Tuesday, May 5, 2020 - Culture, Respect, & Tea

We've been celebrating this
American holiday today and I

say it's an American holiday
cuz it's really important to

differentiate. That it is an
American holiday.

How's everybody doing today
having a wonderful Tuesday,

making it through the week?
Alright looks like we're live.

Happy Cinco de Mayo everybody
happy Tuesday. It's boys day in

Japan. Cool Awesome good to
know well, we'll have to

celebrate all the boys. I don't
remember boys day when I was

there, but actually I had
already left Japan by May

fourth.

So you know, I wasn't there to
see that holiday but I did see

Girls day so I assume it's
maybe something similar to

that, but instead celebrating
the boys.

So yeah, I made some Mexican
food today, which you know,

I've said that this is an
American holiday but it's an

American holiday that's is
about the Mexican identity and

which is really fascinating and
it makes me think about some

kind of overlap issues involved
in tea culture and so what

I'll. About today is the
importance of understanding the

cultural history of something
you know in order to

respectfully celebrated or
perhaps whatever whatever it is

that you want to be so yeah.
happy Cinco de Mayo I boys stay

in Japan and it never gets cut.
Yeah, it's better from Facebook

Priscilla than on the
Instagram. I really only like

have the Instagram going so
that people catch me on

Instagram. They'll know that
I'm live and can go see it from

Facebook or YouTube or Twitch
or whatever so Tess informed me

that they call it Children's
day two iris leaves look like

swords to arrangements are made
of Iris on five so in. And this

is also you know a celebration
of sorts. I'm not familiar with

that. so I'll have to do my
research but you know just

referring to Cinco de Mayo,
which is a very popular holiday

here in the States. I'm sure
you're gonna see lots of

pictures of tacos and dogs and
sombreros and you know

typically if we weren't
isolating ourselves you'd see

people at the bars, drinking
Mexican beers and and eating

Mexican food and Mexican
culture and that's really what

this holiday has become here in
the States and everybody

celebrates it not just the
Mexican Americans but everybody

celebrates it. I just wanted to
give a little bit of

backgrounds of the history of
this holiday. It's origins and

where it is now so Cinco de
Mayo is a celebration of

originating from Mexico, so
there is truth to that. you

know it's. Celebrated as much
as it's celebrated here in the

States and so that's that
evolution so the holiday itself

the origins of the holiday it
commemorates when the Mexican

army had a victory over the
French empire in the Battle of

Puebla in May fifth 1860 - two
so you know very similar to the

stories of other you know major
National holidays celebrating

some of the. Pendants or some
type of victory over you know

past colonization or or what
not in the 1863 so the

following year people of
Southern California started to

celebrate the Cinco de Mayo in
solidarity with with Mexicans,

you know so this Okay. Was kind
of the origin of the connection

between American culture and
Mexican culture that there is

some level of solidarity and
one little tidbit that I've

come to find out recently is
that people don't always

immediately know is that.
Mexico is part of North

America, so you know what I've
come to learn through a couple

of people's different
perspectives is that they

assume that only Canada and
United States or North America,

Mexico was a part of Central
America. this was something

that I had learned you know
even when I was kid that's

Mexico is a part of North
America and I always felt that

way you know I grew up in South
Texas or you know, spent four

years of my childhood in South
Texas, and so yeah, definitely

I remember so much overlap and
so much connection between

Mexico and the United States.
Of course, now, I think that

vibe is is very different than
when I was growing up but it

wasn't a surprise to me. just
seemed very common sense. That

Mexico and the United States
were were within the same

continent. We're within the
same, you know I wouldn't say

culture but continent. It's the
only word I can think so not my

friend. You know he wanted to
do a little bit of a polling to

see how many people knew that
Mexico is a part of our same

continent or of North American
continent. so just a little off

a little off subject there Bye.
May is not at all important. it

is it's important for what it
represents of cultural respect

and I'll get to that later in
the conversation. right now I

just kinda wanna introduce you
know the history of Cinco de

Mayo and what it means now so
in the 19 thirties the holiday

evolve from being you know the
solidarity with Mexican

independence to. To be like to
celebrate Mexican identity and

to promote ethnic consciousness
and build community solidarity

versus you know just Mexico as
a country solidarity and and so

now since the 19 thirties here,
we are almost a hundred years

later and the the holiday has
definitely evolved even more

and it's recent years has
brought up the conversation

around cultural appropriation
and That is what's I wanna talk

about today especially in
regards to tea cuz this

conversation does come a lot
about Priscilla. Thank you for

sending us pictures. I'll check
them out after I finish this so

Priscilla is just educating me
about boys day, which may fifth

in Japan is an important
holiday. I've just come to

learn so that's that's good to
know. Get my tea going, I've

decided I'm going to drink
some. Kuhn I just ate a very

heavy meals so for the first
time ever in my life. you know

in celebration of of Mexican
identity, which I am half

Mexican and so this will be a
part of that conversation, too

Is yeah. I'll get to that later
but in celebration of Cinco de

Mayo, I decided to make some
Mexican dishes that I never

made before or even ever
ordered before I never ordered

this at restaurants. you know
one that they tend to be.

Expensive and I've come to
learn now why because it took

me hours to cook, but I made
from scratch a mole, which is a

chocolate or cacao. In this
case I use cacao it is oh

something happened to my
computer and let me go fix it.

That's strange.

Alright looks like have to rig
it up somehow.

Bye. You guys. Oh, let's see
that should be good. Yeah.

Bye. Alright, now, I'm a little
too high.

We have a prop for my screen.
Bye. Very strange, I never had

that happen before I think we
should be all good now. It's a

little off. Thanks, Hey, Byron
go. How are you doing? Bye.

So, yeah, it looks like this
camera' is a little off. let's

see if I can get it up here we
go no. I'm okay. yeah, so I was

talking about making Moet Yeah.
I started cooking at like eight

O 'clock last night and it
wasn't ready for eating until

about how is it chak up? I
didn't get to enjoy until about

10 'clock two Byron. Thank you
for the well wishes you stay

well as well. and I prepared to
Bowl in a Mohit, which is the

stone pistol, pestle and mortar
that's usually used for you

know, grinding spices and
whatnot. so yeah, it was a lot

of effort, but it was an
amazing heavy meal. and so now

I would like to drink some.

