I
saw you you messaged me about that
article yes yeah we should talk about
that like that's the thing that's super
important to me even more than tea even
more than all my work and everything is
that exact thing that you pointed out
from that articles so that really
curious to see what what your reflection
on that was um trying to remember the
exact quote is something in regards to
us having no connection to the
production or food well so it's
interesting and is interesting in
regards to the fact that you know when
you take it in context of the line of
work that I'm in which is like yeah
we're both still in the tea industry but
I'm working I built my life my career
has developed in such a way that I'm
like more on the high volume global
supply chain end of things so I I see
that the degree to which people are far
more disconnected
from what they consume and and I mean I
guess I there's a certain degree to
which I've just kind of resigned myself
to that it's not I mean as I'm sure you
can appreciate it doesn't only manifest
itself on the T side and where I'm going
with this is that recently maybe if you
look on my facebook profile my timeline
maybe a week or so before that article
went out I shared an article from 538
that kind of gives a crash course in
like how the global supply chain works
and how people don't really understand
how every single thing that you have in
your hands has to go through one channel
or another and like if you know this cut
this little cup right here might have
like three types of clay that come from
like three different I mean this is not
the best example three let's just assume
the same are already there are three
types of playing near three different
parts of the world well there are
different people who move those things
around the world and this article
describes it like ballet so when I
shared that article on Facebook I said
to those who think that that my job just
consists of playing around with tea and
waxing about it waxing poetic about it
in the far corners of the world I give
you a crash course in global supply
chain and people are starting to see
like the impact of that being disrupted
during the coronavirus and I said my
advice like instead of on your next trip
or delivery to the grocery store don't
don't just buy some produce created to
them kind of giving people a benefit of
the doubt is not enough are buying
enough produce in previous section
grocery store getting honest so a little
bit so
your thumb no just don't just buy
produce buy some seeds to grow your to
growing away exactly art well you know
you know nurseries and hardware stores
are having a shortage of seeds and soils
so it's happening people are getting it
but part of these clayman and the
article talks about this is part of
these places having a shortage it's
because they they stop with what they
think they're going to need and then
suddenly everyone is staying home and
they've got you know ten times what sure
ten times the demand that they normally
have just a number there but is still a
fraction of the population that's
actually wrong yeah so build this issue
of like our capitalist society being
very disconnected and devaluing what we
what we consume what we put in our
bodies so that's that's kind of where I
felt like that you you were that line in
that article was speaking directly yeah
and I made that discovery over ten years
ago so you know like my whole started my
career I'm a food scientist so food
scientists usually work for big food and
I did worked for big food for four years
I worked for Ito in you know which is
big tea yeah you know so very similar to
how you work in big tea and I also have
that experience and and to be honest Ito
in was like the cleanest best feeling
company I ever worked for in my whole
food scientist career but there were
still problems there
you know when the digger I the the
deeper I dig into the Japanese tea
industry the more problems I find you
know and a lot of the the farmers and
the activists and the organic farmers
and in Japan's like directly point you
know that company as being the sort
even though they're not exclusively the
only company kind of controlling the
industry and controlling the prices and
and and and kind of the lack and
increase in value and and t but they
were the first ones you know so that's
why I like I'm extra passionate about
trying to pave the path for real and you
know a lot of people with my sentiment a
lot of Peace Corps volunteers you know
my friends from that realm a lot of the
hippies I hang out with like they also
have very similar sentiments but they're
more about the the isolationist
viewpoint of like the best that I can do
is just do it on my own like I'll go
live in the wilderness and be
self-sufficient on my own which is great
but that's not going to like really move
the wheel in the mass scale what will is
finding ways of bringing that
consciousness to our current supply
chain to our current system and so
that's that's my whole goal and and what
I'm doing and you know the business
model of tea lettuce is not just limited
to tea even though I do have the
privilege of you know first working for
Ito in and that work led me to getting a
job working with tea farmers in Hawaii
which led me to working with tea farmers
of Japan which now has led me to
becoming you know kind of this like tea
networker that I'd become but the
business model of tila itself is
something that like I ultimately want to
build into something of like an Aldi
Baba for the food industry where big
food companies would be able to manage
their supply chain transparently and
involve all the parties so those there
are those people that you were talking
about in your article I do see your
article here but yeah the people all
those like middlemen that you were
talking about like all the different
places things have to get aggregated and
moved around yeah those things might
still be necessary and I'm not trying to
cut those things out like what I forget
those necessary
removing things like from far corners in
the world yeah the global supply chain
exists in one way or another so yeah
they're necessary when I first started
my work at ela I wanted to cut them all
out I was like such an idealist I was
like good screw MA
like let's just let it be the farmer and
the consumer like that's we got to get
it down to that but I've realized over
the years that they are very important
pieces and what is more important to
instigate to happen is the trust and
transparency of information sharing
between all of those parties and the the
value sharing between all those parties
because that's what's missing mm-hmm so
that's my soapbox for the day so Jeremy
you're back yeah
I'd uh down ethernet cables
I think the Wi-Fi was just not acting
well enough
that's gonna be good do you know I just
I recommend that Ethernet cable or
anything you're streaming or recording
or anything like that
[Music]
yeah it's not the best connection to
begin with so but it's working now
[Music]
I'm the only issue with talking about
these things is that they they pose a
threat right and at the core of this
whole system it's still people and so
that's what I'm trying to navigate is
you know how to have these conversations
how to inspire this like idealistic
dream of transparency while also still
like understanding the the people that
are currently in those systems maybe not
so much the people that are exploiting
those systems and benefiting the most
off of those systems but people like
yourself you know like that that you
know are hardworking people that are
part of that system you know and I
admire you for pursuing it and I think
there need to be people who are like
pursuing that an admission and those
kind of values it's just you have to you
know my life and then job and sometimes
be a combination of what end skills I
mean in my moments of trying to pursue
such goals I have not managed to get the
planets to align in way I wanted you
know right now I'm working with eeeh the
handout so yeah yeah no I definitely do
credit look luck to
where I am in timing too you know when I
started tulips I was like I I genuinely
honestly thought it was gonna be just
like a blob and I was just gonna do it
as a side thing and I had no you know
and or no vision of what my job would
have been you know I would have figured
it out I have skills I could have you
know got a job anywhere but you know
it's like the first weekend I got back
from Japan I went to a Startup Weekend
which is like a tech related you know
