Monday, April 6, 2020 - All about Virtual Marketing

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Efficient Yes, yeah. I think
that's really important and

what we do but it's a whole new
model. You know for a lot of

the the producers that we work
with they they're still in that

mentality because they built
their factories and built their

systems all while

fitting to what what we call
the commodity mentality, so

they're they're making even if
they're making an Orthodox tee,

They're making a great of tea
that when they take it to their

local market, the local
auctions or what not where they

can sell large quantities of
it. they're max. They're gonna

get ever is like $5 a kilo,
even for the very high quality

and I try to convince them.
Hey, we built a market for you

where you can consistently get
you know $50 a kilo you can get

10 times more money, which
means if you produce 10 times

less, you know that's less
effort less of an investment of

your time and resources and
then the cash flow is similar.

You know, I'm not trying to
advocate for an increased cash

flow for any of these farmers
that we work with cuz that's

not really what they. Cash is
not a problem in the world.

It's autonomy and independence
and sustainability. That's

that's that's the resource that
we need to focus on trying to

to bring to people but yeah,
people see how expensive we

sell the teas for their
immediate reaction is like Oh,

why are you trying to make this
into a cash crop and just try

to flooding these communities
in with all this money and it's

like that's not what we're
trying. Do we're trying to have

them reevaluate their total
production system where they

they're actually producing
less, but then focusing more on

the higher quality. just like
what I'm doing here, you know

for less space. we can we can
still have the same amount of

you know inventory of like
money and money wise, but in a

smaller more, you know
sustainable space. so the

warehouse space is you. Empty
Usually we we don't have

anything in there like maybe
like three or four times a

year. I will have like a
container come in or you know

big pallets come in and we need
that space. So that's why I'm

committed to this lease because
I need that space when that

happens so in between what I
usually do is host big parties

here. It's like an event space.
Amazing. Yeah. I'm really

really what are you making
there? I don't know yet. I'm

just preparing everything I'm a
little delayed today with the

virtual tea festival. I've been
recording everybody's

presentations cuz that's how
we're doing it. We're

pre-recording and then on the
present on the festival time

will be broadcasting that
prerecorded presentation just

so we can avoid any kind of
technical difficulty cuz we

have 20 different presenters.
It's it's. A lot of horses

Terrence, you know, so we wanna
make sure that we avoid as much

technical difficulty as
possible. Yeah, No, I am really

looking forward to it on
Thursday and I'm so excited

that this week is filled with
all things tea and tea learning

because we're all really
excited to have you on on our

webinar on Wednesday. Yeah. So
yeah. one 's really get up on

it. So tomorrow you know we're
looking forward to doing the

trial run with you just waiting
for Alexis and Come on board,

but yeah for you to share your
your thoughts and insights into

you know how the pandemic
pandemic is affecting

everything and you know what we
see for the future so and also

finding out a lot more about
what you do and in the last in

the last two days, you know
I've been doing a little bit of

a little bit of reading up into
your company and what you've

achieved and also we had that
interesting conversation on

Friday about your your your
journey and. you know how

you've infused innovation in in
the tea buying process, which

you know we're all here to
support. I mean for me that is

one of the things that I hope
for the industry, you know,

Senators have breath more
innovation and use technology

in a in a good way to future
proof our industry. so I'm

really looking forward to yeah.
Thank you. thank you for taking

the time and you know a lot of
times. people are like

threatened by they're
threatened by by innovation,

especially something like tea
that the the industry is so

well established. And the
players that are seeing success

are very established and any
kind of new blood or new ideas

or before they even take the
time to listen to it. They're

already threatened. you know
what I mean, they've already

shut their ears like that you
know exactly what you mean.

Yeah. So I appreciate you
giving me the platform to speak

and you know not just about my
business but just about the

concept innovation and that
like I'm not alone that there's

a whole generation of You know
it's so funny when it comes to

the conversation around
millennials and tea business.

The conversation is always
about how do we sell tea to

millennials and it's like no
like we should how do we learn

from the millennials like how
do we learn innovations from

the millennials because people
that grew up on the Internet?

are their their mentality and
their mindset around innovation

and about how things should
work is very different. so you

know I think more than just
being. a valid addressable

market for the tea industry. I
think millennials should be

taken seriously as innovators.
Great and I think it is more of

I think, especially you know
fatigue because you know tea is

always been Associated with
doing good. I think the

question rather than how do we
sell to millennials. It should

be how can we how can we help
them? You know? how can we make

life better for millennials
because they're they're the

future? Essentially you know so
how can we make it interesting

so that more people who want to
drink tea because we know tea

so good. To you, it is yeah,
yeah, I don't I don't know if

that's really gonna be a
challenge. You know I mean the

the market for tea, especially
specialty tea like the high-end

tea kind of like high-end
wines. it's all millennials and

Gen Z so yeah. So oh, I didn't
tell you what T I brewed I

ended up picking a Very old
aged Chung from Gucci from Old

Trees, it's actually made from
only three trees. So 333 trees

did you say yes, so when they
harvested they only harvested

three trees and we're able to
make a full batch of teeth so

the trees are very big. They're
very old, very big. so the tea

has a lot of wisdom to it. Oh,
I'm a bit. so how how old you

think these trees are I'd I
don't know you know a lot of

team merchants' like to assign
a specific age to it. Sometimes

they even say something crazy
like a thousand years old. Who

knows. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know
if that's really an important

ambition for us. I I think the
only way we truly could know is

if we cut the trees down and
counted the rings, which no we

don't want to do that.

So you know, I think it's more
important just appreciate

what's in the Cup. It's
definitely what yeah. yeah.