To help. Digest and help things
flow better. You have something

happen like the little clip
that you know, let's you adjust

where the screen goes at it
like snapped or something, and

so I had to rig something up to
keep it up.

So what does all this
conversation have to do with

tea? You're probably wondering
well it has to do culture and.

This is very controversial
conversation and I'm sure

everybody has different
perspectives on this and I'm

going to hold space for
everybody's perspective I think

it's important in this
conversation, regardless of

what opinions or not opinions
that you have about. It's

really important. it is it's
very good after heavy meal,

especially when with so much
like cheese and everything was

pretty much kind of cooked in
bacon grease so really oily

meal. I think it'll be my only
meal of the day, but it was so

delicious like really Moises
may not only from chocolate,

but it's also. With a lot of
roasted or you know, charred

Chili's, so it's really spicy
And it and then also you will

roast a lot of other spices
such as cummin and a niece and

cinnamon and and those all up
so it's got like a really deep

spice to it but also a
sweetness too, and I've served

it with plantain. so it was
very nice contrast all these

different flavors together I do
recommend. If you guys have

lots of time and looking for
interesting things to cook,

people say that Moll is
impossible when I went to the

next market to buy ingredients
and that was like my only time

I've gone to the market during
this entire Stay at home order.

I you know, I didn't know that
the market has like this huge

selection of Chili's dried
chilies different colors,

different flavors and I'm not
very well but well versed in

chili. so I asked the guy
working in the produce section

for some help and when I told
him I wanted to make moll, he

says. Oh no here at the jar
like he took me to the aisle

that had all the Jarrod sauces
and such and I was like no no

no, I want to make it from
scratch. I wanna make it myself

and he says, Oh, no, you don't
wanna do that too many

ingredients you don't wanna do
that. I said. Well, I

definitely don't wanna buy this
jar. you know that would be the

last resort for me. I'd rather
you know make something else

that is a bit easier or have
the ingredients for then and

then you know preparing
something from a jar and he

says, Okay, If you insist and
you know he's trying to take me

around the whole store to buy
everything that I need and I

said you know, I think I have
everything actually. I think

he's like what about the
chocolate. Need a special

chocolate, I said. Well, I have
rock cacao. I think that like I

can't you know, I can't go
wrong with that. which you

know, I don't think rock cacao
like the form that we have like

ceremonial grade cacao. it's
typically used in Mollie but it

came out great. so it's doable
and also putting the mole into

the the The Mulcahy, which is
the stone pestle mortar usually

there's like a I've researched
on. You know, I've never

ordered it in a restaurant cuz
it's usually like $50. It's

really expensive dish cuz it's
like stacked with all these

ingredients and shrimp and all
these things I didn't see one

with like a mole sauce or salsa
inside of it. It's all like a

tomatillo which you know, Moll
does have to with the in it,

but not like specifically moll
but it tastes great in it too.

So two things that are.
Culturally traditional worked

out fine and so that sideways
into what I wanna talk about in

regards to tea in culture and
that's there's this and I'm

only gonna say this once
because I don't like saying

this word and from here on out,
I'm going to change it.

There's one recipe for each
family. yeah, I mean.

You have moll is the chilis
roasted chilies papis, so it's

very important ingredient in
it. That's a pumpkin seeds you

roast those as well and several
other types of seeds and from

what I saw on the Internet.
There's several different

recipes and ways to put it
together. So I just put

together whatever ingredients I
had and it came out. it came

out really nice. You know you
put all those things into a

blender with some chicken
stock. So you know it's

important. To have some bone
and chicken to start making

chicken is the traditional meat
that you would put into muli

and so you know you just kind
of basically cook the chicken

like boiled the chicken really
lightly and then separate the

meat from the bone and then
with that bone you can make

stock and then that stock is
what you put in with the the

roasted chilies and the roasted
seeds and the spices and you

blend that all together until
it's like a sauce and then you

add the chicken. With that and
slow cook, it's good to slow

cook the chicken cuz then the
sauce really gets into the

chicken and the cacao goes in
the blender when you blend

everything up. That's when you
put the cacao as well and so it

ends up being sweet and like be
spice and and then from the

cacao you get kind of that
like. That's like Bess in the

back of the. Boy's a little
upset cuz he wasn't able to eat

any of the muli cuz it's got
cacao in it and it's not safe

to get out to the dog could get
very sick. so yeah it's not

impossible, but you know a lot
of people do say things are

impossible. you know and really
into tea. the one word that I

was gonna say that I'm not
gonna say again. I just get out

of the way now is the word
cultural appropriation and.

Bye. My new family, The thing
is if I make it again, I won't

make it the same way so you
know I don't. I'm not a big fan

of recipes. I never really
cooked with recipes. I just

cooked what I have and and use
my knowledge of food and

understanding of food to know
how it'll best taste and come

together. but yeah, you're
right. I have my new. I

wouldn't call it a recipe. I
have my new cultural confidence

or confidence produce something
like that. So this word that I

will not repeat again because
it's negative. It's negative

word. It is demonizing word,
which you know when we talk

about change when we talk about
progress, I think it's really

important that we never
demonize things cuz once you

demonize things you're creating
this whole new negative path

that you're potentially gonna
go down in a potentially going

to convert this wrong path or
not wrong with negative path.

It's a negative path to this
negative path and so I'm a big.