entrepreneurship contests just because a
friend a friend of mine that you know
owns a co-working space in Hawaii said
hey you should come like you just
finished your MBA like you can come
pitch a business it could just be
interesting for you to understand how
entrepreneurship works and I went with
this idea because I just got back from
Japan doing the internship there and we
started this nonprofit the the
international tea farms alliance which
was like a network of all these farmers
from all over the world that had the
mission of creating the bridge
and so like I really thought I was just
gonna be like a liaison for that
organization and just blog for them and
just advocate for them I didn't really
think that I would build like a real
feasible supporting business for myself
and I partly done that but you know I'm
still working at it and there's been a
lot of encouragement along the way to
you know keep me working on it so that's
why I'm still at it
but like genuinely I really thought I
was just gonna be like a blogger and
that this would just be a side thing but
you know first it was the farmers when
they had told me that the nonprofit was
not sustainable which is a very common
conversation that's had in the nonprofit
world that you know there's just not a
funding source there's not an energy
source to keep the motivation running
they said you should start a for-profit
business and I said no now the tea
business is not it you know it's it's
the US market is not ready for it I
wouldn't be able to do it I don't have
the resources or the capital to do it
but they the farmers were the ones that
actually planted that seed it wasn't my
idea it was not
intention again I wanted to just be a
blogger you know but you know that that
Startup Weekend that I did one of the
judges was actually a venture capitalist
and he just like immediately gravitated
towards what I was saying even though it
was like those very far off like hippie
thing that I was talking about he was
like do you know the customers of these
products can you verify your
relationship with these suppliers can
you explain to me the pain point of
these suppliers the farmers you know and
you know I was able to easily do that
those were questions that were like very
relevant and easy for me to answer and
he says you are exactly what we like to
invest in and I was like what I was like
he's like yeah we like to invest in
companies that are bringing you know
traditional analog businesses online
that's our specialty and he says there's
no other business more analog than tea
and you know like this has been exactly
you know kind of the pitching or the the
investment pitch of several different
tea related technology companies such as
to forea and tea box you know is that
you know tea is this like very kind of
ancient business that needs to be
brought online so yeah I love this both
my guests at my tea party are are off
screen but that's how it is it's Friday
there's no rules you can yeah well
you're getting more water I can tell so
no cool that means you're gonna drink
more tea yes sir and who's the other one
yeah yeah I think Jeremy had to take a
call or something and that's fine I hope
it's a big order because you know that's
good for business
where's Jeremy at I mean what's his
business so he has an online tea shop
called exalted teas and he's based out
of Terre Haute Indiana
hi charity good to see you 6 a.m. in the
Philippines
you know charity yeah you know she's I
don't know charity I don't know if I I
know some confidential information so I
won't share it but yeah she's in the
Philippines very yeah cool I love people
that are passionate about tea ready like
prepared to you know take some risk and
do some cool new stuff does she what
she's an Instagram she's watching from
Instagram who else is there so on zoo
I'm charity Nana if you want to join the
video call we're actually on zoom and
the link the link I'll type it in for
you so you can actually come but maybe
she'll come that'd be so cool weekend
over there it's 6 a.m. she says yeah yep
there and she's jet writer is she just
crazy
maybe that she's just an early riser
some people are like that Wow
so that's the link charity if you want
to join our zoom call just go there go
to that link and then you'll pop right
in and Adam Sachs and Jeremy Welch or
we're all three of us are doing a tea
together so you can come join us and
we're just chatting but I I just posts
alive on Instagram unfortunately it's
just the view of oh she's gonna come
didn't that nice that's
so yeah like my whole work was really
like luck right place right time and
like I don't think that like had I had
this kind of vision five years ago and
tried to start a company like I would be
anywhere near where I am right now you
know so I think that I mean and this
whole like pandemic I think is only
accelerating you know the yep this is
your guilts to I mean correct me if I'm
mom like in many ways you're built to
like if not maybe not necessarily thrive
but certainly provide and feel a yeah
well I was like really fortunate in the
beginning that I was able to raise some
capital like that investor you know like
had helped us get some money so I was
able to hire some very skilled people
that helped get off the ground you know
oh you Jeremy I muted you and then I'm
you to do and then now you're muted
again so just letting you know oh yeah I
didn't know if I was charity that's fine
if you have no video that's fine we'd
love to hear your voice would be nice I
don't have in you know so charity from
my charity in the Philippines who she
saw us on Instagram and I invited her to
come here no but she says no video at 6
a.m. so that's understandable at 6 a.m.
in like last minute how do you expect
someone to turn their resume video but
yeah I mean that's I think that's like a
constant challenge and this seems to be
like a kind of revolving conversation
with all of these like live tea sessions
though that I've been doing with
different industry friends
is that you know tea is definitely a
passion project and it's hard to make
money mm-hmm and it's you know it's even
harder to like have an empowered staff
that you can pay well you know I I know
very few companies even like the highly
regarded ones that pay their employees
you know comparable to you know other
industries mm-hmm that's why I say like
to Adrian resigned to the I mean the
type of work that I'm doing now because
like yeah I may not be selling a highly
personalized curated analog like yours
but um but I'm making and I'm
compensated better than I ever have been
yeah but if you're doing the same job
like stable well-paying work in the tea
industry is something that I can
appreciate in a very profound way
because I had come out from under me
when I left Starbucks and it was I mean
this was the sixth position for which I
was recruited before I finally got an
offer so it's like you know I was at the
point where it's like I don't know what
more I'm going to be able to do in the
tea industry that actually allows me to
to make somewhat of a living so you know
finding my way into this and so yeah but
you know like even for the role you do
if you were doing that role for an oil
company or for even coca-cola you
probably would be paid paid even more
you know what I mean absolutely that's
what I meant to say that even like big
tea companies like when I worked for Ito
in I was not
paid what I should have been paid but I
was ok with it you know like I was just
happy to be working for a product that
wasn't poisoning people cuz like all of
the jobs I had before I even the the
organic certified companies and and the
other like health food companies that I
worked for I felt like I was poisoning
people and yeah you know I paid a lot
more but you know what at least to me
that's kind of the crux of what I was
quoting in that article like in terms of
like people not being connected to the
production what they consume is like we
place more value on these things that
really that are poison as opposed to
these things that as opposed to having
an appreciation and valuing what
actually versus us exactly charity
you're gonna turn your mic on you can
chat with us oh yeah Oh since last year
yeah I'm supposed to be going back soon
but well that ain't happening for who
knows when yeah so for Seattle yep
Portland tea first yeah you guys two
years ago three years ago
yeah we'll see maybe Northwest team beso
might be my first experience what's the
word I'm looking for first back in the
US and over a year.maybe if it still