Yeah. it's definitely over
a hundred years. I could safely

say that, but you know their
House is describe the flavor

before me. so it's it's a
little bit multi which is which

is interesting for poor tea,
usually don't get it's very

sweet very mild and soft. It's
texture is kind of Flowing up

from here so when you first
drink it the all of the the

softness kind of centers in the
Middle of the palette and then

goes down and it's coming
coming up over the roof of the

mouth. So it's not a Super
full. you know softness like

sometimes you would assume from
you know a specialty tea, but

it is yeah. it's nice, but you
know more more importantly

about a tea like this is that
you've gotta like sit with it

for a while. So like ask me
again, you know in 1520

minutes. how I'm feeling and
then I could. Really tell you

what it's it's quality flavor
character not flavor but

quality character is so that's
last year when I did the the

Tea Festival tour, you know so
every year for the past seven

years, I've been attending all
the tea festivals in the US. I

usually have like one
particular subject. I like to

give a presentation on at every
festival so last year my

presentation theme. Was how to
taste high value teas from

China and Taiwan. So you know
it's really exciting that

really good teams from China
and Taiwan are making their way

into the US like I'm sure
you're seeing specialty T shops

and and and K starting to bring
in these like very high

quality. you know classic
Chinese teas and they can get

quite expensive. The price can
be very high and it's true go

to China and you go to a tea
shop there. you can find these

very expensive teas but there.
Is also a lot of fake, you know

lying. It's not really the
quality. it says. it is so you

know everybody always wants to
ask like how do I know like can

you tell me the brands that I
can trust and it's like that's

not my job like there are the
potential of so many great

brands. I you know, I don't
wanna talk about brand

specifically, but what I'd
rather do is empower your

palettes to be able to tell
itself and so the Sun yeah to

discern versus just said. I
only get my tea from this

brand. This brand is the is the
best and that's that's not

always true. I mean some brands
are really good in certain

types of teas and then not in
others or you know some

merchants are really having
good connections and in this

growing region and then the
teeth that they get from other

regions. Maybe they're getting
you know just from the market

and when teeth are coming from
the market, that's when your

chance of. Fit or not
High-quality are much higher

now when the merchant has a
very direct connection to the

producer, then the chances of
the quality being hires is a

lot higher, but you know more
than that. I think that

consumers really need to build
their own their own discerning

palette and you know it's it's
not like wine. You know I I

teach to you do a lot of wine
people cuz in hospitality

that's always kind of a easy
transition. And they always

wanna attach themselves to like
a flavor profile or you know

even mouth feel like that's
getting sophisticated for them,

but in in Chinese, tea, Vine
and high-quality Chinese tea

buying those things are like
kind of secondary. they're

they're less important. and if
you're gonna address aroma,

you're just gonna say it's
aromatic like that's that's

pretty much as deep as you get.
But when it's too much like a

blanket Comment that's already
going, but I mean where they

will it will go into detail and
really will talk about the

tasting and what they're
feeling is when it comes to the

cheap. You know, and that makes
the energy yeah. Yeah. Yup

exactly explain what that
means. so it's it's like cheese

like the word you knew the word
energy. It's like that it's

like from from people's think
of it in a different context

from like from acupuncture or
whatever it is that same

concept, but it comes in tea
and my theory on why T has such

a strong. Absorption of cheese
and expression of cheese is

because of its root system and
very absorbent even on aromas

or are such a fever put tea
into the refrigerator and

always you know it takes up all
the aromas and then also how

you can flavor tea very easily.
I think absorbs flavors and can

hold on to flavors for a long
time the same thing with cheese

and she doesn't just exist it
why does exist in there? I

shouldn't take that back cheese
everywhere. It's like it's the

common thing. you know it's
everywhere, but it very much

exam. Deep in the Earth like at
the core of our Earth like

there's a lot of it. It's like
source of volcanoes and

earthquakes, and all of that,
like that is a lot of powerful

energy and the tea tree has a
very interesting root system.

of course, when it's cloner,
which is the tea that we know

as in India or Africa, or even
in Japan, when you see like the

big rolling Hills of beautiful
Green tea plants like those are

all clones their roots. Grow
horizontal so they don't go

very deep. They kinda grow like
this, but when the tea tree

comes from a seed that grew up
from a seed, the seed grows

attack room that goes deep into
the Earth and the the root

system is just as deep as the
tree is tall. So this tree. I

didn't see this tree, but these
trees like for tea that like

this will come from those trees
can be up to. Feet tall and

that's pruned, you know cuz
they've been the farmers prune

the trees to make the
manageable and easy to harvest

so without pruning the tree
could potentially be even

taller, which means the roots
is just as deep and the cheese

very, very condensed there and
that comes through in the

teeth. so you know polarity all
the tea from Union most of it.

I shouldn't say all of it most
of it cuz there is a big

movement for what they called
Tidy, which is colonel planting

of of of. And once it's a clone
like I said the roots grow

horizontal. so it's not it's
not gonna have as much

potential for the cheese but
poor tea. traditional poor

usually comes from the tea tree
grown from seed and yet the

cheese like always something
that the real consumer is

always thinking about and
talking about is is the chief

of the tea and that's energy
and that's a tea master. It's

not just the the leaf material
and and once you have it, it's

good to go the team master has
a very impor. Job of managing

that cheese and balancing it,
and you know so both are

important. cuz I've definitely
had some old tea tree. You

could tell it's got very deep
roots and had a lot of cheese

to it, but the team master was
not so mindful his intention

wasn't so mindful like the gun.
you know child that we practice

when we brew the tea and so the
cheese was like crazy like make

you high. Which is not what you
need from teeth. I call it

wonky energy. Yeah and make it
make it make you feel like your

head gonna explode. You know
there there is there is a whole

addressable market of mostly
millennial men that are like

constantly pursuing that like
like it's a drug or something

like they like that, but a true
tea consumer. that's gonna

spend the good money on the tea
like they are looking for

peace. They're looking for
calm. Wisdom is more of like

the the word I like to say to
describe it my goodness I have

months you know I I've been a
teen long time. I've been not

ever have heard that in that
perspective and that is

absolutely fascinating right so
good. I love it. I'm riveted.