Of having a focus on a positive
path, so the new word that I

use and I'll be using this word
throughout this presentation

today is cultural bestow right
so to be bestowed something is

to be given something and
consensually given something

and that's the big difference.
Here. you know the other word

that I had used indicates theft
that you took some. That's not

rightfully yours that you took
something that someone didn't

consent for you to take and
that's a pretty serious claim

to be made and that claim is
being made all the time and you

know everybody's talking about
the sensitivity with our modern

times that everybody is too
sensitive and overly sensitive,

and that's fine our whole space
for that as well. again, the

positive path positive path is
to be empathetic and understand

someone's perspective that
there's validity to it. so if

something if someone's. To
something this validity to it,

maybe they need to be
introduced to an increased

perspective to help them see
beyond the negative, but

there's validity to them
feeling that something's been

taken from them someone's
disrespecting them. There's

validity to that. But in that
same note, there's also some

demon demonization that happens
and shaming that happens and

shaming doesn't always work.
And creating progress and

helping someone realize when
they're making a mistake and

potentially disrespecting or
harming someone else. so when

it comes to culture and people
use this with this word and

culture and and Cinco de Mayo
is probably the most hotly

contested cultural theft that
people criticize you know at

least in American culture,
people say Oh, this is just

your excuse to go drink
margaritas and drunk. Eat tacos

maybe. of course, is someone
who is celebrating Cinco de

Mayo with understanding the
significance of that holiday

and like I said this holiday
now has evolved to meaning a

celebration of the identity of
Mexican culture in the United

States, which is powerful and
legitimate. you know even if

you're not Mexican, you can
still celebrate it and even if

you are Mexican having a
lineage of being Mexican like I

do my mom is a hundred percent
Mexican her family. Both sides

of you know both her mom and
dad are from Mexico. you know

my my my dad's side is is
definitely not, but I do have

that identity and it's
completely valid for me to

either feel like my culture's
disrespected or to feel like I

don't identify with that
culture goes to be honest. I

don't have a strong connection
with the side of my culture.

that's my story and that's okay
too. doesn't mean that only.

People that own that culture
and grew up in that culture and

by all, I mean it just having a
strong identity and connection

to that culture doesn't mean
that they own the whole

culture. This means that is
their culture is you know

parallel to that even in owning
that culture, it doesn't mean

that You don't have to feel
offended or not offended like

there's there's legitimacy to
this and how it relates to tea

is that there are people that
grew up with tea being a common

part of their culture. And and
then there's others that have

put in the work to make it part
of their culture and this is

more So you celebrate all these
different holidays and you know

because you're doing it out of
love and respect and

understanding of the origin of
those holidays. It's almost as

if you've taken ownership of
those cultures and the only way

you can take ownership of those
things that they're bestowed

upon you. so you know people of
that culture taught you and

welcome you into their culture
and then yeah, you're

completely allowed to celebrate
them or not celebrate them

whatever you want to do now if
you celebrate those things and

especially if you. Profiting
you know, generating some type

of value, Usually it's
monetary. usually it's like

business. related if you start
profiting off of those other

cultures that haven't been
bestowed on you. you know

that's that's serious and that
can be severely offensive to

people and we see that all the
time with and what was the

major case that people really
went crazy for was a company in

Chicago that took. A trademark
so like not only were they

profiting off of it, They were
like trying to protect

themselves and protect like
legally protecting their

ownership of that culture. they
started a Poké shop so poke is

a really popular raw fish dish
from Hawaii. It's kind of like

Sashimi, but not it's it's a
very Hawaiian thing and it's

very popular in Hawaii. It's
very popular in Hawaii, but

then has become popular
everywhere else and that's

perfectly fine. You know like
it's a healthy dish if you can

get access to the ingredients
like yeah, if you've learned

how to make it, you should
share it and the proper way to

do would be to share it also
with the education of the

culture of where it comes where
it came from instead of trying

to have ownership and so this
company in Chicago called

themselves Aloha Poke. Or the
Aloha Company, I forget

something with Aloha and they
trademark the word Aloha which

is like the most common word in
Hawaiian language. It means

hello goodbye. I love you. the
You know the deepest form of

love and spirituality in the
world like it's a very

important word. That means like
tons of different things, and

this company has a trademark on
it and actually used to that

trademark to protect against
other companies that we're

trying to. Call themselves
Aloha I don't know if it was

like just poke companies, but
it was like yeah Aloha anything

with Aloha, they were actually
like trying to to to have

lawsuits to protect their
ownership of that word, which

is a very cultural thing, and
there was this huge backlash

because we feel like you don't
own Aloha like even Hawaiians

don't own Aloha like a true
Hawaiian like the the core of

that word means not ownership
It's a little side tangent

about Aloha. you know
definition that was described

to me is that Aloha Aloha.
Those are three different words

or three different ideas put
together into one word means

the Exchange of breath. So how
is your breath? So like when

you say Aloha, if you feel
like, say it with your real

heart of the heart should be
you know your breath coming

from your soul coming out. so
to connect to your. And your

breath is your soul when you're
saying hello to someone or when

you're saying goodbye to
someone you're essentially

saying, I connect my soul with
you. Oh wow. that's incredible.

It's so powerful and yes,
Priscilla. it's like having a

trademark on the word. Namaste
Namaste is almost like Aloha

very similar and very similar
and attention of from those two

different cultures. So you're
exactly right it is like having

a trademark on. On Namaste and
not even having that trademark,

but also like protecting that
trademark feeling that you have

a right to tell someone else
that they don't have the right

to use that word and marketing
their product. so yes, these

are like the controversial like
very negative sides of what I'm

talking about today and I said
the word and I'm not gonna say

it again. the opposite is
cultural bestow and so creating

the path to this positive way
of the stone of respect of.

Connection is not demonizing
these things. So you know I

just like I want you to be very
cautious and I I keep myself

in. check all the time too.
whenever I do hold one of my

friends or peers accountable
for when they're disrespecting

someone else's culture to not
demonize what they're doing.

just like I don't want to
demonize plastic or do you know

they're they're there are more
effective ways to communicate

the positive path to someone
where they will actually hold

space for what you're saying
cuz as soon as you team and I

are something you know like or
someone they'll put a Wall. To

protect themselves from you
know being called a bad name or

from being thought of as a bad
person so I think it's

important, you know if you see
someone practicing Chinese tea

to not immediately attack them
is you're not Chinese. You're

not allowed to practice that
that is a. That's a slippery

slope and no one 's gonna
listen to you. If you say that

no one 's gonna say, Oh, you're
right. I'm not chinese-I should

go study like that's not gonna
be the response you're gonna

get

We're celebrating their stories
and their traditions when you

start talking about cultural,
the and tea, it's much more

important. when you're talking
about the more ritualistic part

of the culture a ceremony
specifically and when I do a

presentation around this
subject that T festivals or

whatnot, I always title, you
know, knowing the difference

between two service and tea
ceremony. TM. Is a more

structured thing, and no one
knows that more than you

priscilla of of knowing the
culture and the importance of

respect and study before you've
been bestowed the right to be

first to practitioner and then
eventually a master right and a

master is someone that would
never actually saw identified

as a master like that's a
title. that's usually granted

to you from someone else in a
title that you never actually

reflect upon yourself.