happens that is it has it been for you
is is the situation pretty calm there
everybody staying home calmly or is
there protesting or what's the sentiment
[Music]
well the quarantine is like a stamp home
only one person from the family is
allowed out of the fan out of the house
once a week to buy groceries all other
things are closed and this person that
goes out has have a pass from the local
community and if you don't get the pass
you're not allowed in the grocery our
public transport is closed or stopped
and food supplies they're having issues
keeping up the supply and demand because
workers just can't get to work they're
not allowed out of their front gate
basically so I mean it's relatively calm
when I met but yeah I don't know kind of
like bracing for the worst here
eventually people are gonna go hungry so
that's us that's me so you say that
things are relatively calm where you are
is that does does that imply that it's
more rural perhaps and more like local
food production or um yeah I'm in a
rural spot but there
no hardly any local food production
around us I mean I tried to start our
own garden because we have some space
but the soil is this nasty red clay it
is nothing frozen it most of the
vegetables we are grown up in the high
mountain areas and some of it is coming
through some of it is not but we found
somebody that's willing to drive to a
certain point and another person willing
to drive it to another point and I think
they throw vegetables across the border
or across the checkpoints that's the
cross yeah I don't know how they do i
but but yeah so just it's an interesting
situation go through what you're
describing yeah you guys have it easy in
the US I know it's like listening to you
and I'm thinking of this friend of mine
who I got to know last year who and if
should posts a lot of Muse on Facebook
that are to the effective setting such a
dangerous precedent right now these get
over yourself and is no I'm listening to
you and I'm like yeah no I mean this
really puts nonsense like that intersect
mm-hmm also in the medical side there is
truly is a shortage of PPE so nurses and
doctors are like getting infected at
very high rates here so and like heads
of the
apartments of hospitals are dying
because of overexposure so I mean I
don't personally I don't want to even go
near a hospital in this even if I had to
have some emergencies non-related
decoded so we're just trying to sit on
our couches and not like you know fall
out of a tree or some other you know
reason for going to a hospital because
it's sort of yeah gonna get it's not
nice to go to a hospital when people
tell you stay healthy very stiff wait
for you I I guess yeah yeah how about
seven where's everyone in the US yes
yeah this call right now so Adam last I
heard you were in Puerto Rico did you
move back however many months so I
October I got a really big job offer
with a company called Martin Bauer it's
a German company that has u.s. sales
office in New Jersey a company I used to
deal with when I was at Starbucks and I
accepted that offer and the offer kind
of came quickly and out of the blue and
such that we and I first got a call
recruiting me for the offer right after
we did bought an apartment in San Juan
so long story short I'm here in New
Jersey and my family is still in Puerto
Rico and up until the the virus hit I
was going back there about once a month
and event down the road eventually the
ideas for them to move out here
you know obviously that has gotten
complicated in light of what you know
certainty surrounding it okay so yeah
I'm mostly here in New Jersey but I'm
also kind of you know pre pre coded I
was I was back and forth so so I run a
little tea
I guess online shop I'm based out of
Indiana so I guess I'm a mix most
representative of the tea culture world
and there's few of us but home clear
growing quicker charity how is how is
that your tea business doing are you
guys still still active and yeah I mean
we went online a couple years ago in
close the cafe so I kind of like didn't
have a lot of employees and expenses
left so I just don't keep employing my
employees that I have I don't have a
plan of firing them or letting them go
or furloughing or anything this has been
okay enough to keep everything afloat so
that's good awesome that's good to hear
yeah you're kind of just touching on
that maybe you heard like at the end of
that conversation earlier that we were
having about kind of the the challenges
of financially supporting yourselves and
employees on the business of tea it's
it's unfortunate because tea is such a
like a highly valued quantity yet the
business of it is such a challenge I
think it's this mortgage on forget
specialty tea is the big shower
because everybody this still comes to me
it says flavored blank where's where's
Earl Grey you know I think that's it's
just sort of getting over that hump of
try this tea and they'll never go back
Satine itself is a challenge specialty
tea is I guess extra tricky but I don't
know I sure in saying that even the
business of Earl Grey is still
challenged you know what I mean yeah
specialty tea the specialty tea is yeah
I kind of like you know when you're
dealing with like commodity level stuff
and ctc of Fanning's and and people
that's the stuff where people are buying
like really big volumes the the full
leaf side of it which is like much more
specialized yes I mean by its nature is
smaller and I was having a conversation
with my boss about this yesterday that I
used to do this and and you can spend as
much time as you spend selling a kilo of
specialty tediousness as you spend
something entertainer this of a CTC but
the the work involved with moving a
container at CTC and and the the the
payout from that I don't know I mean
that's what I like to challenge to it's
what I charge I look I just my take on
it is so the work is on my head if I'm
selling less than a container it's
actually more complicated
but I kind of look at it as like okay
like if I spend the same amount of time
on you know container versus a kilo
maybe looking at a volume is not
necessarily the right metric I think or
at least to a degree I think certainly
you and I can appreciate that like you
know we're passionate about the type of
tea that's in your catalog so it's like
even if I sell only a kilo of it if I
can if that kilo is something that can
sustain a business and this fine versus
versus like something an entire
container of it now I think to a degree
my boss's mind says like you know he he
also does have and I think you'll
appreciate this like he like one thing
that he is always thinking about is
trying to support the producers and if
he's if he's working with producers who
are producing hexameric volume of
Fanning's and that's what they're set up
to do then he wants to help them
continue to be able to sell that and not
be left with inventory so you know
there's my I look at both I look at both
as having a certain amount of value but
you know I get excited about obviously I
get excited a lot more excited stuff
this in here than done
and the full container moves in
contracting for a full year
yeah you just opened up a very deep
conversation that we could have I don't
know if we should go to that that route
but you know thinking about the
producers making a container a container
load of tea is a lot of work that's the
work I'm talking about you know not
necessarily the work that that the
broker does or that the the wholesaler
we're the importer does but you know the
the physical work and then also the work
on the environment to required to do
that those are the things that I'm
looking at is vastly different you know
one kilo versus a container I know
you're right like the sales of it like
that part that that work is about the
same amount of working time but from the
producers and it's uh it's a lot of work
you know we've we've gotten into doing
like larger Commission's and I feel bad
for the producers you know like they
they have to like pack a bunch of tea I
mean even the packing is just and
they're they're small teams they're not
huge team so you know they take on a lot
of work and then the cash flow from
those deals end up being the same if not
lower than the cash flow of just like
putting together like 100 kilo order of
really nice tees
would you know they'd rather do then you
know fill in a container yeah I mean if
you're a producer that's set up to do
smaller volumes and and it's a lot more
hands-on versus you know some of this
but we do a lot of volume out of
Argentina which is like throughout its