I'm riveted and I I would love
to to to learn more. you know

about understanding how to
appreciate you from that

perspective because you know.
And I think that is something

we should actually talk about
at a later date with with the

group as well because we're
looking at describing to you

know very much like wine from
Aroma, a character of flavor

perspective, but I think that
is something unique. you know

that he has that particular
dimension that T he has that

whatever you. Just know it
sounds so beautiful and it

makes sense, you know, so it's
something to be considered it

is it is unique to tea. yes I
gave there was a a PHD student

in Prince that asked to
interview me, he was

interviewing all these
specialists from different

industries. He was of course, a
wine researcher so the context

of his research, his thesis was
around wine, but he wanted to

interview what he called Taiwan
Expo. It was the French term

for you know the environments
and around the plant growing

and so you know he had
identified me as a tea temporal

experts and I made sure to
spend most of my interview with

him talking about this thing
cuz his research is how does

Tara affect business the the
market the marketing of a

product and I said, Well, you
know the market that

appreciates tea the most even
though tea is appreciated all

over the world. Every culture
has some element of team. To it

when it comes to like the per
kilo price in every market like

are not Japan, I'm sorry, China
is like by far the most

powerful market for
appreciating very high-quality.

Of course, they have the
commodity. They have the milk

tea trends you know, so there
is you know commodity tea.

That's that's growing there,
but there is this like

incredible a high high net
worth market of of people that

that collect. If you know, it's
like, yeah, absolutely high and

gifts and so I was trying to
explain like if if a team maker

in the United States or in
Europe if they really wanted to

make a high-end product and
more than $20 a kilo, they

wanna make a thousand dollars a
kilo or $2000 a kilo. It is

possible if they go and find
this market but satisfying that

market is not easy because
they're discernment is much

more than just a wine consumer
like like I said, They'll just

say. Aromatic Yeah. Is there a
magic good? Let's move on

texture. So maybe we'll talk a
little bit more about texture

about where it's moving in the
mouth. How it's going down so

texture doesn't end just on the
palette here, it will go all

the way into like your stomach
and sometimes people will say

they're feeling the texture and
their fingertips. It's like how

is that possible and that
that's the cheese I think more

more so than than the actual
liquid. it's the sensation from

that energy kinda flowing
through your body and it could

be interesting and kind of fun
and that. What's gonna decipher

if one of these collectors is
really gonna spend that type of

money and I don't think it's
too much of a niche market to

dismiss it is completely an
addressable market that tea

growers from Europe from
America, which is a challenge

for them. So like my, I told
you did you you did you read

that market feasibility study.
I sent you for the whole I

grown teeth not yet. and that's
okay I come. For going to put

it on my list, oh my God, it's
okay. but yeah, so that was

like my original start and
studying tea was that you know.

and if you read that report,
you'll see that the Hawaii tea

farmers are dealing with a very
big challenge. you know not

only do they have to learn how
to grow tea and learn how to

make tea but like their cost
are so much higher than they

are in India and Kenya. So you
know what they wanna make a tea

that will go into a tea bag.
It's just completely impossible

because the minima. Price that
a Hawaii tea farmer needs to

make for their tea is over $500
US Aquila. That's wholesale

like that's like from the
farmer to like the next Middle

men or the next person that's
gonna buy $500. A kilo is a

very high price for tea. I
don't know if if if you spend

any of that kind of money on on
the teas that you source,

that's a very high
non-competitive price but it's

not an impossible price. It is
very possible to get a. Like

that, if the quality is high
and if you're addressing the

right market, Oh, you're
watching the video they are

trying to deny us feeling
sorry. I don't know if you

heard it but because I
downloaded it. Yeah the stuff

you sent me. I think it broke
up a bit in hear me. I could

definitely hear you. yeah. So
that's the climate change video

with Nigel actually David ended
up emailing me from the

European T Society. Yeah Expo.
Yeah. So I I said, yeah.

totally please share that
video. It's actually a really

nice video. Jennifer Sour from
I don't know who she's working

with now I met her through Tee
journeys, which is Dan Bolton's

publication publication. she
was making some video for that

platform and I was like
donating some contents and

working with her, but she's
like Super passionate filmmaker

trying to highlight a lot of
these really important subjects

and tea and so what the
Northwest Festival she made a

little studio and lay. Backroom
and had asked the three of us

to give a little interview and
she put that together, which is

really nice. Yeah to talk about
what's going on in climate

change, which is threatening
everybody. not just a select

few. Yeah cool, then the best
ones the best ones to survive

are gonna be the the most
resilient.

Or really, really interesting,
I'm gonna put on my list of

yeah first thing. I'll do you
know I know. yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Thank you for. yeah. yeah that
that market feasibility study

is just just like an
interesting kind of study on on

pricing of tea. and at that
time, I didn't work in the tea

industry. so I didn't know the
price of tea. I just knew it

from the farmers perspective
like what are their minimum

prices they need to get and the
more the deeper I get into the

TV. Industry the more I
realized that this is like

impossible, it be impossible to
put five - hundred - dollar

Kilo direct from farm wholesale
price tea into a tea bag. just

wouldn't it wouldn't it
wouldn't work but yeah, I just

finds a different market as
well because someone willing to

pay top top wet for the tea
isn't going to appreciate it in

a tea bag. You want to see
everything you know from the

shape of the leaves to the
experience of how the leaf

smells I mean a tea bag
occasion Tuck it in a Cup put

some water in drink a liquor
that satisfying and then move

on. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know
for how special tea is you know