Hi Oliver Good see you on this
catching up on your comments.

I like how you say that you say
indeed have be careful

arguments at least initially is
a very good way to argue a

debate perspective and you may
gain an ally and instead of

putting down an enemy. That's
exactly true. So like once you

start demonizing things and you
know creating like a negative

viewpoint and and you start out
that way like you immediately

attacked someone like you're
only potential there is going

to be an enemy is going. Be
somebody that feels attacked

and feels like you're not in it
for their best interest. so I

always think it's very
important to start out any type

of argument or any type of
controversial conversations

around you know, love and
understanding. you know God we

could be in such a different
place if like our diplomacy was

run out, it's it's pretty
crazy, you know cuz that's

that's exactly the reason why
so. Many of these like world

conflicts have become so
escalated is because it you

know it started out with
feeling like one little attack.

That's just snowballs into like
this deep hate and lack of

understanding of each other. so
yes, always with love is very

important. So in regards to tea
ceremony, this is a very

important subject because a lot
of people that are new to tea

or new to seeing this type of
service or this type of

experience will automatically
assume that it's a ceremony and

that's a valid perspective, but
it's also a valid opportunity

to educate that person about
this being just a service. and

so that's why I'm always like
really fast to tell people that

it's a part of my practice. Of
informing people immediately,

you may decide that your
practice is to slowly inform

people and let them discover
for themselves. I guess I just

don't have a lot of patience
and I'm a very direct

communicator. so I just
immediately wanna let them know

this is not a ceremony. I'm not
a-team Master. I am simply

pouring a Cup of tea for you
like let's just sit and connect

and talk and enjoy this
experience together. That's it.

Like there's a culture here and
I'll explain to you all the

culture of everything that I
have here and where they came

from and the significance of
them and what they mean for me

and what they mean from the
places that they come from but

I'm not owning any culture.
Here-I'm just simply

celebrating it and these are
all cultures that have been

bestowed upon me. You know
there's no like cultural

stillman police or no cultural
stillman certificates that you

collect it's a feeling in your
heart. You know that you just

you know this is. Become my
family, This has become who I

am you just know it where it
becomes dangerous and this

especially happens in the
marketing of tea and you know

this has been a conversation
that I've had over and over

again in these live videos
around the struggle of making

business and finding marketing
power in the marketing voice

and specialty is that a lot of
people that get in the business

of tea and not always. You can
always just be the ego just ego

just the personality of being a
tea person. be a blogger or a

writer, or you know just
somebody in the community that

likes to hold space around tea
for people they will assume

these cultural titles feeling
that they're necessary in order

to accomplish a marketing goal,
so someone calling themselves

a-team master calling
themselves. or calling what

they're doing a tea ceremony,
even though they've never

actually even gone to a
Japanese or Korean or Taiwanese

or Chinese tea ceremony. but
just feeling like Oh you have

this looks like a ceremony. It
feels like a ceremony. so this

is this is my ceremony

They say the most chaotic
regions of the world, or at

least diplomatic you're right
about that. I wouldn't I

wouldn't agree with you though
that American diplomacy is I

mean it is you're right, you're
right. It is and a lot of it.

We're talking yesterday about
transparency in the culture of

just being upfront that is to
the benefit in America's

diplomacy is that there's not a
whole lot of like secrets or

you know information with
health in our diplomacy but

then there is you know it's
like to your face. There's not

but behind the curtain. There's
a lot and a lot of that is

fueling the the chaos and the
lack of diplomacy in these

other regions of the world that
you're talking about cuz I've

lived in those regions. so
yeah, I'm I'm very passionate

about that. I hope that this
conversation, I'm having today

now I probably have maybe like
12 or 15 of you guys coming in

and out of this conversation
like my goal is that this is a

seed you know of a
conversation. That will work

its way up like the work. It's
way up. you know to those

powers that be that that do
kind of control our diplomacy

and the way that's our world's
in our culture's connect so. It

is a very difficult topic. It
is an extremely difficult

topic. there's no harm done.
I'm a-team master. Did I hurt

anybody? No but it's not truth
and there are people that have

dedicated their life to a
culture to acquire level of

Mastery and not that they did
that because they wanted to

become a master like they never
would you never would survive

investing so much. Into a
practice if that really was

your was your motivation. If
that was your motivation, you

just find some online course
and you know pay a couple

thousand dollars to get this
certificate. if you're gonna

invest your life into something
practicing with the ultimate

outcome of becoming a master
your intentions are much

different. your values are much
different than someone that's

self calling themselves a
human. Or any kind of master

but it's it's it's a
disrespectful. And let's say

you open up a tea shop and you
have a smoke machine when you

come up inside the room and
there's like a gong that will

play off whenever you go sit at
the tea-table and we have just

like standard person. Maybe
they grew up in China and they

could walk in and they're like
what is this. This is not

authentic like it's like this
is just something comfortable

that we sit. With our aunts and
our uncles and we just drink

and connect and talk.

so I mean in that case it could
be detrimental to your image

with customers like that, and
that customer could then go on

and tell someone else about it
but people feel authenticity

and it will end up coming
through so it will end up being

detrimental to your brand. If
you you are being inauthentic

and it's not to. That you can't
have an authentic Chinese

Japanese Korean Indian cultural
elements to your tea House. I

highly encourage that that's
how my team is. unfortunately,

we're not in there, but if we
were, I'd be able to pan the

camera around and show you the
collection of different arts

and decor that's in there and
even the utensils used in

brewing the tea or kinda from
all over the place and that's

perfectly fine too. so it
doesn't mean. Like in order for

you to like respect the
culture, you have to be like

a hundred percent committed to
it and into it and you have to

like marry into that culture in
order for it to become be

bestowed upon you it's a lot
simpler than that and you know

I think if we would demon not
deem demonize this whole

concept of stealing someone's
culture, it would open a lot

more space for people to have
these simple conversations and

to develop this confidence.
it's the same thing with the.