history in terms of team production is a
lot more mechanized yeah there it's it's
more work for them to sell like you than
it is to some more tea yeah that selling
a limited container load or a single
pallet is more of a headache over there
so do you guys do this every week Elise
or is just a daily thing or what it like
bring me up to speed I do this everyday
a charity okay all right well I have
other meetings at 6:00 a.m. as well so
no yeah you don't have to come every day
I like that's why I do it every day so
that like when people can participate
they will so
yeah I may get that you came in and
contributed I don't always have like the
group thing going on but I definitely
like broadcast some little show sorts
where you know obviously give industry
updates cuz that's something that's been
kind of missing the world T news finally
put out there they're released after
three weeks but you know there's been
kind of a lack of industry updates and
such so I try my's my best to dig up
what's going on or at least update on
what's going on in the logistics or the
industry of different countries and then
do a little education piece and then I
open it up and let people come in and
drink tea together but on Thursdays I
there's something a bit more structured
and a lot more social called tea talks
that my friend Sam in LA does and I
support it and that's what I broadcast
on Thursdays and that's usually a much
bigger group of it's a lot of tea
business owners which is really cool you
know it's like you can talk shop and you
know talk about things that you're
learning with your online marketing and
with your community building or it's
just tea lovers - but like yesterday we
had 14 people in the room together and
we'll like break out into different
breakout rooms and you know have have
more intimate conversations with each
other but this is like directly results
of you know the pandemic and you know
the isolation and everybody's feeling
right now so this is just a way of
keeping the community connected and and
then also helping businesses too because
you know even though like online stores
can still be open but I don't know if
online tea sales has really just gone
through the roof just yet so you know we
all kind of have to like become
innovative about how we get you know
bigger audiences buying tea online and
you know getting educated about tea
online and whatnot so I read
I don't know if you're familiar with
census research it's a new consultant
now yeah okay so I they released a new
set of data yesterday that was um it was
based off of surveys that he had taken
over the course of about two weeks with
with us with like T businesses like
mostly brick and mortar shops around the
country and apparently those that did
switch like those that were either only
online sales or switched to only online
sales saw their online sales go up by 7%
in since the pandemic sorry I would
agree with that it's a large number of
businesses that took this survey over
the course of two weeks this by no means
like the end-all be-all of what the
landscape looks like but that gives you
some indication of the house where the
things are right now what is happening
in the US with unemployment and like you
know a lot of people losing jobs or like
I mean is there now something down the
road where people now have some money in
their bank but like in a couple months
it's gonna be none none or so that you
don't hear a lot of news about that year
three weeks whatever it was is it's like
by far record and there have been
stimulus payments that have gone up
one-time stimulus payments that have
gone out to people up to $1,200 per
individual and like five or six hundred
dollars if for dependent
and that's India there's a small
business program that that the
government put together which was very
much in that on some large companies got
got a bunch of that money that was
supposed to but it was like supposedly
supposed to be earmarked for small
businesses so they've and the money ran
out released another one that's supposed
to create two small businesses that's
kind of those are some of the highlights
you know police and Jeremy you can add
to that yeah you're right like there
have been like Adam listed off all those
programs which have been faulty and have
holes in them you know a lot of people
haven't received their stimulus money
and a lot of businesses haven't received
that pay payroll protection so yeah
people are unemployed landlords like
have like some states or some counties
or jurisdictions have made like
addictions you know they're not like
supporting evictions right now so some
people are saved from that but even
though they're saved from their
evictions they're still gonna have to
pay their back rent you know two months
down the line or however long they get
that extension and the government you
know they're still thinking of new
programs of how to to keep this going
but yeah there is a very large group of
individuals that are looking at a very
uncertain future especially people
working in the service industry which
you know a lot of our companies support
you know a lot of our companies supply
to restaurants and you know even have
restaurants or you know service staff
themselves so you know it is it is hard
but yeah to the point of like online tea
sales increasing yeah of course like
I've even seen an increase just from my
friends or local people here in Vegas
just reaching out wanting to buy tea so
I have we have seen like a slight
increase but I'm
7% increase on the status quo that was
already there is like hardly enough to
support yeah you know what needs to be
supported with online tea sales but I I
think it still means that there's a lot
of room for growth if we get the online
community and let them know hey these
are a lot of really great incredible
local businesses that you can be
supporting and safely buy your tea
online so I think there's still more
work to be done in that in that area it
was it was just a total uncertainty
pleat uncertainty that everyone just
sort of saved money but you know the
whole notion of what's essential what's
non-essential Goods probably been
introduced to people for the first time
so now they have to really prioritize
and it's more likely that they're gonna
focus on things that they love the most
so I can imagine that the tea drinkers
will stay tea drinkers oh yeah yeah
ensure you to put things in perspective
I think risk 8% unemployment right now
the depressed we're at 25 percent during
the Great Depression that was where it
peaked so we're always off from it being
the worst but I mean 16 percent is
pretty damn bad as bad as it's been
since you know relevant to the the tea
industry is that there is now a an
ongoing conversation a conversation that
I've been trying to instigate for months
now and you know people I've been
respected to it but no one's really been
passing it along and keeping it flowing
and evolving and this conversation is
you know like Jeremy you brought up that
the thing of essential not essential
it's kind of related to this and there
was a really incredible article that
came out I think it might have been the
New York Times some restaurant owner are
very you know long-standing elite owner
wrote this incredible article about
our journey of closing her restaurant I
think it was at her I'm sorry if I so I
guess you read that article then I've
got I've got a cookbook that's I've read
the book as well she's he's dynamite
he's she's really remarkable yeah so it
is it's a very good article I'll go
ahead and share the article just so
doesn't it really beautifully written
it's just a nice reading but it hones it
on very important message about the
instability of the hospitality industry
even before kovat and that we were
working in a system even though chefs
and and restaurant tours were raving
about you know all their openings and
how great you know like the craft food
movement the craft cocktail movement is
doing underneath everything no one was
really talking about how unstable it was
and you know two days into a shelter in
place or locked down or whatever you
want to call it restaurants were already
up in arms oh oh save us you know we're
on fire like GoFundMe and it's like wow
if we really had a stable foundation it
would have taken much longer than two
days for that to happen it would have
taken you know months for that to happen
and so that's what her article kind of
hones in on and Kevin Alexander who you
know used to write for Thrillist he
wrote a book
I also recommend that's about this exact