for humanity like it's it seems
like such a shame, but that's

how some people value it that
that's how some people you know

have their relationship with
teen that way cuz it definitely

is a privilege you know,
absolutely absolutely. But

yeah, you know with the
European Cities in a society

will be very very passionate
about you know making people

well helping people appreciate
tea tea better and specialty

tea like you know what you what
you use. Sauce and and and sell

as well, which is which is
amazing and I think through

small consistent efforts and
doing it together as a whole,

you know, we will definitely
see some change. what I wanted

to ask you is you know about
transparency, which is the

thing that I'm really really
passionate about you know,

making sure that you buy tea
and you pay the right price

fatigue. As well, because I
think a lot of companies you

know sort of maybe some
sometimes might knowing or

unknowingly miscommunicate that
that baby buy from you know but

party and you know not
understand actually what what

type of tea or or what the
value of the tea anyway because

it's been marked up so many
times, so it's not really a

premium tea, but so as a
premium tea and I think it's

really good that you. Trying to
you change that with blockchain

and infusing blockchain and and
that technology within the the

transparency supply chain
making the supply chain more

transparent. How do you do
that? and can you actually

guarantee that the tea you know
is a completely from that

particular farm that particular
batch So the main thing is that

I don't use blockchain for that
and I won't use blockchain for

that. So blockchain is a very
good for me. no, I I'm glad

that you asked that because
there is like a really like a

big misconception around
blockchain and its value, I do

use blockchain for certain
things, but I don't use it for

that and I don't foresee using
it for that in the near future

maybe into the future there
would be a need for blockchain

to to manage those trust-based
transactions. So that's the the

the key takeaway about
blockchain is that you don't

need to understand any of the
technicals of it. It's okay. If

you don't, I don't. I'm not a.
Person I don't understand those

technical things the only thing
that you need to understand

that like I continue to
understand, is that blockchains

value is in that it can be the
host of Trust-based

transactions right, so that's
like if you have a contract or

you have and you wanna like you
wanna buy that contract forever

and let everybody else know
about that contract being there

then yes, then blockchain would
be a good application for it so

Indiana. What? When you're
saying, is that we would use

blockchain to host the
information which transparency

any type of supply chain
involved like an infinite

amount of information endless
amount of information which you

know hosted on the Internet can
be very pricey, You know cuz

hosting information on the
Internet is not free hosting

information on a blockchain
technically is free, but there

still has to be like cuz it's
peer to peer. They're still has

to be an investment from both
those peers to host that

information and the only
motive. To do that would be if

if trust needed to be built
between that transaction, So

that's why it works for money
cuz exchanging money is a

trust-based transaction that
like we all trust that this is

worth this much at this time
and when we exchanges the

Exchange of this value to that
value and so that's that trust

based and for me transaction
hosting information is not

really a trust-based
transaction, so it would be the

cost of hosting it on something
like a blockchain would. Much

more than hosting it on
conventional server or the

cloud you know so I do believe
in transparency in our work is

about hosting all that
information and to a certain

degree verifying that
information but the the thing

that you know we're able to do
it. You know on such a small

amount of resources because our
network is relatively small,

You know we we work with all.
Like 40 - four armors from you

know eight countries. so yes,
there are a lot of transactions

happening and there's a lot of
informal information involved

in that, but it's still
manageable. so yeah by job as

we scale because my vision with
this business is not just to

provide this for tea like I
wanna build like the Alibaba

for the food industry so any
type of food company that needs

to source raw materials would
be able to do that business as

transparently All the way to
the seed and the soil and the

farmers involved in producing
that product and so once we

start getting into that, then
that is yeah the infinite

amount of information but you
know even then hosting that on

the in the cloud and and using
you know like a shared server

somewhere would be far more
efficient and cost efficient

than hosting it on a
blockchain. so the challenge

that you guys the last question
that you ask is how you verify

like us specific. Yeah. Like
like this specific tea came

from those specific countries
by that, yeah. So that's the

million - dollar question you
know and and you say, oh well,

you know we could just put a
little QR code on the on the

package and then you know you
just scan that QR code and that

code will have the data and
it's like yeah, but a different

package can be used or that
package could be counterfeited.

how do you know the tea inside
is what it says it is and there

Easy solution to that you know
as a food scientist, the when

the thing that I think would
work, which is extremely

expensive, but if you are
trying to verify the

authenticity of like an
extremely expensive product,

then it would be worth it to
invest in this kind of

infrastructure would be doing a
savings on the team and so

along with that QR code that
has like here's the origin.

Here's a person that made it.
Here's all of the notes it

would also have. Like a gas
chromatography Mass

spectrometry like read out so
you know like a product, you

can run it through this machine
and it's like magic. I love it

so much. It's like yeah food
side ski geekiness, but there's

a machine that you can put a
food sample into and that

machine will extract all the
volatile compounds volatile

compounds are right what that's
right from a tree? Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Mass spectrometry. Well
mastectomy entry is like

whenever they they like admit
leg. A shock on all the

compounds and it maps out the
identity of that volatile So

yeah, that's what I would say
you'd have to do so you you

could run that sample through
and that would be like that's

basically like the fingerprint
of a food product is you know,

but then anytime you wanted to
verify you'd have to run it

through that machine and it's
not cheap. you know you'd have

to have relationships lot or
you had. Even a lab in House

where you can do that, Hi
Patrick, I love you. This is

my. This is my friend Patrick
from Albuquerque, New Mexico Hi

Patrick. Patrick. I'm Bernadine
Nice to meet you so Bernardino

is from the UK. I recently met
her through the European

Society Patrick's a Potter in
in Albuquerque, New Mexico, not

too far from.

I can't see it looks cool. no
just to sorry. I just to finish

always saying I wish you could
come see us because we're based

in now foods which is my food
innovation Center, Oh cool and

they're food lets and food
scientist that they could

analyze a lot of whatever you
want actually you know and like

samples. They could help create
different textures they could

also look at the nutritional
value of of of teas and other

foods as well it it. It's
really really amazing and it's

a food scientist. I think you
love it. Yeah. No. I do love it

very very welcome to know. I
love to Patrick what are you

making I'm finishing up a key,
said I made yesterday during

the session. Oh my gosh.