Sexism, You know, I have such
an issue with how the me too

movements and how the feminist
movement is handling these

conversations because it's like
it's all or nothing type of

thing. It's been polarized just
like everything else and you

know what we are all
responsible even myself. I am

responsible for discrimination
against different people

including people within my own
identity of my own culture. We

are all responsible and there's
simple conversations that we

can we can have with each other
to create those cultural

understandings but if you
demonize it and and and make

people feel like Oh, you know
the only people responsible for

the ones that are like
extremely violating and there's

no Middle ground. There's
always a Middle ground and

we're all part of it and that's
the whole nature of the. No one

is outside of that I don't
think. But yes, you're right

Oliver T here to talk about
tea. This tea is really good.

It's really helping me. I don't
know if you've seen a change in

like my flow of speech but it's
definitely Definitely helping

my mind flow helping my stomach
settle. I'm not feeling so

sluggish. I was feeling very
sluggish after that big meal I

had so Priscilla says I think
my Japanese Sensei team Masters

so there we go. There's a
proper team master a life

invested generations,
implicated a lifestyle and even

him doesn't call himself.
A-team master exactly. so

that's exactly what it is so
like. This title of Master

doesn't even have value to it
if the people that actually

possesses that title don't
attach value to it, They're

attaching value to their life
invested into the generations

that have been invested into
his lifestyle. that's where the

is not in the title of the
master. Yeah, so I need to wash

your hands. so on new video
I've had this conversation with

so many times before so this is
not a unto thing with him. This

tends to be a conversation had.
I'm not sure he has that

conversation a lot in his tea
House. you know not just

related to tea, but all types
of things you know this this

conversation of cultural theft
is is really popular among the.

Called spiritual community lack
of a better word.

Even fashion, they say, Oh,
you're not allowed to wear that

thing cuz you're not from that
culture. BS like yeah, if

you're trying to wear that
thing and you don't understand

the significance of it. you
don't understand that that

thing is like really only
supposed to be worn at this.

you know particular ceremony
Vidya you're disrespecting it,

but you know if someone
traveled to that place made

friends people within that
culture and people gifted them

that thing and we're edy. On
how to properly wear it and

enjoy it and make it a part of
their culture. then that's

perfectly fine. so yeah a lot
of spiritual communities like

tend to have these
conversations. you know around

what's appropriate. So you know
this year, I've come to learn

that the term Gypsy which is a
very popular term in a fashion

Lexicon, especially among the
spiritual community. it's an

offensive term, so we're not to
use that term, Gypsy style or

gypsy. I mean I guess unless
you're really a gypsy, I mean

or whatever that means or you
know you've got to describe to

people. what context you're
trying to use that word and The

but you know that that whole
movement of that word becoming

so popular was for the most
part. designers is that we're

trying to describe the style
and so they just inherited this

word, which actually you know
mean something so yeah, these

are all very hard conversations
to have and at the same time I

think it's it's important to
get not to demonize them

because some people are doing
it like purely out of ignorance

and there's nothing wrong with
ignorance ignorance. So you

haven't been exposed to that
perspective yet in your life

and once you've been exposed,
then you'll be fine and you can

move on. and then after that
point, then you can choose to

be stupid and once you do that
that's your choice. and that's

that's what you need to work
on. so in in those two things

if you want to increase your
wildness of sorts, first work

really hard to increase your
perspective to reduce your

ignorance and then stop the.
Stupidity After that, like

that's the one, those are the
two things that you have

control of and those and those
two areas and we are all like

capable of both things but
we're also very capable of

controlling both of those
things and increasing our

consciousness and understanding
of the world. So, Oliver says

he prefers an authentic joy of
tea more than anything else The

board Chinese sons of teas
store owners in Seattle, don't

lose enthusiasm for the job or
even though they know a lot.

that's an interesting
perspective. I mean, and I

think that that could also be
culturally appropriate to like

the board Tea House, the Suns
you know, like even though we

all love the experience of tea
like for a kid that grew up in

a tea shop like we could we
should totally be sympathetic

and understanding of them being
bored. You know like it's not

the. Exciting novelty like it
can be for us. you know, I

think maybe the novelty has
worn off on people like me or

you know some of you that have
been drinking tea for years and

years. But for someone that's
never experienced a gun food or

somebody that's never
experienced. a tea ceremony

like the novelty level is Super
high. The excitement to

experience that is incredible
but you know the kid that grew

up in the tea shop, You know,
probably not. Feeling the same

way, and you just got to hold
space for that and

understanding of that and
that's their culture. Now, of

course, if you want to like
tell them, hey, you know like

I'm I'm I don't know I think
saying the word I'm envious is

not the right way, but that
would be an effective way of

doing it, but just saying like
I would be grateful. If I was

you, I don't think that's
offensive the point that out to

somebody else. Sometimes people
need that people need to be

reminded that they're
privileged or their culture or

who they are something special.
That is you know meant to be

cherish. And awesome, you know
so.

Bye. Whether or not a term or
concept is harmful depends on

context, that's true. It's all
about context. That's all we

have to fully listen always
listen to the entire story.

Seattle definitely does have a
nice tea culture, very

knowledgeable

Established and pretty
authentic for the most part, I

mean, even that story of the
the the board kid and the Tea

House. It's very authentic. You
go to a tea House in China.

That's exactly what you're
gonna experience too. So it's

it's pretty on point. There are
other places that are not

there's this one guy I won't
name names, but there is one

tea House in Seattle that is
not authentic one bit, and it

would be authentic if the guy
was just like honest of saying

this is my Coulter I've made
the tea that I sell here is

from just this tea trader in
China that I met and I wanna do

business with and this is the
way I've chosen to do my

business, but no that is not
what's introduced to you when

you enter the House when enter
the House. there's literally a.

