Friday, July 3, 2020 - Weird and Unique Teas

Video Subtitles:

cool background yeah there you go oh wow
don't call trees how'd you do how'd you
get over there so fast
oh really easy it's just you know beam
me up Scotty down daddy
oh that's funny yeah so weird T UT it's
a it's a fun Friday we could talk about
weird tea I don't know I was thinking
about that on the drive over like what
what weird tea have I drank or know
about I guess I'll let you start
cuz you know it was your idea okay
yeah what were you thinking well so with
maybe not weird tea but like a blended
matcha like different cultivars like but
and watch it usually is matcha powder in
the bowl and then a little bit of ginger
and a little bit of onion Oh Oh
interesting okay all right sorry I've
seen like blends where they add in
different ingredients to flavor it but
never onion onion and garlic yeah
and ginger cut no Oh ginger ginger and
garlic
yeah no ginger and onion ginger and
onion why don't you start some garlic in
there go all in good I haven't tried
that yet I want to try Georgia alone
you did that like you just did that like
at home yourself or was this like at a
restaurant or a tea shop this one in
Korea okay cool
they do a bunch of that kind of stuff
like savory interesting that's very cool
did you like it did you enjoy it yes
unless you put too much ginger in it and
it's just overpowering but you want to
put like just she graham him a pinch a
teacher I don't think if I was
anything I definitely would like err on
going heavier on the ginger than the
onion yeah that's true
the onion doesn't really show up unless
you put more into it Ben's like ginger
yes much a kind of overpowers the onion
and when it comes to whisking it it
doesn't really affect it at all which
kind of surprised me with ginger ginger
powder and onion powder or yeah okay
yeah not like chopped onions just like a
whole onion the onion it's a little
crunch that would be interesting that
you so you know like one of my strangest
discoveries and and you know kind of my
culinary adventure throughout the
pandemic you know I've been doing a lot
of cooking and learning actually
learning more about food which is great
and one of my like coolest discoveries
has been like not finely chopped onions
and salads like usually when I take
onion I like it finely finely chopped
like I I like the flavor of onion but I
just like I don't I don't know it's just
not my favorite like when I make a
hamburger I I don't like putting like
slices of raw onion in it you know I'm
not a big fan but I tried it out one
time I made like a cucumber salad and I
I just felt compelled to like cut the
onions into bigger pieces it was like
tomato cheese cucumber and and you know
coarse onion and I really liked that
flavor and so now I do it all the time
and it's like my favorite thing about
salad now but it'd be kind of cool to
like do that and then like coat the
onion in matcha and then put that into
the salad and be really interesting so
the onion soaked the onions
oh yeah cook the onion I just say Co in
the powdered watch I like not prepared
Oh Cody
yeah coated so
has like a green layer on the pieces of
the onion to sound rather than add that
umami to that onion crunch yeah yeah
onion powder and matcha not at least to
me doesn't can't exactly what do you
think so what did it taste like explain
that if it's not what what you think it
didn't taste like matcha with like that
onion taste which is just an onion dates
they said more no idea how to explain it
I think I haven't done it in years
yeah where I do ginger more often all
right well I'm gonna do it when it's
next you know next week
I'll bring some onion powder in and some
ginger powder I don't have any matcha
anymore well you know where to get some
right you don't worry yeah yeah down the
street of them at the farmers market all
right you know you know at the grocery
store what you should get you should get
some more gotcha you like it yeah I need
some it's on our website now you can
easily find it any time I will Terry
Terry mentioned about a matcha chia
pudding recipe that sounds that sounds
uh interesting like an overnight chia
with matcha I'm doing a there's like a
company here in Vegas that it's like a
software company that matches like chefs
so like when restaurants were fully open
like they would allow a restaurant to
create like a secret menu item and then
have like a special event and you could
buy tickets to the special events to get
the special menu item that they don't
usually have and it was actually a
pretty popular website but the pandemic
happened and they can't they can't
really do that
so instead with this web
does now is like works with the chef's
to make like a cooking kit and you like
pick up you buy it online and you go
pick up from the restaurant like a box
with all the ingredients and then you go
home and there's a Facebook live video
of doing a cooking demonstration enough
like the pasta or whatever like the
famous dish from that restaurant is so
like people can cook that restaurants
food at home and it's actually been very
popular too and so I asked you know my
friend Owens that website and I asked
her I said hat what do you think about
like a matcha a matcha you know set and
she's like I think that's a great idea
so like I'm gonna put together a box of
things and I'm gonna try to make it
where I could ship the box so like you
don't have to be in Vegas because
usually you have to be close to be able
to pick up you know they're perishable
ingredients so you have to pick it up
and cook it that night but I think with
the matcha like I don't think about
doing a crepe cake like cook along with
me create you know the crepe cake what
do you think I don't really good I'm
sure it's good oh my god it's so good I
grew her pancakes the crepes
that's me I mean they're not the same
thing but if I had yeah they're they're
similar in my eyes they're not the same
so probably like the strangest like
matcha concoction I've ever put together
like baked good I ever made was Jake and
Nick's birthday I made a matcha durian
cake I found horrible oh my gosh it's so
good it's so good cousin
Doreen yeah the flavors go really well
together yeah never thought it'd try
that
kind of all night I'm not a baker I have
friends that bake so I'll have them so
when I do like matcha baked items or
matcha items I usually don't like to
cook the matcha itself or if I do cook
the mantra like into the cake I like to
have some element to the recipe where
the macho's raw so that you get the
actual effect because I think if you
like if you bake watch into a cookie or
into a bread or something like it
downplays the effect of the matcha
especially if you're using like lower
grade like kitchen grade so I usually
like to have like the ceremonial grade
somewhere in the in the cake that's like
not cooked so either I'll put like a
really fat layer of sprinkled you know
all like you know what do you call that
sift the the matcha and I'll put a
pretty thick layer of the matcha so that
way even when you take a small slice of
the cake you're getting you know at
least a gram and a half of ceremonial
braid macho with your dessert so you can
feel good I you know durian also makes
you feel good it has some you know body
body high effects so that cake was a
nice cake the only thing is it gives you
a dirty and burps you know that you've
ever had that I it's been so long like
this had durian I have no idea if I it's
been like 10 years at least who know
maybe it's been five years cuz I head in
my friend's house I don't know I mean I
don't know if I get that burps but I've
heard about it yeah they stink but it's
a reminder you know yeah it's a reminder
of the goodness that you had anybody
that knows me knows I'm super into
durian like anybody that's traveled with
me whenever were in like durian fresh
durian country they know I'm gonna be
like a holder into myself and it's gonna
stink and I'm gonna be so happy oh this
tea is good this is the did you ever go
back and do the nominal tasting video
the Li family won the last video Oh half
of it you've done half of it so you you
haven't did you taste the tea's yet or
you just watched watched the beginning
part okay yeah
the the purple white one of the samples
in there it's really good that's what
I'm drinking right now I'll do that this
afternoon tea with me well oh yeah it's
at your house huh teri teri is asking
what durian is fruit it is a fruit yeah
it's a really interesting looking fruit
here I'll pull a picture up it has like
spikes it's like spiky kind of ugly
looking from me very interesting looking
from the outside and then the inside
this picture is good from the inside it
looks like I don't know it's hard to
explain but it has like a big seed pods
has big seed pods that are covered with
like a really soft custardy like that's
the best way to describe it custardy
sweet but stink like as soon as you like
peel off like the first thing like right
here they peel off the skin like