So do you only make tea sets
like boutique for the most

part. these days, I make other
things for local businesses

like a cups and bowls and
plates sets and things like

that. But these days, I'm
focusing mostly on teaching

finishing my graduate degree.
And

making tea sets and that's
about it. Very nice, Oh, so you

did Alisa you're you're
basically Mexico. Yeah.

Albuquerque Albuquerque Okay.
I've never been to that part of

other States before they've
been to Las Vegas. Do you know

I every year every year? I want
to go to the the wealthy expo

and I don't know what it is.
But it never happened. I

planned to go with Muzzy. I
have plans to meet her there

and all of it and then this
happens we are. I don't know

what it is honestly as
something is keeping me away.

How do you already booked your
flight and everything sorry had

you already booked your flight?
No. no no, I I I fly him what

you call that. I'm a very last
minute but as soon as I I have.

Intentions to go, I'll make it
happen. You know what I mean,

but I'm a very last minute of
us and so I guess that worked

out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I hadn't
I hadn't made plans actually

because of that video that I
shared with you that climate

change video. They were wanting
to have a a climate change

summit at the the World Tea
Expo, so I would have I would

have gone for that both Oh
maybe but I yeah. I don't know

I mean even October now, it's
so strange how uncertain

everything is. I'm not making
any play now just I making

plans to get. Using the
computer like that's the only

plan I have that I'm trying to
stay focused on that. you're

really good at using it. I
mean, like you know you're.

You're really really good.
Honestly, I think yeah, I think

I'm way behind you at least
yeah, I think you're amazing

that you know you're you're
doing this and I see a lot of

activity on social media.
That's amazing. So Bernie tell

me about yourself. I haven't
really heard your tea story yet

I wanna hear all about it.
Okay, well, I didn't stop my

life in tea so basically so I'm
originally from Singapore

actually and but I live in the
UK now and I came to the UK

when I was 17 and I really
wanted to do medicine. So that

was my my view. That was what I
thought I was going to do so

you know I I I did my. A levels
here which I don't know what

you call it in in the States,
but anyway, from 17 to 19, did

my studies here, which could
applied for school, got a place

but the crisis happened, but
there was a well economic

crisis and my parents couldn't
support me to go to Med School,

which was the best thing ever
really because it set my path

to a different thing, which I
think is where I was meant to

be but I did buy medicine.
science University and then

decided that I would go into ah
marketing and PRP for

communications and I work for
for food brands I work for

fashion brands and ah before
ten thirty I decided I have to

do something that I love so I
started tea and then yeah that

was twenty ten started my key
business and It's been it's

been a fantastic journey. I'm
really passionate about tea. I

designed PR experiences awesome
and the so that that that's the

pot that I absolutely love you
know bringing interesting

experiences to tea and I love
to teach people how to cook

with it how to enjoy it for
different occasions and I

worked well. I thought it my
tea company called Quint

essential and we supply teach.
Hotels restaurants but we also

sell online yeah and and you
know three years ago, I was so

passionate about helping to to
grow and and breathe and

encourage rather innovation
because there is innovation

within the tea industry, but I
think as we had discussed

before I think there's a lot of
change that needs change of

mindset that needs to be
encouraged. so my. together

with some other also very
passionate people like my

children and David says you
know we decided we are gonna

start the society to bring
people together and encourage

innovation and channel which
all within the key value chain

so excellent so one of that
happen visit the European TC

society launch ah we launch
last year properly I mean it is

a not for profit So if you if
you as you can imagine you know

a lot of people off well,
everyone's a volunteer, yeah,

and it is that they have their
own businesses and things they

need to take care of as well.
so they contribute and dedicate

you know as much time as they
can to helping to grow the

society so we started we
founded it about two years ago

and launched last year and then
we're you know properly

bringing. Momentum behind it
and we've got amazing people

powering it you know helping us
to spread the word and and and

help us grow. Yeah, I have any
members do you have oh, I don't

have the the proper figures up
to date, but I I think over

a hundred wow. good awesome.
That's a good story. Yeah. so

so don't wait. Really really
going well and you know a lot

of people want to contribute to
it as a proper you know working

in the Committee so it's it's
it's very very promising and we

speak and you know inspire
people to join us at events and

I'm very sure now that we've
meet the connection with you.

You know you'd be welcome to
come and join us speak with us

and you know well with the
start of Patrick. I don't know

if you're gonna join. On
Wednesday, if you're available,

you know Elise is going to be
speaking at the European

Society, our very first
webinar, which we're very very

excited about and yeah, I'll
I'll promote the link. I'll

I'll be sure you see it,
Patrick and I'll actually be

streaming it to to pagent page
so you can just watch it from

there. awesome. So that's your
teapot. huh. What's wrong?

Quite the spout. It's coming
down. Really, really cool God

going to if you don't mind I I
have some very, very urgent

wealth to finish and it's I
mean the UK here and it's

almost 11 o 'clock. I know so
thank you so much for for

joining. I know it's so late,
but it was that was good to

catch up. Please. it's it's my
pleasure and it's so nice to to

to finally see you. oh my God.
that's beautiful pot, then the

spout oh my God amazing so
little bit it's beautiful it's

beautiful I would love to see
you again as well and if you

are ah you know one of the
regular that hang out here I am

definitely gonna come back now
that I know you know my time

and I'll come and say hi to you
guys again but it was so so

Nice to meet you Meet you both.
and Patrick. We'll see you on

Wednesday as well. I think the
at least like you have. we'd

love to have you.

wonderful wonderful day and
tomorrow yeah we are see you

tomorrow bring the pressure
okay and tell me the

presentation of yeah I'm gonna
do that right finish this yeah

okay bye guys bye good night
away from the UK bye thank you

bye

So fun, Oh, he's me. Yeah. I
hear you. I'm figuring figuring

it out. I'm I'm working on a
pond right now we're and I said

in the pond you got a pond and
see it. Yeah.