There was a smoke machine when
I went in there. I don't think

I saw it, but there was there
was a smoke machine. a big

beautiful wooden goung fud
tea-table and he's doing the

Kung Fu, but the tea is not
good. he's definitely buying it

just from some market trader
but claiming that it's all farm

direct and you know, artisan
made and everything is like

authentic and real and That
doesn't feel authentic, you

know, I haven't returned to
that House. I have no plans of

returning to that tea House cuz
I just didn't feel the

authentic sense of tea and that
authentic sense of tea is just

a holding space just making
someone feel comfortable being

in your space and being in your
energy sphere or whatever.

However, you want to to put
that tea is the ultimate space

holding tool Holding it just
like making someone feel

comfortable so comfortable that
they can be vulnerable and

that's important vulnerability
is really powerful and if you

can use tea to let someone feel
that vulnerability, it could

change your life, it could save
their life. Bye.

Yeah, I I wasn't talking about
that shop Oliver but that shop

I would never go to there's
other ones. I'll send you a

list of all the shops in
Seattle. If you go back, you

should go to. That's like I've
sent people there actually, I

have never seen people there,
but like people that are

looking to open a restaurant or
you know that I'm working in

that sense and they go do
market research and they'll go

to the big cities like that's
always a shop that people go to

cuz it's a major shop. They're
all over. they're in Seattle.

they're in San Francisco but
like every time they've come

back to me and told me that
experience the contrast of

sitting in my room to drink tea
versus somewhere else. Or

somewhere else, but this
particular place is that they

felt like that place was like a
snake oil sales. You know that

like they have like a whole
like sales strategy of how they

get you to to actually buy
something. yeah. Which one do I

love in Seattle

I really like floating leaves,
I mean that's just good Phoenix

and Buren is also very good in
bars like Super authentic. You

know she has good teeth. She's
got teeth from all over the

place and you know it's just
like very forward of like yeah,

you can get tea from anywhere
else but this is the tea that

I'm curating for you and that
you know I feel confident in

what I wanna share with you and
they're all friends with each

other. and so this is something
really interesting about the

Seattle T scene that doesn't
exist. Anywhere else in my T

travels around the US and going
to tea shops and you know

working with our clients so
Seattle has like the longest

running I shouldn't say longer
cuz there's there's a lot of

money, but it's the biggest Tea
Festival The festival that

happens, which is incredible to
see how many tea business and

vendors that come together and
we're all like friendly with

each other. You know I go to
other cities. you know

Portland's a good city. so
yeah, this might be applicable

for you. you know Portland also
has you know a very established

business network. A lot of
long-standing businesses and

whenever I first started trying
to do sales there, I had no

luck because people would say
well I don't wanna carry your

teeth because someone else will
carry to your teeth. I get that

a lot and in other parts, I
never got that one time in

Seattle. I have seven accounts
in Seattle and like they're

like some of them selling the
exact same thing and you know

I'm very. Transparent with
them, avoiding them know you

know here are the other vendors
in your area that are also

selling this tea. You know, I
don't think it's going to

affect your business to have
this tea and you can even sell

it at a different price. You
can even sell it in a different

way, and there's like there's
just like so much understanding

and confidence of each vendor
in that community that knows

their own place and knows their
own value or offering with

within the community as a whole
that they can confidently. The

same even in a different price
than someone down the road they

they just know like people come
to me for this and they come to

me looking for this kind of
curation, you know in other

places, there's so much like
feeling of competition and

feeling of like oh well, I
can't sell this because that

guy is selling it and it's like
you know, ultimately

everybody's selling the same
stuff. you know what

differentiates you is like your
personality and the trust that

people put into you as a
curator of the experience

you're. To them you know even
if you're selling something for

five times more expensive than
the person down the Street if

the customer buys it then yeah,
that's the price. That's like.

Ultimately, it's like basic
economics right there is like

whatever the buyer is willing
like if they make the purchase

if they say, okay, I'll buy it
for that much and give you the

money for it. Then that's the
price you know if you want a

discount it and you realize
that this other person has a

different perspective and it's
gonna wanna buy a price and

that's the price too right. so.
All of this kind of like fear

that you know, you can't offer
the same thing as someone else

or everybody's just gonna price
shop you yeah, you might have a

marginal amount of your
customers that are doing that.

Amazon is a great example of
that. and so that's why I tell

people when they want to get
into the TV business stay away

from Amazon. not only Amazon
gonna like take most of your

profits, but they're gonna like
they basically like they

they've engineered the. Buyer
experience to be a price

competition type of the thing
you know they line up all the

apples for you to see them all
and decide which one you wanna

get and for an uneducated
consumer. They're definitely

gonna go for the cheapest one
or the lowest price one. I

don't like using that word
cheap but the lowest price one

now if you create a really
authentic awesome experience

when someone walks in they're
just like I want this to

become. Of my lifestyle, you
know they're gonna pay what the

price is and support that you
know they're not gonna like

experience that and then go to
Amazon and try to figure it

out. like yeah, there might be
a very small marginal group of

people that will do that, but
most people when you build that

authentic connection with them
and you've created your own

culture to be celebrated and
people know when they come and

interact with your brand that
they're gonna get to celebrate

that culture you're gonna do
just fine. You know so yeah,

that's my thing about Seattle.
I've been saying that for

years. Yeah, I don't wanna
share my opinion on that

Oliver.

Like I said, I like to keep a
positive outlook.

Priscilla ketchup

Love and respect. So that's
what it's all about. That's

what it's all about. So yes
today is Cinco de Mayo. If you

want to go, make yourself a
margarita and eat some tacos go

ahead and do it like you have
the right to do it. You have

the right to celebrate that
culture and that's what the

holiday is. It's it's
celebrating the Mexican

identity in the United States.
so do it, you know, maybe do

some extra research on Mexican
history. If you really

celebrate it right that that
would be the best. Instagram

bye.