same topic but his book is at the full
full book and he kind of profiles
different food cities foodie cities and
kind of like their rise and decline
you know Portland San Francisco even
Tennessee and Chicago like all of these
like really fast-growing hipster foodie
scenes over the past decade and so he
was one of the first people to kind of
bring it out but not like brought a lot
of light to me because that affects our
business because we supplied tea to
these places and a lot of our businesses
like our tea shops and and the tea
brands that we love like we may love
them for their curators and their tea
knowledge but like
bread and butter of their business the
backbone of their business is wholesale
to restaurants like that's what keeps
them alive and so if these specialty
restaurants don't reopen after this
pandemic is over which the article you
know really highlights is that you know
we really have to think clearly about
how you know not only to deliver food to
people but how are you gonna get tea to
people cuz a lot of people get access to
TB it iced tea or tea bags or however
they get their tea they get it in the
hospitality you know how are we gonna
get it yeah it's gonna be a really
interesting you know kind of evolution
and growth for for the hospitality
industry yeah the the the best line in
that article for me and and charity if
you look at my Facebook feed this up
it's like one of the more recent things
I shared I shared last night so it's
another place you can find it um she
said something to the effect of like the
virus was like the for the restaurant
industry was like the the surgery or the
appendectomy that we suddenly needed to
get when we were uninsured so it's like
the the rug coming out from underneath
the hospitality industry and and I think
to your point Elise like there Todd like
they've talked a big game and talked
about how they've grown and been so
successful because they've reached the
point where they just kind of accepted
there they're sort of tenuous success
and slim margins as like the status quo
and that's the way it's going to be
until like you know until our culture in
our country values food is a form of
community and connecting and nourishment
as opposed to like a monetized
capitalistic commodity which is like she
touches on that toward the end
this article talking about this this
notion of monetizing customers and how
alike that's just is an Optima to the
core of what her restaurant has always
been until there's like a consciousness
over that and like this is the reality
of running a restaurant slightly like
before I left CIO the last time it's not
charity the person I was talking her
because I wanted to start a cafe and I
was interested in in like sourcing tea
from her and you know if it were another
type of business I'm sure it with it a
lot easier for me to find investors that
were been interested that's that's the
the risk in the end the the resistance
that you can if you if you take a moment
to scratch the surface and study and
learn about the restaurant industry you
can see that but if you're just someone
you know it's interesting to me to watch
some of these interviews with Restaurant
tours happening meet you know how these
interviewers are just they have no idea
have no idea that this is the reality
they just take the restaurant industry
for granted and having worked in it for
so many years like I've seen how people
are like that you know that they're like
that if they tip if they tip let's make
the sentence as a routine that they
don't have they don't understand that
when you tip that low in light of where
minimum wage has not moved then it's
hard for the people in that world to
make a living I couldn't go on about
this for a while yeah okay curious about
this because you obviously know a lot
more than I do but I was talking to a
friend the other day and he had a
restaurant out in California so he was
given the option you know he had to
close but he was giving me off
to do to do takeout service yeah and he
said he couldn't do it because he would
actually take a loss every day he did it
so he had so even though the state was
acting like altruistic and say well
we're still gonna give you the
opportunity for uh you know for some
sort of financial support he said we've
been the loss so he had to shut down
completely when he was talking about
once the restaurants open up again the
idea that the customers are just gonna
snap back and it's gonna be a full house
every night it's not gonna happen
so here's yeah and he's sort of stuck
because you know it's like all the
concessions that the stakes and the
government made to keep him have some
business would actually be detrimental
to him if he'd follow through with it
yeah how common that is is it just shut
down entirely or some of them can some
of them sustain themselves but their
restaurants either have a business model
where converting to only takeout service
actually to work I've got a friend in
Dallas too late I'd say you know maybe
50% of her business was takeout to begin
with so pivoting was not as complicated
for her as as many others and she only
did like two full sermon like tasting
menu type dinners a week so that you
know this and I've got a friend who has
another restaurant in Dallas that were
like a lot of their businesses through a
fish market and and catering and he's
also a marketing professional so like
pivoting was something that was feasible
for him but then
are people who unsure like your friend
and we're late
this is not built to sustain itself on
take-out well what's interesting what he
did he supplemented himself by offering
takeout for a lunchtime rush but all of
those customers were on lunch break from
their jobs and they've walked over to
his restaurant they picked up the food
because it a nice secondary source of
income but they're not working so
there's just you know so it's weird he
had it in place to help them sustain the
business but even that he couldn't fall
back on I mean there's basically like
there's one point toward the end of this
article in The New York Times because
she still lives so I guess either right
above or very close to her restaurant
and how she's like sitting in the empty
restaurant she's listening to the ice
machine like dump ice into the bottom of
the machine I'm thinking why do you even
have your ice machines it's like the
point I'm making is like there's a lot
of overhead associated with keeping the
lights on and if there isn't enough
revenue being generated which likely
don't have people in it if if someone
orders takeout they're not going to sit
there for an hour and order a couple of
bottles of wine you know they are gonna
have a set order they're gonna show up
they're gonna pick it up and it's not
going to be continual and the volume is
going the volume of people ordering
takeout depending on the type of
business I mean some people might not
want that type of food for take-out
there certain food that like I'm more
inclined to order for take-out and other
types of food the main channel that are
supporting this
for take-out such as uber eats and post
mates you know tape you know such a such
a big cut from their orders so yeah it's
kind of a lose-lose situation and you
know like I if I was a restaurant owner
I would just choose like your friend you
know but I know several restaurants are
choosing to continue going at a loss and
I feel like it's it's like a marketing
thing so like they're providing to the
community and a lot of restaurants are
actually like giving free food out like
they're not even trying to make money
they're just like it's a marketing
opportunity community building
opportunity to you have those resources
you have those overhead things already
going off but they're working their
asses off because yeah it's just like
the owner and their wife you know like
banging it out maybe one employee there
helping them out and they're there
working everything to get it going but
it's keeping the relevance you know like
every news outlet in every city is
definitely listing off all the
restaurants that have takeout and all
the restaurants that are supporting you
know our our frontline you know workers
and and then also you know people in
need so yeah it's it's not a winning
there's no there's no financial winning
in in hospitality right now maybe the
fast food restaurants are doing well
[Music]
drivers me I don't know you know I don't
I don't know that like any businesses
you immune to this you know my
brother-in-law he's a ER doctor in st.