Nate Harris building building
upon for the Tea House, Awesome

sweet

Cool pods today and shoveling
dirt and it's nice to get some

physical work in after just
being in front of the screen,

all the time Yup.

So that's cool so you last week
you signed your lease and this

week you're you're starting to
build. That's great. Yeah. we

actually got a jump on it
before the least sign cuz we're

pretty sure we're gonna sign
it. We're just negotiating so

this is this is a couple of
weeks work. We're looking at.

Awesome. So what else what else
Are you gonna build out there

other than just the pond Well
we bought a whole aquaponic

system in the backyard. What's
up my? Mike

So I was just showing them the
pond that we're building in the

back of the tea House.

Comes equipped with the Navy.
That's an indigenous nation.

So, yeah, yeah, I was just
taking a quick break from from

the pond building, but this is
cool. yeah. Mike is good to see

you. It's been a minute. Yeah
man and then Patrick. I'm so

hot. It's nice to meet you yo
Wassup. I see your a potter or

you you you could very
convincing with mimic one I

have been the passes one but
I'll tell you I can't

necessarily call myself one.
Yeah. that's that's crazy.

Artisan talk. That's that's
what it's all real artist and

say, Oh, I don't know anything
about this. I've been doing it

for like 1520 years, but I'm
just a student. That's

basically right. I figured
there's people in this world

that wake up in the Middle of
the night and say you know what

I do this one thing. I'm not
one of them, so I don't call

myself that as much as I can,
that's cool. I respect that

that's awesome. Where are you
based? Patrick Albuquerque

Cool. Are you making tea wear?
Yeah. I'm putting. Other tea

pots that I made yesterday is
session oh ??? that is

awesome. He bought her so hard
to make. I'm not a Potter and

I'm really not a potter at all
but I I've got a lot of friends

partners who who they might not
call himself better so they

definitely are I don't know for
sure and I saw I've gotten

pretty intimate look at the
process of making most of these

wars and spots are Super Super
hard. So that's awesome

eventually. Get used to it and
they kinda just it just

happens. That's awesome. Well,
nice to meet you and I'm based

in Austin, Austin Yup, The Teen
House here that is currently

closed. I'm gonna reopen once
Kobe 19 is done. Nice

beautiful. That's a drastic
change from the first belt you

made the first fact that he
made had like this huge. It was

so long what a little bit.

Oh, we got a party now. Hi Joe.

The dog you got a pooch.

Joe that's my brother. I don't
know if you guys have met yet.

That's my brother Mike I saw
the name.

A boss.

Yeah. Nice to meet you Jeff Do
you guys live near each other.

They do actually. I just met
Patrick. so you guys are in the

same building right now and
it's not telling us or no. no.

no. no no. Oh, no. Michael
Michael actually lives in

Austin and so mom lives in
Austin, which is funny cuz I

thought you know, you said. Do
you live near each other and

they do actually Oh, I was
actually talking about you

again. No. yeah. Michael is in
Austin Okay. But me and my.

That's awesome, we don't do.
not jump in as well and Joe is

based in South Dakota cool

place in the Middle of nowhere.
Is it pretty It's gorgeous man

I live in the Black Hills. so
it's it's different from your

typical South Dakota. You know
this isn't listen to nature

late. What's that isn't South
Dakota An ancient Lake. no,

there's there's I don't know
about any specific legs there's

it pretty ancient territory. I
mean sacred Native American

territory. Think like you know,
it's like Mount basically

Devil's Tower airbender.
There's a lot of like natural.

I can hear it's kind of in the
Middle of nowhere, cool and

Rocky Raccoon is from there. I
don't know who that is that

sounds cool. You know that
there's a beetle song Rocky

Raccoon Okay. Yeah down in the
Black Hills of South Dakota was

a young boy Rocky Raccoon. I
had no idea. I didn't know what

to do it. It's about where you
live. you should go find his

grave. I'm gonna go. I'm
actually gonna write that down

now so that I remember to check
in. Yeah, it's not very rare.

You never hear nobody's ever
like. Oh, yeah, I'm from South

Dakota that I've never had. I
really need help to come in.

Hey guys you wanna get back to
on stuff but it was this was

awesome. This is an impromptu
join for me, but thank you for

hosting. Yeah for sure. Nice to
meet you Patrick have a good

one. Alright have a good day.
Well, that was a nice little

nice little surprise so
dropping it right building upon

somebody somebody stuck about
his his pond building. So he's

got a little tea House down
there in Austin. Yeah, he does

cool. Yeah used to be called
Guan in House they were hosting

a lot of cool events there, but
I think it's like

restructuring. I think he's
just gonna call it West China

Tea House, which is his okay
his brand. That's awesome, We

need more of them there. I
don't think there's a single

one in South Dakota, like 90 -
nine percent. Sure there's not

a single tea House and that's
all state. So that's right.

That's Friday. come in.
eventually, yeah. that's that's

your job. You're gonna make it
happen. That's what I'm here

for. so it's everybody I've
been drinking this age old tree

Shumpert. awesome. Yeah. I'm a
big strong fan. so yeah, it's

got some nice. this is already
been steeped like four times.

It's got some nice. Wow. Yeah.
it's gorgeous. Yeah. How about

you? What are you drinking? I'm
drinking and Chelsea actually

bringing some holy basil and it
is amazing. It's the one day.

I'm not sitting down and have
gone food. I just already had

my brewed and I was like might
as well jump in so but you can.

Sell these little like my mom
and crochet these little cozies

for us. Yeah. And then we just
everything in our life is Mason

jars and basically we're
drinking our herbal teas.