Oh, this tea is still giving my
waters cool down a bit, but I'm

sure I can I can still steep
it. I appreciate you guys

letting me have this
conversation. If you guys, if

anybody wants to join and drink
tea with me, you're welcome to

I am drinking a Put this here
so you guys know if you guys

wanna join your welcome to I am
drinking a Mocha from 2014 from

Kanu Mountain not too far from
like northern in northern

Newnan. Bye.

It's nice, so this was actually
the first tea sourcing

adventure that I had and none
and at this point it was before

I met Soho it soho who's
someone we do the talks on

Thursday with and he's you know
a good friend of ours from

China Tea Company in Austin,
Texas. he's become you know

like one of our main point
people that we work with and

you know now there are several
other relationships that we've

built but back in the day back
in. 14 the first time that I

went there, I knew no one and
so we just went to the car and

just drove around and looked
for the villages and just try

to figure out that way. so it
is possible to do it that way.

it's difficult and I learned a
lot in that experience cuz the.

The energy, the energy that you
immediately project and this is

all related to what I'm talking
about today. when you go into

these communities, which
ultimately these tea growing

communities like have the power
right now, not just of like

American buyers that come not
knowing anything, but even

Chinese tea buyers so like the
wealthy people from Beijing and

Shanghai like new millionaires
investing in tea is like a new

hot thing to do so, they'll
come with their bands full of

cash, just like ready to buy
some tea to to take for a. And

and andree into their
retirement account or whatever

they will go there completely
uneducated and the farmers have

a lot of ability to lie to we
have the line is the core of

it, but you know like these
buyers will come in and saying

I want the most exciting and
the most potential for value

generation, the best aging the
oldest the most unique like

they come in with all this. And
they think they have the power

because they have the van full
of cash but the the farmer has

all the buyer the power because
then they can say, Oh, yeah.

I'll get that for you. I'll get
you the most exciting stuff. I

got it right here. I got a bag
of it right here and you know

end up being not anything what
the farmer says it is having

the power to be exploited.
That's it. Yeah. We all have

that the the privilege to be
explained. Yeah. cheers to

that. All have that we really
do and so that's why I like

being cautious of your culture
and someone else's culture and

how you bring those things
together, which we should be

doing. I'm not trying to
demonize it at all. I'm trying

to say yes, we need to do that,
but we need to do it

effectively not doing it with
this like a distrust and this

like intention of trying to one
up the other person to take

something cuz like that person
that comes with the band full

of money. just like the
American T buyer comes you know

with their money wanting to buy
the most exciting thing cuz

they wanna take it back home
and have. The most exciting tea

for all the crusaders, you know
the line up to buy. Thank you

coin the term from soho
Crusaders. those are those are

the the the poor tea drinkers
that are chasing the high.

yeah. So that's a lot of times
what happens and so when you

come in with this like energy
that you're wanting to to get

something out of it. Of course,
they're gonna come back and

say, okay. Yeah. I'll get you
something and now when we do

our tea sourcing and and you
know specifically cuz that's

where the farmers have the most
power. There's other places

where. Power dynamics like
that, but you know there's a

very big area with hundreds of
of tea growing communities with

this power dynamics in not
alone and when we do by there

we go in with a much more
humble approach of you know

first coming in. I'm a student,
I know nothing I want to learn

and I understand that I have no
right or privilege to learn.

You but that's cool like let's
just see where this goes and

you're gonna have a far better
chance of success of taking

your time to doing it that way,
then coming in and saying I'm

the most powerful important TV
in America and I need the most

important thing for you to sell
to me. that doesn't work

anywhere. I mean, even whenever
I go to Nepal like that's

usually what people say to me.
It's like. Oh, you're very

important buyer. We have the
most important thing for you

right here. I say no no. I'm
not like let's just like go eat

a meal together. Maybe we'll
get drunk and sing so. Together

and then we'll talk about this
tomorrow. I'll taste yours and

I'll let you know how they're
doing and if they're ready for

the market. it's far more
effective to be humble and hold

space for someone else. you
know to bestow their culture of

upon you and the same thing
with the stone in your culture

upon them too right that it
doesn't work just one way. It's

gonna work both ways. You have
a staple from.

Don't worry about that.
Haggling Osaka style haggling,

and I wanna know about that
that sounds like fun. anything

in Osaka is fun. I really love
to living close to that that

city.

Yeah, haggling is an
interesting thing. It's a very

interesting thing and sometimes
I feel like if you don't truly

understand the culture of
haggling in that specific

culture where you're trying to
do it, you probably shouldn't

do it and if you are gonna do
it and you like you know so

like there's some places where
like haggling is built into the

business model, it's built into
the pricing model especially if

you're coming in as a
foreigner, you know prices gets

inflated. Specifically for you
and so, yeah if you know you

can have it on this
conversation with that person

about what you know but you
know if you just assume that

they're trying to rip you off
and you're gonna create a fight

about it like yeah that can
explode in your face. There was

an incredible video from Nepal
that came out. maybe like two

or three years ago, I love that
video. you know not not because

of the violence. There's a very
violent energy to it, but it

really explains a lot about the
lack of cultural understanding

between these power dynamics,
so the video is of it was shot

by an Australian tourist with
her son. So it's like a mother

and a son, a trucking through
the mountains in Nepal and they

stopped off in a village to buy
a Cup of prepared chai tea a

milk tea. and the vendor in
that village it's brought the

price up.