whenever it's not open they don't stink
you can hardly smell like if you you can
faintly smell it but you you don't
really smell it once you crack it open
old boy it smells like like sweaty feet
sweaty socks or cat litter so you know I
think different people have different
response to to the olfactory on that
I've never really smelled those things
on purpose well like I've gotten like a
durian shake
you know when you smelt that right yeah
but even that so that's frozen durian
like all durian in the United States
like you can find it mostly like in
China towns like it's a really popular
fruit flavoring ingredient and Chinese
like Southeast Asian cuisine you can
find it and usually it's like in the
form of like desserts or milkshakes or
something like that and but like in it
stinks till like when you get the
smoothie you can smell it but it's faint
compared to like the real fruit like
when they crack that first one open ooh
it smells good and tastes bad I mean I
like it tastes like it smells it tastes
so different it tastes like sweet
beautiful buttery custard just gorgeous
even the texture is nice too some people
get turned off by the texture because
it's kind of soft and slimy a little bit
that fruit but if you put like this
somebody you don't you don't sense the
texture at all it's just the sweet
flavor it's like a custard ice cream
milkshake so good but someone on
Instagram is asking what poor is do you
like and in the spirit of weird tea
let's go in that direction what is like
the weirdest pour that you like weirdest
yeah there's something very like weird
or odd poor old poor well you probably
have had funky poor yeah bad poor yeah I
don't like that much smell or taste even
I don't know what turns me off is the
fishiness I'm not into that fishiness
yeah yeah like that's the smell that you
usually want to stay away from like I
used to work in a sushi factory you know
like Costco houses big trays sushi
I used to work in the factory doing
quality control for for those trays of
sushi and we did a lot of raw fish
you know like tuna and salmon and and we
would receive a lot of it and I'd have
to quality-control check it and that
fishy smell like that's the first thing
if you smell it like any time I would
even smell it in the freezers or I'd
smell in the fridge like I'd immediately
have to like go into a protocol of like
checking each package to find which
one's the bad one
so like that smell for me was something
that was like a red flag you know and so
when I smell it in a tea I'm just like
no no thank you and then now that I
understand the industry and understand
why that's so you know like I definitely
don't want to drink the tea if you move
from pork to like Hunan nature I've had
some pretty cool ones what about that so
like I won't have a lot of experience
with hey cha like is it very common to
find like poorly processed hey child
like that like that that style that I
know there's probably deficiencies
everywhere but like that particular one
yeah you can you find a lot of bad ones
it's hard to find a good one unless you
have contacts or you know exactly where
to go so I mean good ones can be amazing
yeah
and then you've got the ones a big craze
at least early teens of this year twenty
Ness
they a big craze was scenting hey cha
with flowers like you wanted Jasmine
yeah
so with Lotus Oh interesting okay that's
kind of cool they should spend it with
durian No
[Music]
I'm full of all kinds of great ideas I
don't know that's a great idea
you watch it's in it's all about the
marketing Eric you watch I'm gonna do it
I'm gonna like I know I'm not into doing
send out tease but just because I'm
gonna do this particular one ya know
that one main trend
Centene he chose like like you know the
the hecho inside the the orange the
mandarins that that is the number one
top selling tea in China right now
I've heard that mm-hmm I don't know if
that's true it's true yeah true it's
true and it's like a huge industry and
we hardly see it here you know like it
comes here and there but most of it
that's being produced is super
commercial you know not very tasty but
it's trendy you know cuz it looks cool
and yeah it's like a little bit flavored
you know isn't truly that you're
supposed to like break a little piece
off the orange and put it in mm-hmm okay
I don't know no I don't know I don't
know I like I'm not into that tea you
know like that's another one of those
that the first time I tasted a sip of it
I was like yeah I'm never gonna have
this type of tea again but I've seen
okay so when I judge to that tea brewing
competition in Shanghai one of the
sponsors are actually not sponsored what
I'd probably was a sponsoring that it
was probably crooked but she was a judge
she was a judge and she was like the CEO
yes Patrick please come soon please
please please
she was a judge and she was a CEO of the
company like one of the largest
producers of those Mandarin teas and so
that's how she was explained to me how
fast market had been growing and it was
a top-selling tea and she had a student
that was competing in the contest and he
was pretty cool he was like he was like
the hip kid in the and
petition he was playing some like really
cool like obscure like tech house song
during his presentation not close no me
no no class no me I think that would be
you oh my god I can't wait till you you
compete in one of those competitions you
got Klaus Nomi while you're like doing
your like the sitch one kettles function
over uni but anyway her student you know
he had this like very interesting way of
brewing that tea like he exclusively
brewed that tea like he studied that
type of tea and I'm like what a sad tea
pass to be going down but it's cool
everybody's got their own path you know
I wonder I wonder where he is now I'm
sure he's expanded and you know drinking
other teens now but he was like he was
very interested in that tea and I think
he had actually like sought out her as a
teacher because he was so interested in
that style of tea but he brewed it where
he just had his pitcher his glass
pitcher and then a strainer on top and
he put the whole Mandarin inside that
strainer and that strainer and had like
very fine grading on the strainer so
like it would drip out very slowly and
he would just like pour just enough of
the hot water to like fill the Mandarin
and he was just pouring it super slowly
but it was like a pour over like coffee
like you've seen that in the coffee
shops where they've got the yeah you
know they pour over the coffee the he's
like doing it that but like even slower
and just like barely filling that
Mandarin and then like letting it slowly
steep and then it just dripping down and
then that's what he served yeah I was
like okay that's cool I like that I see
that yeah you wouldn't try that I think
I have a video of it I'll have to try to
try to find that video and share it with
you it would definitely be in the
archives that was a long trip I did and
there was like a lot of videos and
photos taken so well was that one year
you know 28 20 20
a 1717 spring 2017
oh that was a cool experience getting to
see so many different tea brewing styles
I like experimenting with tea steeping
Styles finding out what's good what's
really bad with interesting I have had a
weird poor type a cha in Korea that was
like pressed into a bowl so Eric there's
some bad news
Virginia she agrees that durian scented
hey cha is a good idea
oh maybe hey Cho it's worth a try except
depending on how big your pile is you
know what I mean either would the way if
you're gonna have like so they sent it
while they're fermenting it or they sent
it after the fermentation I would think
it'd be smarter for you to be sending it
afterwards because the fermentation
process is is really risky you know when
you introduce you introduce other
elements to it then then you're you know
you're affecting all of the the flora
yeah you're right I don't know from a
scientific perspective that's that's
what I don't feel like sorry I'm gonna
do like a marketing call
a really annoying marketing call cool
but yeah I should ask what they do it
probably it back there now that I think
about it I would think it had to be
because you don't you don't want
anything disturbing that process you
know no unless you want it I mean the
science is weird you know sometimes what
you think is gonna happen doesn't happen
in something different happens you know
so but then you wouldn't be able to
separate the blossoms out is it would
totally just like degree yeah right cuz
that's what it does that's what the
fermentation does yeah right yeah so I
don't know how you would use Dorian I'm
sure this way today well what I would do
is I would probably dry durian fruit
like you know like the solar dryer I
showed you that I've made where it's
like the trays and instead of having it
in the Sun cuz yeah you don't want the
tea in the the Sun it would it would
cook too much you could create the those
cycles of convection drawing convection