Louis Missouri and um he's like almost
head and he had to reorganize and
schedule because he had sort of an
excess of doctors because surgeons and
um friends all these specialists they
don't work the ER they take all these
elective surgeries with people and so
they're not being paid as well because
all electives are being cancelled normal
visits doctors aren't happening and but
yet hospitals still have these people on
payroll
so basically said his hospital is also
losing money probably doing okay I see
that Walmart parking lot so full every
time I tried yeah but I mean that's you
know man is on so yeah but you know like
oh I was saying this an industry I
picked the other day I saw coca-cola is
that 25% reduction of capacity of what
they're usually at so I was always
thinking oh yeah coca-cola okay just
like that are probably doing well you
know people are still going to Walmart
and getting getting those those luxuries
or you know those those enjoyments and
they're like those cheap enjoyments in
life but because of all of the no
concerts and then I'm sure to a certain
degree like no self-serve drinking in in
fast-food restaurants like their volumes
are significantly lower right now yeah I
mean I won't go into great detail but
yes foodservice is a huge part and it's
stressing me out a little bit because
you know we've got some of our biggest
clients deuce who most of their business
is through food service and I'm talking
like the McDonald's like you know we
don't sell it directly to McDonald's but
we've got clients who salted the
McDonald's of the country and when
McDonald's just like buy between buying
like closer to 20 percent of what they
normally buy then you know we've got
clients saying hey can we push our
contracts out like much further than
would make you comfortable
and it's like well shit like how are we
going to
make that work you're right charity it
is it's affecting everybody anyhow but
no way to build from there that's what I
always like to like bring into these
conversations that we have is like it's
important to identify the negatives and
and and be in touch with the realities
but then the same time we can find the
opportunities like this is a good
opportunity for people they're cooking
more at home and they're struggling
financially more so they're having to
like really evaluate ok where are my
values in life like you know I only have
this much money right now and I need to
save some because I have no idea where
we're gonna be six months from now or
eight months from now so you know like
let me let me figure out what I really
value in life and I think that that's an
incredible opportunity for a lot of
positive change to happen so yes I mean
it's like what it's saying earlier it's
just like everybody is being introduced
for the first time listen this this is
an essential good this is non-essential
and it's probably something they never
really even processed before so yeah it
could be could just be reorganizing the
priorities
whatever you savor the most whatever you
enjoy the most that will always stay
with you so I can understand cope
getting knocked down unless they're
trying to save money and they're
downgrading to like Sam's choice code
saving the extra fifty cents but but I
think it's just people who realize it's
not necessary or hopefully that's what
they're realizing and places to whom
they fell down so I mean you know you
don't have you know
your business even if you're a
restaurant that hasn't shut down and is
fitted to the speaks to what your friend
was dealing with as a pivoted to take
out you know if you're buying enough
soda to sell people enough people who
are just wearing takeout versus people
who are coming in from 11:00 a.m. to
midnight every day the volume is going
to be significantly lower and when
you're thinking about the fact that
people may not be interested in buying
hope from you if they're matters to a
restaurant they can just buy it from a
convenience store instead for like a
fraction of the price and buy like a
whole bottle of it there then it's like
how much hope do you really need to
order for the restaurant and that means
that code takes a hit on their business
because the volume would demand for
their volume that's not where it was so
yeah I don't think it I think it's I
think there may be some degree to which
people are reasoning their values in the
way you're framing it but I think that's
I think that has a minimal impact
compared to just the the practical
implications of interrupting with supply
chain to the degree that erupted I think
it's it's best to be as optimistic as
possible really realistically is you
know word people a habit and the
question is is this an extreme enough
happening in your life to change your
habits we don't know that yet we won't
know that until it plays out but we in
spoil approached enough to add fur for
our leaders and yeah but it's it's hard
to predict so yeah stay optimistic but
don't don't become delusional
yeah I'm say I'm in my I'm hopeful more
than hopped in history my hope gets
tested a lot especially this morning
when I read about these comments about
injecting disinfectants into our bodies
I heard that I don't exactly know I saw
something on Twitter this morning
Clorox advising people not to like drill
ingest their product or something but
really underneath
I didn't what's the story the u.s.
allegedly press briefings their
propaganda more than 30 seconds
yesterday he was encouraging people to
inject themselves with disinfectant as a
way to shiver hear themselves from the
coronavirus Horrocks and various
companies and doctors had to say do not
do this you will die if you do this
great gone to that delusional point
Jeremy so I'd only gonna come from over
optimism yeah it's hard to sort of
straddle that line well you you heard
what happened with our mayor of Las
Vegas right it was that the one where
she offered to be
the control group yeah well yeah she
offered all of us to be the control
group yeah so there's a whole bunch of
like Hunger Games means they made the
Las Vegas community and it's just it's
just it's kind of like how would you
travel internationally and people ask
you oh you like Trump he must be like
Trump is that all Americans talk like
him and act like him is the same thing
you know a lot of LasVegas are like hey
we're not all like her and like we do
you know our governor though is on a
completely different page and the thing
that's really funny is that Las Vegas
City Limits is is a very interesting
thing so like the strick that you guys
know as Maggie this is actually
officially not part of the city of Las
Vegas so that woman has no control over
the strip which is like majority of the
economy that we're talking about
reopening she's very insistent that we
need to reopen our businesses here in
Las Vegas and that you know people
aren't working so that you know there's
some validity to that of course you have
people aren't working but there's a
reason why and you know even if we go
off of this stay-at-home order and go
back to work there's gonna be no
tortoise to come support it so it's kind
of it's it's like your friend that's
gonna be losing money every day that
they're open the payroll there's not
gonna be enough business to support it
so it's just like it's really crazy that
she'd go on to national news and and go
on this rant you know because this is a
lot of it doesn't make sense and is
actually very disrespectful to not just
to the people that are fearing so like I
think that's a big problem that like
keeps revolving in my head is like there
is this kind of split between the people
that think that we should all go back to
work and like this is just like the flu
and that we gotta go back to work and
give life back to normal versus you know
the other side of like I want complete
isolation and and a lot of the
perception is that like this the group
of people that are like wanting face
masks and are wanting people to stay at
home are exclusive
motivated by fear in those decisions and
I don't think so you know cuz like I'm
kind of on that backside like if I think
about where I am in that spectrum you
know even though my business is
struggling I'm I'm happy that has hustle
my ass off to figure out how I'm gonna
survive I am on the side of supporting
you know the decision of containing this
and staying safe at home and just being
humble and quiet for a bit out of
solidarity not out of fear I'm not
worried
in fact I think it's possible that I
already had it you know I went to go get
blood at the very beginning of this and
they never used it and I have like I'm a
universal donor like my blood is usually
used like this when I give it but they
never used it so it means that my you
know cousin wouldn't get blood they test
your red blood cells to make sure that
you don't have any kind of infection or
something and they won't use your blood
if you're sick or something even though
I wasn't sick you know but there's a lot
of people that that have had it and
didn't have any symptoms so it's very
possible that I already had it but like
so yeah I'm not afraid of it
but I I do want to support that
solidarity of supporting the community
and so I think it's like it's also
coming from a face place of here if you
want to reopen all the businesses and
completely kind of backtrack all the
work that we've done over the past month
and have to you know try to contain it
well if there's ever been a real because
everything is so politicized I don't
think we've ever actually had the time