Obviously the tea Leaf is
treated a little bit different,

but the but our herbal teas. we
pretty much drink. I'm always

out of makes and jars and they
sell these whole set ups and so

there's Super cool. Kids good
stuff to say the least

it's still very hot burner so.

Mike What are you drinking?
Mountain Dew from Taiwan? Nice

Nice spring 2014 July Oh you
where you where do you get some

of that chili? you know. it's
like you know around the I

found this like a little sample
was like, okay, I can take that

little sample. Alright that's
expensive team like.

Are you in the business as
well? Mike Yeah, I worked with

at least for the first like
four years building up to the

filmmaker marketing guy. So
you're the one that took on all

the pictures on the website and
stuff videos pictures. Yeah.

Awesome Design. Yeah. Not
anymore, though, or what I'm

sorry no longer no not not in
the everyday No but I help with

like events and the virtual
team what's happening. Michael

Michael's gonna be editing all
of the presentations for the

festival so the whole event is
gonna look really slick. Yeah

awesome so creating like all
the animation and all the

graphics so right. so you're
the tech savvy one. Yeah. I'll

be good. A promotional video
coming up so that everybody to

promote it and get everybody
excited about it. So awesome.

It's Super cool. How fast this
came together they would do

when she was like the night. I
was like what like it's like a

weak man like what are you
doing? Hey? that's pretty cool.

You can do that you know.

Alright. Well, I think that's
kinda the benefit of the online

stuff. It's like you don't have
to. there's it's not a whole

lot of logistics in comparison
to the in-person stuff. So

really, it's just some
networking and some technical

stuff and boom there. We are
you know all my favorite

artists are just doing online
like live streams all the time

you know for no reason
whatsoever that okay, I felt

like playing tonight. Boom
there. They are you know. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean well. that's
the the. Oh, yay. We have

another partner coming. I think
this is gonna be our highest

Potter ratio yet since I
started doing this.

I really enjoy the aesthetics
of Patrick, just like yeah.

I really enjoyed it just sits
there and gives me something to

look at it. It's great. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. No. this is great.

You know Patrick. you should
follow them on Facebook cuz

he's always doing lives and and
he'll just sit up the wheel and

and and make tea wear for you
know I just look the other day

when we first interacted so
cool great. I'm honestly. I'm

very interested in your
partner. I forget her name

Marie Yes yes, he said.
something about you guys do

like a micro batches and stuff
of like custom tee wear. And

like you were doing the
branding like he did for Elias

and stuff, and I'm very very
very interested in that. at

some point, not currently, I
just don't quite have the the

place for it but very
interested in doing something

like that. so they're very
patient people. I can imagine a

lot more patient than me. I
tell you that much okay guys.

so I want you to meet. I want
you guys to meet Jonathan

Steele. He just joined all the
way from Portland. Are you back

in Portland now home in Eugene
Oregon Eugene. I'm sorry. I'm

sorry I used I said Portland
Eugene. Live in Portland so.

So, yeah, John, we got Patrick,
my brother, Mike and Joe from

South Dakota. Yeah, I know how
you doing.

We're good, We're we're just
we're just chatting it up

drinking some tea. We got two
potters like at their work

stations. This is incredible
magical. huh. It's awesome.

It's it's John story. I'm
curious my story like what do

you like? what do you do are
you and the team is or what?

yeah I well. I've been I met
him in the pottery. And I've

been really focusing pretty
exclusively on T wear for about

the last three years. Awesome
never like have been slowly. I

think accumulating the network
and skills to really kind of

jump into the biz, but it's so
far in the last few years has

really been more of like a
passion Learning project and an

investigation and I have yeah,
I've been like really looking

closely at using pots and food
service for us for the last

like three years and making
work for it and when we're done

here me. At least, are gonna
get a recording down for this

thing on Thursday, so I'll have
a demo there sweetheart like a

pottery demo. Yeah assembling a
teapot. I got like little parts

right here. That's awesome man
gorgeous.

Ellison intricate stuff and
that's way over my head. Let's

put it that way. I'm on the
music side of the art spectrum.

I can't really draw stick
figure so. it's yeah. it's a

good popular. Stick figure
Yeah.

Are there any pottery studios
and and Spearfish yeah,

actually it's quite a popular
deal because of our our College

there are at least a couple of
them that I can think of right

off the top of my head, but
nothing is artisanal as tea

wear and if they do, it's kinda
like crude version, you can

tell that they don't really
know the functionality they're

kinda just going off of her
looks. you know so they'll be

like Oh. I can make a tea pot
and you're like alright that's

cool, but it's not you know
what I mean. it's not. It's way

too big egg or you know what I
mean the whole. The whole thing

is huge. just in general like
as far as gung food, It's kinda

hope everybody's head. Yeah. So
lots of gorgeous stuff. don't

get me wrong. You know
everything plates and pots and

bowls and also cups and you
know what I mean pretty much

everything else you can
imagine. but I feel like tea

where in the pottery industry
is kind of its own section. You

know like true gung food
everywhere. It's it's

definitely different than most
of it. so, but yeah, there's a

couple of studios around here I
found I found that you have to

be to really be doing going
food to you where you have to

be really tuned in to the
practice of it right is it like

with with some basic pottery
skills like a year or two years

of of like basic pottery
experience, you can make a pot

that hold steady and foreheads
right. The tea comes out. You

know like that's all. That's
all you think you need to

really start doing it and
you're like please my

experience has been like okay
that poor has to be this like

unbroken perfect stream and the
way that I got the going down

Bay has to be like other
worldly beautiful like it has

to do. It's not then what are
we doing so like right five

years? figuring that out.