yeah just I'm gonna show a picture of
that solar dryer just so everybody can
understand what I'm talking about you
want to draw those troughs
[Music]
okay so I guess it's that's all we're
gonna get
so the you usually have it in the Sun
sorry Eric I don't know if your I'll
show you another time okay yeah right
now I'm showing it on the stream though
so like there's a vent in the back at
the bottom where the air comes in and
then it goes inside of this closed in
space where the air is captured and can
heat up it gets like hotter in there so
then the the heating air rises and as it
rises through these screened shelves
that has the fruit so I put the durian
on the bottom shelf and then put the tea
on the top shelf because then all of the
the moisture from the the durian goes
with that air like goes with that hot
air up and then escapes through a vent
at the top so it'll pass the tea and as
it passed the tea the tea will absorb a
lot of that aroma and then but I
wouldn't have it in the Sun because that
would cook the tea too much but if you
like if you put this system into the Sun
for a couple of hours
with nothing in it it'll create the
convection in there it'll naturally
create that that cycle of air coming in
and heating and going up and then you
can move it into the shade and put your
products inside and it'll still do the
job like even in the shade because like
the Sun itself is not like the heat from
the Sun it looks like in this photo it
looks it's a good hot day here and it
looks like the Sun is actually doing the
work but the Sun is not like the Sun
it's it's that air it's that air flow
that's actually doing the work
hmmm yeah that's cool get one you can
make one you know I have the plan yeah
that's what I did on my second Peace
Corps assignment so like I have like
this six page PDF that like explains all
the science of it and then it's got all
of the materials lists like if you were
to go to like the hardware shop and buy
all this stuff or you can even recycle
materials a lot of it you can recycle
you know unused when materials or
whatever and then it's got all the
mentioned then actually the dimensions
are unique to where you're located so
that was what was kind of interesting in
trying to explain in that PDF is that
like here's a general design but there's
like two pieces of wood like the
intersection at the top like the ankles
at the top that angle is supposed to be
like the perpendicular angle to your
your your latitude because that's the
Sun right oh you know what I mean so
like this one is this big thing and then
the earth is this small thing and so
when you think of the sun's rays coming
to the earth like they're coming at the
angle of where you are in the earth and
that's like that's like your your
hottest sun rays coming in or coming in
at that angle depending on you know yeah
so you want to catch that that angle if
possible so like in a solar energy the
solar industry they do that like when
they put solar on the roof or whatever
like they're gonna tilt the the panels
to get optimal sun exposure that was
kind of a hard thing for me to
understand how I was building that
project like trying to understand how to
explain that and like why is that angle
so important I'm like it's see-through
it's vinyl plastic see-through like why
does that angle matter but it really
does matter because like there's
friction like even if it's you know
unseeable like unmeasurable abouts like
there there's friction there and that
affects ya affects the process yeah
science
I said build one yeah you should do you
have like woodworking materials like
saws and yeah is that your dad your
dad's into building stuff yeah he does
coolie I could totally give your dad
that document I can actually for for say
Lewis I could figure out that angle and
figure out that cuz it's all just in
Sketchup when I figure out like how long
you need to cut the pieces of wood or
whatever and so you can make that angle
and Sketchup and whenever you sketch it
out then it'll tell you like how long
the pieces are nothing
that's a fun discipline software to play
with so fascinating you know cuz you got
to customize it you don't think of that
yeah so yeah we arty oh yeah you boil a
lot of your keys no no sometimes like
when I'm making like milk tea hi shailu
sometimes that I'm making milk tea I'll
want it strong like if I'm gonna be
adding in more sweetener or something
it's kind of fun to make it strong no
yeah I mean there are teas that are
meant to be boiled yeah I like I've got
a special kettle or a kettle designated
that with those heavy spilt air on the
spout yeah I notice you're drinking
straight from your pot today that's a
classy move thank you it is not hot is
that you're drinking pot is that your
ear your sippy pie I get if you put hot
water in it it gets way too hot I don't
know what kind of clay it is yeah no I
do it's Charles Oakley okay but it's
really like almost too dense and it is
really thick clay so that's probably why
it gets so hot
thanks for listening in Shiloh Shiloh
just jumped up on on Instagram connected
with him much Eric
a little bit good yeah yeah you guys are
both good tea people I hope you can be T
friends but he just commented his
gratitude for yesterday's discussion
which you know I did want to touch on
because you like message me this morning
you know wanting a little bit more
clarity of what we were talking about so
we were talking about a lot of stuff
it was it was happening pretty fast and
then you throw you throw someone like
Sohan into the conversation which I
don't know if you noticed so Han has
been very active you know I'm holding
these hold holding the space and and
having these conversations around around
this so like he's very well versed he's
very well practiced like right now and
so when he had things to say it was like
really had them knew you know how to say
it yeah he knew how to say it for sure
and and it kept the conversation moving
really quickly so I could understand the
need for revising or revisiting some
things and and clarification on some
things but I mean ultimately it's just
broadening our definition of what
colonialism and if we do that it'll
it'll actually like cover a lot of
ground you know even even in regards to
other discriminatory issues sexism and
whatever else you know not just
specifically cultural appropriation or
or yeah because like before that
conversation I felt like the the
definition of colonization was
exclusively was exclusively meaning like
a country occupying another country and
taking oh man you know what I mean like
that was then based yeah but but after
yesterday's conversation I'm like no
this this word can mean so much more and
if we change the perception of that
words that we can start having some
really powerful conversations about how
these things are all inter
interconnected so I wish i lo can see
you know Eric he moves to Facebook so
now you can see
[Laughter]
yeah so I'm glad that you you were there
for Derrick it's a good conversation and
could have had more I mean and I'd
encourage you to like even like explore
ways to like talk to your family or
friends or peers about it you know of
course understanding the boundaries and
the comfort level because that was
something that like Ray Ray and Mafalda
ended up kind of going into is that like
when you do approach these subjects you
have to understand your audience because
sometimes if you talk about these things
especially with too much passion and an
emotion it can shut someone out like
someone might shut off you know because
they're you offend something or you like
you touch on some insecurities that they
have so you know but you still have to
have these conversations and it's cool
that now we we've discovered that like
even having the conversation of the
origin of tea is actually addressing
these issues so you know what I mean
like as tea lovers we can find our own
language and our own methods of having
these conversations which can transcend
into some of these bigger overarching
issues that are we're dealing with in
society and you know and people are
trying to like guilt-trip us into
thinking that we're not doing enough to
fight you know to fight racism or to be
anti-racist you know they post like oh
we see your silence and it's like how do
you know my silence how do you know what
conversations I'm having with people
because really the more intimate
conversations that you have are far more
effective than some social media mean
that you can share you know what I mean
yeah I totally agree mm-hm so I mean I
get it like letting people know like now
is a time of action is important but
like shaming someone and especially when
you don't know
their situation you don't know what
conversations they're having and you
don't know what feelings they're having
my internal work they're doing but it's
not productive it's not productive
inclusion right and that's like one of
the principles of T that people are
always saying right that T is exclusive