to have an honest conversation about
this or how pandemics work no matter how
well we containment now is there's most
likely gonna be like a second wave in
the fall and another way from next
spring you know about like how how it
works and how we can anticipate this but
everything is now what's happening right
now
and without that conversation about well
let's talk about what's gonna happen
later in the year or next year I um it's
like I know I know Indiana University
they're already making contingency plans
to not open up the school next year I
mean they're already anticipating that
the next year is going to be all online
so it's it's hard to sort of I don't
know you know it just seems like
everything is so politicized that we
can't ever really get to the root of
what to expect next
you're right I think even more so than
where we were before all this happened
like we're even more separated in the
the separation are like multiple yes I
disagreed on the separation point the
poll number if you look closely I read a
lot of ideas on paying attention to poll
numbers a lot by virtue of that the
support for like or for the actions
governor's are taking on the state level
local leaders such as mayor's in general
and the support for the broader state
home shelter in place measures is
unusually bipartisan consider
considering like how polarize the
country has been over the past I mean at
least over the past four years you know
depending on money if you want part of
you like the degree of polarization that
was before then there is like based on
those numbers we are actually less
divided now before this pandemic in
quite some time
unfortunate they like
it's tragic that like these protests
that are going on are giving a lot of
air time on the media that you have you
believe that yes we are more divided
we're not these protests are small
they're getting a lot of attention give
like protests of that size for like dis
causes got that amount of attention then
you know you might wonder but they never
do
it's the these protests were well
coordinated by like my conservative
group I'd like large conservative groups
like associated with people like Betsy
DeVos in debt and the Koch brothers so
it the the broader poll numbers actually
tell a different story
I'm kind of curious and that article
does he have a breakdown state-by-state
which article that did the 538 the
polling I'm I'm just it's like Indiana
for an example some of them is the most
recent article every Friday or they they
do like some polling highlights from the
meet so there's one that was out today
and it speaks some of that okay remember
what the headline is what the lead is
but I guess it's one of the ones from
today because this is it's like certain
states as I go know here Holcomb's
Republican but Republicans are kind of
revolting against it so it'd be
interesting to see like state-by-state
went ones are yeah I'm just curious
let's see if it broke down and see lies
you know which states or which cities
are particularly like people are
revolting against their own leaders in a
way
that they they looked it so there's a
different article it's not part of the
Polish materials where they talk about
and this article kind of pissed me off
because I thought it was not really
focusing on the most it mentions the
important issue in passing in the
concluding paragraph which I talked
about how conservative groups have
organized these protests not they're not
grassroots by any means the article
talks about the question that the
article try to look at is our state's
where these protests are happening are
their unemployment numbers more or less
impacted by in depth trying to look at
okay to what degree were these protests
driven by the impact of the endemic
unemployment and I'm just I'm looking at
that on my guess like a useless premise
like they are not driven by by
unemployment they are driven by people
like that suit Abbas who were funding
these projects it is very viable and
they do mint they do bring that up from
the article but it's like I see in the
concluding paragraph hmm yeah my
comments before weren't actually in
relation to those protests I this is
just like anecdotal from from my own
community as well so like I don't really
know how these things are happening cuz
I I just I just know like there's a lot
of conflict happening even among friends
even among people that identify on
similar parts of the spectrum the
political spectrum about you know like
social distancing and you know how
strict should we be about our social
distancing and you know like a business
that airs a live stream where all of the
artists are in one space together
you know there's backlash there's like
people like getting up in arms and like
and and and those business owners are
saying oh well you know like I'm not
going to cater to your fear like you're
just responding to that in fear and it's
like well that itself is fear too you
know wanting to be so defiant that you
know oh I talked to my doctor friend and
he says that we don't have to be worried
were safe here it's like yeah sure fine
but like out of solidarity like we
should you know I'll be supporting each
other in this you know that's why I make
these things because you know like I
want to support people that are isolated
completely isolated like yeah it's
completely not associated at all with
political spectrums so yeah I get that
point about these these these conflicts
not being are not the conflicts but the
these different orders are completely
nonpartisan which is great you know
because it means that the different
people within the political spectrum are
actually agreeing with each other on
stuff that's good but the division I'm
talking about is like not dealing at all
with where you are in that spectrum okay
different people have different
perspectives on it and becoming very
vocal I'm like fighting with each other
and like really catty and like caring
like each other you know what I mean
interesting I don't know I mean maybe
where you are Adam because there is such
a long-standing you know kind of being
me at the center of the biggest outbreak
maybe there's a bit more solidarity and
understanding I know that there's
probably a lot of like you know tension
and I've read about a lot of like racial
hate crime type of stuff but like here
we're not dealing and maybe in where you
are Jeremy we're not dealing with like a
huge group of people that are getting
cases and dying from I mean there are
there is
but it's not as big yeah our leaders are
telling us that we need to stay in and
so a lot of people are having issues
with that and it's creating that
division we haven't been hit we had I
think a B I don't think we've been had I
hit a hundred positive cases and we
won't have five deaths in our county
but Indianapolis got it bad but it's
just like people are just tracking it if
any city was dependent on mass transit
like that that seems to be a common
denominator from the cities that got hit
the hardest Terre Haute just doesn't
have that Las Vegas that's kind of an
issue - you know transit the buses are
still running although that's still
running and you know something else I
saw like I go burning in the
neighborhood and you know like even that
I don't wear masks and I see people
giving me looks not all of them but some
people give me a dirty look like oh how
dare you be out here I thought I masks
on and so that's why I understand that
conflict people have different
sentiments on it but then yet like every
other house has a like landscaping
company parked out front this is a
freaking desert and like landscapers
were considered essential workers that
you know can be adding extra vectors
into our neighborhoods yeah I just like
yeah there was another article that came
out kind of at the beginning of all of
this that the writer you know really
stressed that there needed to be a lot
more international harmony between you
know these different jurisdictions about
how to handle this and a bit more you
know commonality everybody's dealing
with it differently and it's yeah it can
create conflict yeah a little attitude
should be let's get through this first
and then let's find blame that
we're doing when we're trying to do both
at the same time or just were conflicted
if we just focus on getting through it
the best that we can we can reassess it
absolutely and they'll have to be redone
it'll have to be looked into but let's
kind of hold off on that it's just that
when wind up when we're at two different
places at the same time we're never
gonna have any particular focus are we
looking for the truth or are we looking
for someone to blame you know so we're
all hoping let's just you know get
through this as best we can
yes we're all hoping we're gonna lean
that directions but it's been going on
for two months yeah unless you were in
the Seattle area
we were mid March so we've only been at
it for like six weeks when the governor
actually said no started closing down
restaurants yes in the same year I think
I think I mean arc City is very much
United and they don't care this is very
guys well I think the people that I know
best the people I know well are all
taking this seriously but you go outside
the streets are packed stores are packed
very famous so it's interesting because
these are very nonchalant people but we
had any sort of case spikes the
hospitals aren't overrun I mean it's so
it's kind of you're getting mixed
messages yes I'm out and about living my
life and nothing's happening in my city