Yeah, that's what you get
around. here is those kinda

they're in their solely like if
I find a teapot one of the

studios around here, it's like
an English size tea-pot. you

know it's massive or like you
said that the the spout isn't

isn't made for that gunk food
poor you know, so it's

definitely nobody's really
gotten into that over here yet,

but it it might happen.
Eventually we got a pretty

eclectic community. so maybe
they'll pick it up at some

point after I teach them how to
do going through. Yeah. That's

how it happens. That's kind of
how you know like with Patrick

and Maria when we met you know
through Instagram and they came

for our team festival. I was
like, yeah, come spend some

time in our tea room and they
just totally geeked out. So

like you know the terms this is
like totally gonna like

resonate with that you know and
and a lot of times. It's things

that they've never seen before
like Korean team wear Japanese

tea wear. It's like Whoa, Whoa,
Whoa and you know, I think that

was kind of the start of. You
know I don't know Patrick. I'm

speaking on your behalf. I'm
sorry but you know you're

welcome to.

And so you know you hear
Patrick, he says. Mostly he

does tee where now I mean it's
pretty magical thing and that

like once you once you learn
about it kinda takes over your

life, you know. More
technically difficult and we

blow it. and then from there.

What about clay sources is that
something that you've you've

thought about Jonathan like
finding like local sources of

clay and unglazed stuff and all
that yeah, it's something that

I've like played with a little
bit and it's a whole. It's a

whole rabbit hole to go down
definitely and like plays an

organ are gonna be different
geologically than they are in

China. Or in any other part of
the world, it's like the whole

year. It's like a whole
research project to get into

which. I think at some point,
I'm curious enough about it to

give it to get into it. my my
goals last year, so I'm getting

form really dialed in. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. that's important. I

know Patrick last time we were
hanging out. You were really

excited, you know about finding
an interesting place Orci

around your area. How's that
how's that exploration been

going? you're looking at it?
awesome. Everything that I've

been making and everything I'm
trimming is all was inside of a

hillside last month. Wow
Awesome. Where is that we

purchased a 27 acre working
ranch in Edgewood, New Mexico.

Oh wow. Okay. So this is a part
of an an ancient Deluca mean

Lake that dried out about
90 million years ago and so it

left behind you know trillions
of pounds or whatever billions

of pounds of clay deposits in
that entire basin on the West

side or East side of the
mountains. Awesome beautiful So

lovely lovely have access to
that. Yeah unlimited play for

life. You can't complain.

and how it has all of your are
you doing unglazed on

everything with it or how is
that been bombshells? I'm still

sticking to the testing phase,
so I've brought it to the point

where it's flying at phone
five. so it's pretty dang high

for an actual existing clay
body and I've gone to accept

all my glazes. I'm throwing
with it like a porcelain. I've

filtered in all the way to the
nano scale and right now. Just

doing tests and trying to find
out where the limits are, and

then after that, I'll start
testing it for like Barclay

ponds.

Yeah, cuz we had we had another
friend that was playing around

with Unglazed stuff, but it
like ended up finding that it

had like a kind of negative
impact on the the brewing of

the tea. yeah, it depends on
the clay. The manufactured

place are just like two days.
Yup always wanna use it.

Ask them if it was a naturally
occurring clay body was a

manufactured products that they
purchased. Yeah cuz that's what

they put like additives in it.
What was the question they put

additives in it or or why? why
is that? I'm sorry like, for

instance, one of the most
popular play bodies as a

chocolate clay body that they
sell here in the Southwest and

that's colored with manganese
and you know it's all

chemicals. So though you got
bang and he's just sitting

inside of your free and open
water movement is gonna Beach

chemical or a taste or taste or
color. I mean that's what

chemicals are right. Yeah. Yeah
cuz I remember like. Mark

Goodson with Eric Glass and
they did like two days of just

like full like remember that.
And we talked to like I've

said, it's a manufactured
product. so of course, it's not

gonna happen. It's gonna have
deleterious effects, but the

other thing too is that I don't
believe he sees them either so

that that might have been a
factor. Everything comes down

to this. It's crazy crazy
learning curves.

Yeah, but crazy. you know it's
a lot like a cake making you

can go out and buy or change
you can buy a case to decorate

you know you can buy a cake mix
you know and add your eggs and

like your flavors. you know you
can buy the ingredients the

flour the eggs or you can go
what Patrick is doing is he's

like milling his own wheats. He
was a chicken and you know for

the eggs. You know that that's
kind of that's more Patrick's

app right now with this play
body as opposed to most most

be. Will buy at somewhere in
between the the Cape ready to

decorate to the cake mix if you
will yeah, yeah, so they're you

know cuz that's kind of a fun
thing too about any discipline

or art form like a teenager or
pottery is that you know

there's no wrong way to enjoy
it and as long as she's just

gravitate and focus on what you
enjoy and what makes you happy,

you know and there's so many
different avenues that you can

take surface treatments growing
like Patrick does. Building you

know different types of firings
play bodies and the sky look.

Cuz I mean, don't forget your
your toilet is days degree a

porcelain Bowl and everything
are you are you trying? are you

trying to hit that you guys are
gonna start making toilets and

have enough play to do it.
Handcrafted toilets

The price on those they
actually exist there. Yeah.

Alright guys well I think I
think John and Jonathan and I

need to hop off and and record
our little segment for

Thursday, but I really
appreciate that you guys came

on and Patrick Thank you so
much for for sharing your work.

It's so peaceful like everybody
loves it whenever you come on

and do this cuz you could just
be in the corner doing your

work and that's what we do. And
we got some awesome much and

enjoy during the during the
fancy.

Alright guys. Well, Hey, I'll
I'll be doing this again

tomorrow and near, of course,
you're welcome every day

whenever you wanna come and and
just have fun and have some

laughs but yeah hope you have a
beautiful day. Yeah, you don't

forget to send it to you.
Jonathan Thank you. nice to

meet you. Yeah. see you in a
second.