how do you feel about that oh oh do you
agree that I suppose I'd have to think
more about it but probably I don't think
more about it what does that word mean
to you include inclusion inclusive
that's what I have to think about what
exactly it means I mean I can't really
or at least wanted mmm
how about the word exclusive does that
word mean anything to you yeah I mean
and then more of a definite meaning but
it just means yeah hi Jerry
good to see ya this is fun
that was a surprise I didn't put the
link up I was like you know what if
someone really wants to come in they'll
know how to get in
[Laughter]
you owe me to meet you Jeremy or am i
indeed in someone's face I didn't
realize no you're not you're you're
totally welcome look at our smiles this
is an inclusive environment
Jeremy's trying to come on and see just
what the word inclusion means
even they kind of sound like it was
hacking into this no I was just
overhearing you talked about yesterday
and I figure I'll just jump back again
good yeah no Eric Eric was a part of the
conversation yesterday earlier on and
then he I believe for a phone call then
this morning he messaged me and he was
like at least I gotta be a little honest
like once like Ray and so Hans started
rappin I kind of lost him you know yeah
and I was like I was like cool totally
understandable I get it so like you know
we can yeah conversation went many
different directions didn't it all good
things though good I mean it wasn't no
one ever it was everyone who's always in
control very emotionally charged you
know topic yes I think that's harder and
harder to find
what the topics or though no topics but
it's if people have the patience with
each other
I'm each other out and kind of feed off
each other and then really natural
conversation that went from everything
into a lengthy discussion on the nature
of capitalism in the end which I thought
I was hoping that was not longer I think
everybody got tired by that point well
maybe we can continue that conversation
because Eric you know me you know
political scientist here even more
political philosophers oh boy a
philosophy
[Laughter]
philosopher right isn't that the correct
errors of philosophy I don't know it's
Friday
[Laughter]
I'm ready for the weekend 4th of July I
want to sleep the whole time okay sweet
dreams my cousin is a political
philosopher and political scientist
what's the difference there's some like
it I get it I understand the difference
but like I was I would think that they
they probably have some very fun
conversations with each other um as far
as I know
clinical philosophy is more about theory
yeah weird political sciences systems
yeah how it works yeah yeah I don't know
I mean I studied ancient philosophy for
a long time here we learn about
philosophers is that you're always right
if you can argue convincingly so it
doesn't need to be any scientific method
behind it unless you're like Cisco mr.
psychologist there's there's method
behind it philosophy is just you know
living your head but as long as you're
convincing in a way you're right yeah
you said me confident yeah it's this
theory but philosophers are a strange
bunch of people they do they live in
in their heads I was there for a while I
didn't like in there at a certain point
I actually heard the best definition of
philosophers is philosophers see their
bodies as nothing more than a means of
getting their head from one room to the
next
that's who they are
I'm afraid looks like I have to go it's
got a lock Hamilton oh really
with my parents yeah oh that's good you
guys are gonna watch it before your
friends come great caring thanks family
yeah it thanks for tuning it all the way
from Louise I have to be myself up again
yeah being back to st. Louis waste of
energy okay Leo Jeremy we're talking
about weird tea I mean it's awful
weird teas yeah I don't know we got a
little off topic but that's cool I'm
drinking a weird tea right now actually
this is a white tea processed out of
purple leaf okay yeah purple leaf
someone business pays weird but I don't
think so it's not really there it's it's
quite common now that purple purple leaf
but it's usually processed either into a
black tea or Chung you know I think even
some show you can find but never a white
tea it's good nice taste it is this
purple tea like the purple purple leaf
yeah
no is it is it
like the hand-picked Asian purpley or is
that the sort of mass-produced Kenyan
leave it's somewhere in between oh I'm
sorry I'm catching up on all the
Shiloh's comments you believe in that a
lot of nice comments here we couldn
Rican revisit them after I explained
this but so yeah I say it's somewhere in
between because it's it's from you none
and it's it's hand picked and hand
processed quality process but the the
purple leaf is not like the wild purple
leaf that is really highly valued like
that's that's the really good stuff yeah
it's kind of like the Kenyan in theory
because it's like clones so like a
purple leaf is like a random genetic
expression that happens you know when
the seed grown plants grow when you go
walking through the the wilderness like
the forest and in ancient tea trees or
where tea trees are growing from seeds
you will randomly find a purple tree I
don't know what the odds are maybe if I
search on the internet so what some
researcher may have counted you know
like the odds of a purple tree but it's
not very common and so if you do find
wild purple it means that that that
farmer had to go and find all the trees
and harvest just from those trees to
make that batch so that's why it's so
valuable but you can like clone that
mother bush you can take one of those
purple trees and clone it and whatever
you clone from it's going to be purple
and that's what they've done in Kenya in
other places too it's they're not very
purple just in Kenya I think Kenya has
like a trend over the past decade or so
they've been really trying to popularize
that style but in China they do the
cloning to to make it like more
accessible and more affordable more
efficient you know for them to be able
to get more purple products into the
market so it's still good quality like
it's definitely artisanal still but it's
not like the like you know when someone
says oh this is a purple tea from you
know they like you do need that
ask and specify is it wild purple is it
like the real purple or is it you know
cloned purple the the tidy the you know
like kind of the more plantation purple
yeah I think in Kenya they were actually
creating hybrids because they really
wanted to have a purple tea but being
but they also wanted to be very
distinctive mm-hmm at the same time so
they were remember someone telling me
that that they were creating a sort of
hybrid so once they I you know once they
isolated a purple tree then they tried
to whatever they do to create something
artificially original because in
crossbreeding like when you're doing
that you your random your random
Randolph eyeing the the genetics again
right because a new genetic expression
you know with the goal of like
crossbreeding these two things that have
characteristics and you're hoping that
they they come together to make you know
the characters you're looking for yeah
but yeah that kind of research that
stuff is constantly happening constantly
because I've had the cuz I've had the
Kenyan purple leaf but I haven't had
anything from anything from Asia it's
much better you know and I think the
factor that makes Kenyan purple tea not
the greatest because it's not well
processed teeth you know the the plant
material may be fine for that terroir
but there's still processing the tea
like you know more commercial grade it
was interesting when they were talking
about it that it was kind of bizarre
they were processing it like a black tea
but they told you to sort of brew it
like a new law okay yeah they they they
supposedly went through every type of
technique and they found out this sort
of a highly oxidized version was the
better
of the mall but they really wanted you
to brew it like at a lower temperature
like 180 185 for a short breeze so I
mean I don't know how that's a series of
experimentation or but you said those
purple leaves are actually processed
like a white
yeah usually processed into a black tea
and yeah the it's a it's a lightly
oxidized black team this one into a
white tea so you can actually see the
leaf here let me pull these out on the
weight you can see the you see it make a
little bigger yeah you see that it's a
purple yeah yeah it's cool though but
then it's still green you know it's a
white tea you can still see like the
lack of oxidation to the leave but there
is some oxidation on the edges yeah but
you can see that purple the purple hue
to it that's cool but yeah because the
one that Kenyon who is more like a dark
green leaf with purple veins who things
like I said I alien really had
experience with it once it's good yeah
but that's all I can really say about it
I think that was actually at one of them