so why are you instilling the fear that
someone else has in me
to give you perspective and contrast and
New Jersey is like going to bite and I
realized charity I'm speaking from a
position of privilege compared to where
you're at right now
but going to buy groceries is now
becoming increasingly stressful where
you know now the grocery stores they are
only allowing a certain number of people
to be in there at a given time and they
will not let you in unless you're next
so so you know wearing a mask is not
optional and be what you're saying about
it you know you go to places yeah yeah
here it's they make you like one of my
friends she went to the grocery store I
had to wait in mind outside for an hour
and a half because she has they only
allow certain amount in and then they
have to like stand outside like two
meters apart or whatever it's like I
don't know I haven't I've been outside
only one time outside of my house and
Lily and yard one time in less two
months so I don't know so I'm not sure
what is happening out there I'm not
really as relevant as I could be if I
was out all the time but yourself busy
some days it's like what am I gonna do
today and other days I have a lot to do
I don't know trying to like work on
whatever I can try to figure out how to
get food for our family and
a few people that live around us like
set up some group a group by kind of
thing of course it's all volunteer and
you know I'm like I don't want to make
money off of it just you know whatever
the cost that I pay is what I charge
people but yeah it's kind of what I've
been doing just trying to help wherever
I can
that's great yeah about your place and
went to earth in two months only one
time Wow when I can't believe that
you've only left your place one time in
two months yeah and if the lockdowns
been extended here till May 15th again
so yeah so I'm alone in my thoughts a
lot
are you drinking a lot of tea uh
actually not really cuz I my supply is
dwindling where I'm at so and I can't go
like shipping is getting a little hard
to ship stuff so yeah so trying to like
conservatives much as you can
I still drink it everyday but yeah
ration it so yeah I have a lot of supply
in the US but it doesn't really help me
right now so well interesting
perspective you know we definitely have
it a lot a lot easier here so enjoy it
enjoy the freedom the little freedoms
you have you can go for a run yeah
you're in the city if you try to even go
for a run
the police tell like yell at you and
make you go back to your apartment so
imagine if you I mean I can't imagine if
I was in a thousand square foot condo in
the city like for three months and not
allowed outside my door into the hallway
that would be even more crazy yeah
there's nowhere in the u.s. that's
that's like that I wonder how it is in
Europe you know like I know a lot of
videos I got viral of people in their
apartments but I wonder if yeah even
going out into the street is is against
the rules some places
that's incredible Wow cuz like even
China didn't even have a lock down that
hard trying to just had surveillance you
know like they were just you got a green
light or red light or a yellow light if
you're allowed to leave your place or
not but if you have a green light you
would be allowed to leave your place and
you know go pick up food or do whatever
you need to do but I think Wuhan had a
pretty strict but I think right now
China's solution is to not test people
so you have zero cases I don't know if
that's a provocative statement in itself
but that's just what some people have
said numbers don't make sense
someone someone's not being accurate
that's that's the gist of it you know
either
either they aren't or other people
aren't you know there's a lot of room
for error and then the numbers that's
true with most things somebody there's
at least one person line someone's
always lying isn't it figure out who
or like you said earlier Jeremy maybe it
doesn't matter who leaked let's just
figure this out now like let's just
solve the problem now and maybe later we
can figure it out that's not a deal
[Music]
that's the SS the action yes that's what
we hope is happening but that's really
not what's happening so lease are all
travel plans for you put on hold like
you usually do a lot of traveling oh
yeah a rally and your business is
surviving or like yeah it's it's
surviving but it's evolving its
struggling but evolving so I'm doing a
lot of these these live and I did that
virtual T Festival which you know was
quite successful we had nearly 6000
people tune in at some point throughout
the day and we're gonna actually
rebroadcast it again on Thursdays so if
you want to check that out I think it'll
be like really late at night for you or
early in the morning for you but yeah so
the reason why I was pursuing that was
you know not so much for marketing or
whatever but I I just like kind of
wanted to learn these these tools these
virtual tools for broadcasting engaging
interactive experiences around tea and
ultimate goal would be to to offer those
types of services you know to companies
that are looking for help and that you
know a lot are you know I so like patron
is doing a lot of stuff virtual stuff
the tequila company but could definitely
use some improvement like 100% you know
so companies like that I'd like to
potentially work with you know to help
them create more engaging experiences
with their audiences and and keep
themselves relevant and you know active
the virtual space while this is going on
and let that be kind of a source of
support for myself
yeah but yeah the business is definitely
like it's not completely dead like I am
getting some orders just like yeah the
my clients that are doing online sales
you know they are they're ordering
slower but they are ordering still but
yeah you know I'm also anticipating the
worst as well you know and trying to
prepare for that but definitely not
buying any tea and so those are like the
really hard conversations that I'm
having right now I was with the
producers because the you know they're
hitting me up and like hey we can
produce the small growers you know wanna
send us leaf and um you know should we
buy it and make tea and I'm like well
you know that's that's totally up to you
and the only information I can provide
to you is that the market you know is
significantly slower and you know lies
folks are still sitting on stocks from
the last harvest as well so you know
it's like this is the time to make some
really hard decisions about you know
investing in the future and how we
should invest in the future but yeah I'm
just trying to get more clever with the
online I've been working with a lot of
my my clients trying to help them do
more interactive social media and
engagement with the community and I mean
that was also the point of the virtual
tea festival to was just to you know get
some exposure and also practice to you
know practice how to use zoom practice
how to do broadcasting practice these
tools I look forward to Jeremy what'd
you come up with yeah okay I just
startups in please it really is like
like I've been talking to to people
around like you know so what have you
been doing what have you been doing
and no one's really been sort of after
this angle by keeping groups alive
online scream like you know everybody is
like okay all these clubs and all these
groups and all these classes that I've
met well we'll see you in a couple of
months there's really little motivation
on there and to actually keep them going
and I don't know if they knew that it
was it's simple enough to do it online
so hopefully as matter sort of getting
to them and at least keep that
interactivity going so our friend Joe
who usually comes to these he commented
on Facebook saying that in South Dakota
there there potentially gonna start
opening up restaurants by next week so
that's good for him that's interesting I
hope not in Sioux Falls er yeah one
particular yeah pork factory that's a
mess isn't it how Joe describes had any
describe something could like that we
have Sioux Falls and everywhere else
[Music]
[Laughter]
well there is a nice conversation really
nice to connect charity especially thank
you so much for coming
yeah I'll try to come on board now that
I know this isn't always around the same
time or change times yeah it's the same
time and actually I tomorrow will be my
first day that I'm gonna take off I
decided to not do it on weekend and snow
so I'll be back on Monday but yeah I've
been doing this I think like 40
two days straight you know for like
almost two hours every day so I'm gonna
start you myself a little break which
I'm looking forward to but yeah it's the
same time and then the link that I gave
you at the same link as well so and what
time does it actually start so it starts
at like 2:30 Pacific so I'm sorry I
don't know that maybe that's like okay
that's like 5:30 my time do usually
charity on Wednesdays Thursdays I do
it's Saturday morning here so I mean I
think going to bed at like 8:30 now
because I have like nothing to do so I
the Sun does wake me up because it is
bright so yeah yeah I'm I don't know
got it is being an early riser and early
to sleep is nice I usually don't get to
sleep until past 2:00 in the morning so
that's a different schedule so I don't
know I feel better when I do it I'm
gonna go to bed early yeah no it's good
I also feel better too but for some
reason I'm always not so yeah so anyways
maybe I'll see you guys on Monday or
Monday your time yeah thank you so much