I think that was in Kansas City a couple
your wind waterfall and they were doing
a lot of things yeah yeah I never really
followed through and see where they're
at now or how much they were able to
successfully market
yeah I mean there's there's definitely
some marketability to it a lot of people
are really interested in it it's not
necessarily an entirely new type is it
no it's like there's debates on whether
yellow tea is its own thing but you have
the fright we have the five and then
people are trying to create their own
yeah yeah yeah you know it's all just
mix and you know trying to evolve and I
think it's great you know like what I
would like to see a lot more in the tea
industry is people being innovative and
a much more individualistic way versus
like I mean I understand trends are
popular are important
so like violate the Kenyan government's
and the Kenyan tea board or whatever for
them to like cooperate the region to
popularize Kenyan purple tea its
national attention so it's good
marketing so there's value of that but I
also like to see more individualistic
innovation and I think that will happen
in time but like even even the tea
masters of the more traditional you know
old old-world teas they they they kind
of like follow the trends of their
neighbors like like in Taiwan each
Mountain has a particular style of tea
that they make it has you know multiple
benefits one of them is like the
marketing so then the market knows Oh
tea coming from this place is going to
have this aesthetic to it and then and
then also it helps the the farmers can
knowledge share with each other and then
they could compete with each other and
you know try they're up there quality of
that same style of tea but I think
there's also easy for people to innovate
you know and just kind of pave their own
path and maybe you know like it's like a
hybrid it's like some of your production
is like following the Orthodox
of your tip wall and then part of it is
also like innovative and trying
different things and I think you were
telling me that you saw that more and
more in Nepal that has to happen at all
because the the Orthodox there is a
shitty situation it's like nothing if
you know so it's like we've got
innovated make a new path so that's a
necessity yeah like how much of it is
like the fear of failure because I know
there are a lot of bourbon distilleries
I'm sure I'm sure they're still doing
this where periodically they just a
revenge they create these experimental
barrels in this minion that doesn't have
to be anything too dramatic they char
the you know the barrel a little bit
longer and then they sell it off as like
this experimental collection but it's
okay to tell them this is bad and I
think that was the end you know that's
the assumption of you going in because
it's it would it's hard to convince
people to spend a lot of money on
experimental bourbon yeah and at the
same time be prepared to be disappointed
with it yeah but that's a cultural thing
I think important because people are so
because bourbon drinkers are so anxious
just to do anything new like I like I
tried one where they substituted a
camera which but they substituted with
but it was largely rice so it's almost
like they were trying to create some
sort of sake hybrid bourbon but I tried
it it was not good but I did give it to
somebody else who thought it was
fantastic I don't know if it's like I'm
sure it is like how large enough is the
market within citee to actually pay for
like experimental tea because only
through that can you really evolve in
any realistic way yeah so
that's important that's really um
and that's work to be done so like
whenever I first started traveling to
China right and by far China is like the
most advanced market especially for
supporting like artisanal like craft tea
because the market like a connoisseur
ship in the market appreciates it and I
noticed that earlier on when I've gone
to China and when I would meet tea
masters or tea shop owners and sit at
their table I learned very quickly that
even though the connoisseurs support the
market they're very kind of limited and
what they what they explore themselves
like regional like you know if you're
from a certain area that you're in
Shanghai like drinking really it and
understanding and appreciating really
good quality like fresh green teas like
Long Jing and and by child like teas
from that region is what's important to
you versus you know if you're ninon then
it's very poor eccentric if you're in
Fujian it's very long centric and there
wasn't really much deviation out of that
and like the connoisseur has like a set
of standards that they work within that
they evaluate teas and so yeah there's
not room for introducing experimental
things into the mix you know maybe here
and there if you know you could find a
tea Leverett a connoisseur that's like
into it but not not a real legitimate
opportunity but in the past like three
years I've seen a drastic change in the
tea houses that I've gone to where you
see their tea offerings much more
diverse and and then even diverse beyond
just Chinese teas to like Taiwanese teas
and appreciating Japanese tea culture
and then having an interest you know
there's still like a very deep and valid
skepticism that Indian teas can be good
quality
but in interests and knowing maybe my
opinions wrong you know what I mean so
like then when someone like me travels
and comes through and says oh I just
came back from India and Nepal and Sri
Lanka I have some samples in the past
they'd be like oh that's cool good for
you thank you for studying tea like
let's let's learn from each other but no
I'm not interested in sampling your tea
great but now now all of a sudden it's
like this exciting thing I mean the
first time that ever happened I was in
we shine and someone on Facebook found
me and saw that I was in Li Shan and was
like hey I work at the the school at the
T University here can he come we'd like
to meet you and I was like okay cool
I'll come sounds like an adventure I was
like meeting new people and seeing new
places and new systems and this was like
a tea school like one of the schools
were they they teach you you know for
the the national tests of like becoming
a tea master becoming like an evaluator
early so and the the master that was
there the teacher that was there you
know he had this huge table and he could
tell like you know they hold a lot of
classes a lot of sessions there and I
was accustomed to always just being
humble like I'd gone through this
several times before so I just knew you
know just introduce myself be humble and
just sit and let him teach me and I did
that but then as soon as they heard that
I had samples oh my god they like
flipped out and they were like oh let's
go they're like on the phone they're
calling all their friends and their
friends are rushing over on their mopeds
like and they like bring out all the
sampling cups like the the cupping sets
they like line them up on the table it
was completely spontaneous but they
wanted to jump on that opportunity
they're like you have the samples with
you right now okay let's taste them
we're a couple of friends and yeah they
were sitting there tasting all these
teas you know from India or whatever I
had picked up on my way and that shocked
me I was like whoa this is cool and this
is like this is that opportunity that's
going to like open up that particular
market you know and that's just the
Chinese market if they become much more
excited about diversity and teas and
new things then the innovation can be
supported you know like no longer is
only domum Powell that's processed in
this way gonna do well in the market and
only don't Dean processes this way it's
gonna do well in the market it's like if
the tea is good the connoisseur is gonna
be interested in it that's that's it
yeah yeah it's just whether or not
they're dedicated to that little is I
guess it's just whether or not they can
afford to do it because it is it would
represent a loss of business a little
bit for that season wouldn't it taking
just some leaf aside doing it in a
different way processing it that's time
and leaf that is potentially either
wasted or potentially sold it three
times expected value it's I don't know
how many people are actually out there
that are willing or able to do that
every year really poor people in Nepal
yeah yeah so I mean that's kind of the
advantage of being in that situation is
that your leaf like is not very valuable
as like the commodity type of the things
so like like whenever we do the amazing
tea race like I invite people to travel
with me and we go different places when
we go to Lake Taiwan or Japan or China
and we're walking around on the fields
like you feel compelled to just go pluck
a leaf you're like oh I'm gonna go pluck
this oh my gosh it's like no don't do
that of course there are you gonna pay
for that leaves you know like so you're
definitely not gonna be able to like
harvest you're a little experimental
batch because that's you know what the
buyers want to do and I want them to do
that too because like even if you make a
tiny tiny tiny little batch of tea like
that is such an educational experience
if you learn a lot about tea just going
through that process and in in places
where the market is established and the
tea farmer has his quality processing
established it's like really hard to do
that because they're leaf is so valuable
but in like Nepal they have so much leaf
they're like
yeah I mean take whatever you want like
if we were to harvest ourselves and take
it to the Bob Lee factory down the
street we're not gonna get more than ten
cents a kilo for it so you know have fun
you know yeah and they've been affected
by lockdowns as badly as India yeah yeah
I think you've been talking a lot about
we're getting mixed reports from India
about what's really really happening in
regards to the virus no yeah it will in
regards to the lockdown okay yeah yeah
like what level is the productivity at
is it zero or is it actually happening
so I think they're actually at a hundred
percent now I believe that Arden's like
tea processing has gone back to like a
hundred percent capacity but like there
are other factors
so like the logistics systems are still
locked down so like any kind of like
container shipments or anything like
that is just done you know so you know
you know on pause so you know unless
you're selling within the domestic
market and even that's difficult that is
like how do you deliver your product to
your buyer yeah I don't know
but yeah it's challenging Nepal is
definitely even more challenge just
because of their their lack of
infrastructure you know compared to
India it was already challenged before
and so now it's even more challenged
with getting product out but everybody
is oh look it's Joe everybody is still
process a process hi Joe
how the goat man's been while it's been
a minute can you hear me just trying to
take this time to address a lot of the
things that getting argument too busy
with work and business and stuff like
that yeah and just trying to work on you
know work on my personal work on myself
spend some time in the woods
I saw you posted some pictures almost
that was a crazy day that was and that
was a gift from from Mother Earth for
sure so did you did you prepare and
consume that fish I have not our goal
this year was to fill the freezer so I
just cleaned it up froze it and honestly
sometime in the fall together with some
smoked trout and whatever else I
happened to catch it's mostly trap
around here anyway so some tea into your
into your smoker wonderful actually is
that I guess I don't know when the tea
is smoked saw at the whole time so like
when we smoked tea or wheat we smoke we
have a Traeger now so like you know it
has that like electric you know smoking
mechanism and you put the pallets
there and then you can you're supposed
to exclusively use the trigger palettes
but you can like mixin we'll just throw
in tea
what's the palette and it just mixes in
there and you know the orders push it in
and it smokes the tea with the palettes
and so I got you kind of mixes that
aroma in to the to the mix like
Applewood stuff like that too so
probably imbue it with a with an
interesting flavor I never even really
thought about that but yeah things have
been chill here I've been busy and then
just worried about me doing the thing up
with you on it but how is your detox
great we kept some of of what we did
during it you know it's all about but I
did react limine to do certain things
and we're just really focused on so he
cleansed or eliminating it of a bunch of
stuff and then as we brought it back in
learn more focused on quality so I
haven't been by and like regular you
know store bought anything really we've
been buying you know local and made high
quality sour dough for bread like small
dairy farm milk cheese things like that
it's been going awesome we definitely
feel better that's for sure
yeah for sure it's uh it's it's it's
work you know but we have a we have a
couple farms that we get a lot of our
produce and stuff from too so that makes
a big impact we do this you notice CSAs
yeah yeah like like a subscription kind
of deal yeah so we get CSA produce
honoring the other base
and you know top quality I think they're
the one place we Tariq CSA from is
actually the only organic certified
around here but that certification means
a lot but it does it is telling it to
some extent yes there are some people
what's in season right now right now
we've been getting beans the green means
yellow Pittsburgh East we get some
garlic scapes broccoli kale mixed greens
we weren't quite to the to the to the
meat of the of the produce into
july/august more of the substance but we
try and we're trying to eat like it's
all about so yes nice the last time that
we were hanging out and chatting
regularly you guys were still getting
thick layers of snow yeah it's like 95
what's the humidity though well where I
live right next to the creek so it's
fairly I mean it's got us so it's pretty
it's pretty humid right where I'm at but
in general it's more of a dry heat and
it's been a dry year too so you know
we're a couple inches behind the average
right now as far as precipitation goes
and fire dangers kind of they can't
cancel the lot of the firework shows
things like that so so yes rarely do I
up here but it is it is warm to say the
least and we get lots of hail that is
like it's a diamond
every other week so not even a trailer
every week
think what two weeks ago my towns got
completely wiped out as far as hail goes
so pretty much everybody's windshield in
town it was brutal
scary
let me tell you it's I'm a pretty chill
dude gets me anxious at instant so it's
destructive and plus usually with halo
we're looking at like tornado weather up
here you know right at the end tornado
alley so I mean here like I literally I
have been sitting here but yeah the
events went well the tastings went well
and so I've got a range you know another
series I don't know what it's going to
be on but kind of compiling that
together but yeah I've been doing a lot
of like you know kind of the civic
engagement stuff and hosting
conversations yeah to help people do the
work they need to be doing
did you yesterday yesterday or Tuesday
in the morning and we did the one with
with Ray and okay bringing you bringing
attention to some good points
hey hold on guys I gotta go
someone's at the door I gotta go
somebody's knocking oh good better since
things have been reopening yeah yeah oh
man I think Indiana is in pretty good
shape we're ready because the idea was
that by July early and that's pretty
much where we're at in Chicago are still
be careful and I think you know anywhere
else we're pretty much opened back up
you know a couple of places like
referred like completely for good but
for the most part you know a Walmart
it's almost back to normal so that's
telling yeah yeah Walmart's still a mess
here
I avoid everyplace cuz yeah we're
mandatory on the masks now which that
doesn't get me bothered like all wear
masks you know I prefer actually if I'm
going to a place where there's people
around it just feels more you know
comfortable what's going on but where it
becomes uncomfortable is like with the
folks that don't want to wear the masks
and it's like it creates conflict it's
like do you address it with them or not
it and then whenever you see that there
are like employees that have to address
it with them
and conversation I haven't seen any like
big fights yeah of course on the
internet there's videos but right it's
definitely like conflict you know its
confrontational I just avoid places with
that many people
yeah and well I've gone to Walmart one
time since pandemic and I absolutely had
it where I'm at camping and there was
some like things I needed for my camping
that I couldn't wear else but by Walmart
by my house and there's a Walmart at
like less than a mile from my house like
I have a one very close to me and last
week one of the the kids that was found
hanging with was right in the back of
the Walmart so there was like a big
controversy here that you know like one
of the what it was like five or six
people across the country in the past
few weeks have been found you know
hanging and the media is like really not
giving a lot of details about and every
single one of them was deemed a suicide
and this one the media the local media
didn't talk about it for five days and
even the parents of the person found
didn't get any information for five days
and then they come out and say oh it was
a suicide and they're like well what
about the Walmart cameras because it was
like right in the back of the Walmart
they knew there was cameras footage and
then you know the parents came out to
the media and assured the public that
the they saw the footage and it
definitely was a suicide just like weird
you know like just weird the whole story
and not just this Vegas story but like a
whole the whole thing is real there's a
cleansing going on where will this
changing quickly it's interesting to
watch that's for sure okay so what's
what's going on with with the Sturgis is
that is that coming up is that still
going
now their weapon Sturgess so it's good
well basically I think the city's
thought they asked the residents should
we have it residents were like 60/40 no
basically
oh wow but the I think this is hideous
thought on it was we can't stop
everybody from coming up here anyway and
they're right everybody would have
showed up all the people that we're
gonna come up here are gonna go up here
they'd have stuff booked out for the
whole year they paid for everything
we're gonna show up because it's half
the reason people come up here it's too
right and so really what it would is it
would have spread everybody out
throughout the hills and I think that
would have been worse if anything
because usually they're kind of
concentrated in Sturgis and then they
like spread out and as they please but
if there was no Sturgis they would have
just been everywhere all the time so
they're still innominate get you know
don't quote me on this one but how much
friction areas in the world and they're
already SE posts like fur screenshots of
craigslist like hey we're a look at the
black lives matter rally white bikers
are like bring it on I'm strapped this
man you know I don't know what's gonna
happen it's gonna be an it's doing an
interesting deal that'll be one of the
biggest gatherings probably in the world
and coronavirus yeah for sure so I don't
know what to think I'm kind of like I'm
just I don't know I'm just an observer I
try not to dig too deep into this sure
should be there could be some really big
opportunity manufacturing and some like
leather masks with like studs and um and
stuff no like for real that's there
already
face masks for riding and you look I
mean they're the exact same
that's right be a popular medicine still
be cool when you're safe just all about
it I was talking to my friend he he does
like industrial hemp he's a grower he's
like a breeder and he was telling me
about some projects he's involved in and
he was saying the the NK 95 mask making
it from hid but I'm like yeah cuz that's
it I mean that's a big opportunity my
brother since the day one of pandemic my
brother's calling me up and he was like
hey Lee's we should like import a
container of these masks and sell it
like it's just a temporary thing but
like the world needs it and there's an
opportunity let's do it and I'm like oh
you don't know that's that's that's not
what I'm into and like I'm you know I'm
not wanting to work with some like
Chinese factory and you know to do all
that work but you know when you find
probably the same way as me where ethics
get in the way of everything in this
modern world it's like hard to do
because of because of my ethics and the
standards to which I myself only
sacrifice my truth so much is just I
can't play that game you know like I
feel like shit you know
to sort things decided to stay up yeah
no that's cool weird Jeremy go you
disappeared
I'm not a dick daughter's day I've been
slowly get through all those T's
I've liked most of them already so far
we don't only gone through a handful of
them stuff artists are you are you like
here and there watching the videos as
you're drinking them or yes some of them
we haven't like we haven't been doing it
like chronologically you know what I'm
saying
but I have been trying to stay all of
the videos as well I'll watch them in my
free time when I'm not drinking
I really wanted oh I wanted to be a part
of that because I really wanted that
like full spectrum sample of all your
teams okay cool a good thing there was
even a guy in New Zealand that had got
it and he the time difference he wasn't
able to do the live videos but he owns a
tea shop so I'm thinking you know I
could probably just did that so you can
have the samples and the videos are just
like an extra little add-on my brother
was saying that we should do that for
like all of our wholesale sampling like
have interactive video sessions and
write you know just to kind of add that
extra level of engagement right that's a
great idea
you know whatever you can do to uh to -
basically you're bringing along
education with you just like here taste
the sampling think what you think you're
adding that I really like how you know
with those videos it's like you get a
little insight into the person making
okay you get a little bit more than that
energy you can feel it when you drink
the tea yeah well thank you for
supporting it
yeah I'm looking forward to the future
ones I'm actually I'm gonna do like a
cooking demo one my friends have a
software company here in Vegas called
secret burger that works with chefs to
to create basically like pop-up menus
like and written specially
where they sell tickets to that and then
you know they share cut with the chef
and the software and it's is it's like a
marketplace for pop-up events basically
but okay right now they can't really
have pop-up events anymore right so
they've kind of changed the model to
like cooking kits so like popular shocks
in town whip it together like a cooking
kit box that you buy you pick it up from
the restaurant and then they do a
Facebook live demo where they teach you
and so you basically cook like their
famous dishes from their restaurants at
home yeah you can translate that into TV
basically yeah yes I told my friend I'm
like hey could I do like a botulin like
I could maybe I could do like an
hour-long maybe three different matcha
things and it's like this is your watch
at dinner you know like it was a cake
and maybe I was thinking about making
like an avocado and maybe like the del
gonna that's something that's really
popular right now with the awesome I
know what do you do do you just make up
a matcha ice cream yeah I mean but I
don't know how I would translate that
because you need some equipment for that
because like I have to like make it so
this box can ship to whoever and then
they would be able to make everything
with me maybe maybe I'll show chick and
I would love to like show tricks you
know of how to do things you know
without equipment cuz like there is a
way of making ice cream without ice
cream machine I'm a food scientist so
I'm always thinking that way that's like
different cuz yeah usually it's late
it's like the popular shops in town and
a lot of like their live video is more
like their personality you know because
their followers their community their
regulars are the ones that buy these
boxes and cook with them and so is a
live video like and everything is pretty
pre-prepped you know like the chefs will
pre-prep most things so that you know
it's basically just like empty the bag
out into the saucepan and then empty
that bag out there and quick like this
right and it's a lot about how you
played it and then
like a lot of the chef's personality
just like talking to their community
which you know like I don't really have
like a foodie community here in Vegas as
I told them I was like hey I need to be
able to shit these boxes I'm pretty sure
most people they're gonna want to buy
this to participate are gonna be like
outside of Vegas they're gonna be oh
yeah sure
our community outside but you know I
always like to talk about science and
stuff so I think that would be like I'd
be spending most of the time like
explaining the science of what's going
on while we're doing stuff and it's like
without matcha which you know most
people are like kind of clueless when it
comes to heard the me yeah so I want to
like I want to have all three grades of
the sample that's part of the box so
like the kitchen grade the craft a grave
the ceremonial and then I could explain
the differences so I can educate people
about matcha and then we can may have
different applications of of the
different grades like how you would use
them in your kitchen yeah we've been
talking about actually like that
subscription box as well along the same
lines have been doing some research into
into all that the packaging is a
headache but once we get that figured
out we might start pumping things out
and also some tea and some accessories
you know we're in herbal world so we do
all sorts of stuff body products know
like like a self-care box we can do all
sorts of so so that's been that's been
on our mind too
same kind of deal except for us it's the
opposite way around our stuff yeah you
know so so that'll be interesting so my
my I have a lot of you know advice in
regards to subscription boxes that's
actually how I started out and I put a
lot of money into it and that was
whenever I was first getting you know
the mr. Capital you know so
had a lot of opportunity and influence
to do it right into do the marketing
right and the packaging right which that
was the most expensive and challenging
part was the packaging because we did
these lake really beautiful tins
actually these tins there's so much
information on here like the auction
like all of the data all the information
that's on this ten like when I gave it
to the designer was a page and a half of
content so it's got like all the origin
information marcos de brewing
instructions tasting notes there's
height and then they're in boston be box
on the top oh wow that's gorgeous sweet
yeah I know I definitely like I wanted
to have like the gold standard you know
yeah absolutely and then even the box
the box that we would ship it in was
this beautiful box like I told the
designer I wanted to box to have the
feeling of like Louie Vuitton branding
but then also you know having all the
information the transparency and the
storytelling is big to Silly Walks is
really fancy looking like had the insert
these tins fit right into it and we
shipped every other month for no teas
and it didn't work as so by warnings
about it is that like I think
subscription boxes as like a business
model on their own is a challenge and
that's why I abandoned it but they're
really great as like an Augmented part
of like your community that your offline
community looks like if you have a tea
shop or if you have like series of
events that you do with like regular
followers in your own community and like
and then if you can save on the shipping
too that helps makes your product more
attractive you know and you can hold
more of that margins right because yes
subscription boxes are like commodity
things now and that's the marketing the
marketing is like Oh get your your first
box for $5 or whatever you know so like
college acquisition is really high and
really competitive and
then another issue is on the the
logistics in the ordering solely when
you're ordering your products for your
next month box you have to like
forecasts how many subscribers you're
gonna have and you don't want to get too
little if you don't have enough product
to cover you know lets you have like
some influencer that shares your stuff
or somehow you get some kind of growth
hack that just like explodes it you like
you need to make sure you have enough
product to fulfill but then if you order
too much products then your signal is
inventory and if you're if you're solely
this subscription box you already have
to think about sourcing the next month's
tees and then absolutely your video and
all this inventory and every month
you're like gathering up all of this
like inconsistent extra inventory and
it's really hard to sell it and move it
but something that I've seen work and I
think it's really clever happen to this
is doing your subscription I was like a
cohort it's so like when you get new
subscribers every month they start from
box one one thing we've been thinking on
that note is more of like less of the
regular subscription gift boxes like
somewhere right in between there to
where it's like we'll do a certain
amount and you just basically buy that
box and then when we're ready for the
next one we bring that one out try and
sell all those you know so on and so
forth not so much that regular interval
thing because we're dealing with our
local community I'm not really trying to
do competition you know I'm trying to
get people in our area that works that
works you know it's just like an
Augmented
you know activity for you're already
going on offline business right yes
definitely
yes but like any time I get like an
inquiry of a new client like a new
startup and they're like oh we want to
do a okay that's there's just too much
there is basically trying you know so
and then include different boxes because
it's a gift for yourself smart to
package things up and just make it easy
for people especially around holiday
season rightly people just want that oh
I'm going to this Christmas party or I'm
you know I'm going to my aunt's house
like let me just grab this so like a lot
of success like when they make it
display like at the front with like
these packs that would include you know
wares and and and different stuff and
you know you have about different price
points maybe you have like a $50 $100
one because I think that's like when it
comes to gifting the lot of people like
they have different this is this is a
$20 friend this is a $50 friend you know
line of gift baskets this last holiday
season honestly we really try and push
him very much because we only did a
limited run but they came with they came
with some tea
royalties and then like a tea sock
explainer you know and then like what we
use all the time is like a mason jar
yeah yeah absolutely and so we do like
mason jar with a drinking lid and then
my mom hand crocheted a bunch of cozies
for up so we sold those in there with it
and just some informational material and
things like that so it's super simple
but we just some nice like wicker
baskets and wrap them all up and so they
were just like ready to go you know just
scoop that off the table and give it to
your friend you know go make herbal tea
at your house you know that accelerator
I went through they you know they were
really pushing me toward a subscription
model and I said but we revised it to
the pony and I'm still looking into it
but it'd be more like a tea of the month
but it would be like one tea tea of the
month but the idea is this that we were
going to create a program around it so
we're gonna think it's like yeah this is
essentially a Catholic company and
there's something called novena which is
a nine-day prayer so we would send you
110 days worth of heat so the tea comes
essentially with a program which in the
way encourages you to consume the entire
product because the big fear I've heard
from a lot of people is that in T of the
month or gift box or things like that
they stockpile of tea and eventually
they just cancel the program so we're
trying to work around so like you know
started as a private membership club
make it exclusive so at least you have
at least you can anticipate you know at
least you can anticipate we look to what
to get how much the source in then you
can just throw Olli expand it beyond
that we said there's kind of workarounds
but essentially like you are not a
subscription company
because it is once you're all in on that
it should just be a it should just be a
supplemental part of your business
incentivizing new customers so we're
sort of playing around with let's say I
plan to introduce this T in November so
if you're part of this club what you're
gonna do is that you're gonna be the
person gets T in October and we'll throw
in a 10% discount but it won't be like a
flat fee it won't be like you have to
pay $20 a month well basically what
we'll say is that you're going to get
the new T before anybody else will give
you a 10% discount you buying it like a
retail price but it will never exceed
$20 so in a way it's like it could be
$12 it could be 15 but will never exceed
20 so it's not like okay $20 a month you
get the box at the first day of the
month and it's sort of much more and you
have to abide by this really strict
cycle this will allow you to have a
little bit more flexibility you know
it's like so like we were really trading
some ideas about how to have it but not
rely on it and to give you enough
flexibility where you're not going to
stockpile inventory or alienate your
customer it's tricky and I thought you
know I remember thinking that the the
big fear is that you stockpile tea so
it's thinking like okay we're gonna do a
three sample box
so like 315 grand bags but at the moment
they taste one team won't like it that's
it it's sort of stored away but if you
create some sort of program that kind of
encourages them to drink the tea every
single day for a certain amount of time
if you can get them to drink the tea
before the end of the month then they
will never have to you know so so like
the anticipation for the next month is
there it's long you really want them to
make sure they drink it all
or the next package arrives and then you
throw in like an odor incentive all
right if you like this tea if you order
whatever you order by the end of them
will knock off 10% right
it was just like incentive the big deal
- I've talked to people who who've been
in the subscription game and they say
incentives 5% off 10% off just anything
like that people just really cling on to
it love it yeah that was kind of an idea
with boxes was to collaborate with you
know discounts for those businesses you
know and as much value as you could pack
in there but not of all the same flavor
of thing you know what I mean there's
like stuff going on we might collaborate
with so if nothing else your coupons
enjoy your brandy I'm working so it's
not you don't need a whole lot of cab
rides you know so it's kind of up and
down there will be there will be a
decent flux of people but at the same
time it's nothing too crazy
I usually don't work the weekends but I
did volunteer because it was a holiday
sure I'll be taking it slow but yeah
I'll try and jump on again here soon
yeah
definitely who guys will hey I
appreciate you and this is gonna catch
up much luck guys how great