Bye. So this is the Osaka I'll
read that later. I'm gonna

finish this story. I think the
inflated price was the

difference of like 20 -
five cents and 50 cents, or

maybe 50 cents in a dollar So
like the typical price which

this tour is new and it's
pretty you know like you can

ask around and find out what
the real price of a Cup of

Chai is. But then the price got
inflated and instead of like

trying to have a conversation
which could have been possible,

she could have succeeded in
this in this, having like a

real heart to heart
conversation with that vendor

and just saying, hey, you know
like I know you're gonna you

know charge everybody else this
but come on. it was the

difference of like 50 cents
like and you're coming in from

another place and if you're in
Australia, someone would have

been charing. You know five to
$10 for that versus you know a

difference of 50 cents, but
anyway, the tourists send it

out. getting angry with the
vendor and yelling at her that

the price was not correct and
that she only wanted to pay the

50 cents so she paid the lower
amounts and try to leave and

the vendor ended up chasing her
up the mountain with like a

wooden cooker like that's like
the the symbolic weapon. It's

more than a symbol. It's like
it's it's a deadly weapon that

every Nepali family has in
their household for their

protection but it was Aed. It
wasn't a real one, usually,

it's like a big heavy thick
blade but it was just a wooden

one and she's chasing her up.
The mountain yelling at her in

the video is that the woman
with her phone filming and of

course, I wanted to document
this hostility from the from

the locals and the ladies just
yelling at her, you entitled

tourist you come here and you
think that you can just you

know demand and and not you
know take care of us. We're

poor and you come in here. Come
to our community and take our

things and she had some valid
points. you know, maybe she was

a little too angry and took it
a little too far but it says a

lot about how sensitive people
are about their culture and

about their identity. and again
all related to what I've been

talking about all day long is
if you wanna have successful

relationships and connections
with people that are gonna

benefit. Into the future, you
should always approach them

with humility and communication
versus hostility and

demonization. no one got hurt
in that video as far as I know.

Actually, maybe I'll play it
for you guys. So it's just it's

entertaining. And it says a lot
about Nepalese culture so like

all of my friends in Nepal you
know they're friendly. they're

happy. you know every day. When
I'm there, it's it's it's

always you know laughing and
dancing and singing at nights

and

Came out two years ago. Let me
just get this shorter video.

There's videos that are like 10
minutes. I think the original

videos like 10 minutes long.
It's pretty. it's pretty

insane. Yeah.

Let's get the volume on here.
Please my son is no problem. No

please. I'm sorry you don't
know coming. I'm sorry, I'm

sorry. please please please
stop Stop me-I know me please.

I'm sorry. please. I'm sorry.
please no. it's not. It's not

it's okay. I'm I'm sorry please
stop. You're scaring my son. I

don't my God You're scaring No
Please stop you're scared. I

said, please there's only 15
please this guy he's. I'm gonna

go so that that's enough. I'll
turn that one off so that's it

that that's sums up. That story
pretty incredible video. you

know and that's just somebody
standing up for themselves

standing up for their culture
and feeling that their culture

and their space has been
disrespected

and just got off the hinges.
you know, I don't agree that

her reaction was the
appropriate reaction. Obviously

she's scared the scared the
life. That woman feeling

threatened by her, but you know
there's always that effect if

you're not respectful someone
else's position and in place

things like that can happen. so
you know in the business. It's

definitely something that we
have to be mindful of you know

I think that's something with
our ethos of transparency and

communication and community
really helps us a lot in this

in this. you know we've never.

Yeah, sorry both of them.

It's a pretty shocking video,
but Nepalese culture is like

that so like they're like
happy, laughing dancing, but as

soon as their family, it's
always about family always

about community as soon as that
is threatened like they're on

it. I mean we've ever heard of
gorup regime and well now

they're part of the UK Army,
but you know the Nepal forces

like during British calls. Was
the only regime that was

successful in holding back the
invasion or British

colonization which was very
aggressive and was very

successful, like colonizing all
of India colonizing many parts

of Africa colonizing many parts
of the rest of the world but

when it came to the Himalayas
and trying to come and attack

and colonize that the very
successful in holding them off.

The only part of Nepal that
wasn't able to. The back story

is written in other articles.
yeah, you can research that

Google it Oliver if they do
They the everybody in that

video explains, including the
Australian Lady, explains what

had happened and why they got
to that point The two wooden

cooker is being threatened to
her if you just Google search

Nepal woman chases tourists up
the mountain with Cori that

will be the. That comes up,
you'll you'll find it. It's

very famous viral story you
know. But yeah, the regimen was

the only one that was able to
hold back the British forces

and the British have actually
enlisted them to you know, be a

part of their most elite
section of the military and you

know during the time of
colonization, the only place

that the British were able to
penetrate was darlin. so

Darlene is Nepal. I mean, even
the places that we go least he

is like just like a couple. You
know the rounds around the

mountain, you know to get to
get to Nepal from from darlin.

the language is similar the
identity of Gora, so remember

the protests of the strike from
2017 in our daily. that was you

know in demand of creating a
separate state for Darr land.

so you know, Darian definitely
identifies with Corea but at

the. Of colonization of when
the British were able to

colonize that the area of
Darjeeling was sparsely

populated, it wasn't like a
major town, a major part of

Nepal. It was just kind of
there was some kind of nomadic

tribes around the area so a lot
of the work that are in now

were brought in or immigrated
in during the time of of tea

expansion when the British. To
turn our gian into a tea

growing area, so yeah, just a
little back story on that if

you've ever wondered why
there's so much of a

commonality between Nepal and
and darlin but my friends in

Darian as well as Nepal as
friendly as they are their

fears and they've they've
probably have their cooker on

their mantle ready to go. They
say. Yeah, We hear a knock at

the door at night. when we're
not supposed to have one we go

and grab our cooker so first
thing we do and You know

they're very proud of that
fierce warrior elements in

their culture in fact, young
boys like their ultimate goal

for when they you know, get out
of school and like what are

they gonna become you know
here. It's something like I

hope you become a doctor or
something they're joining the

Corker Army is the top. Goal
that they can have. You'll

often times see 16 to 18
year-old boys like training you

know like when we're sourcing
will be in the Middle of

nowhere like climbing up. you
know the the cuts in the

mountains to get to the next
village or whatever and you'll

just see a young man just like
running up the mountain and

you're like what is this person
doing all the training for Gora

Army. It's like it's a saying.
It's like a It's like a whole

thing and another. I kind of
one of my jokes that I'm also

training for the army cuz yeah
I would like to be fierce. I

would like to be a Warrior and
you know that's a tiny sliver

of culture that's been bestowed
upon me with all the time that

I've spent there and
understanding what that means

and I'm not literally training
for the army. So like whenever

I go to and I'll go for runs
through the mountains and I'll

just be some random girl
running through the mountains

there. People will stop me and
say. Are you doing what are you

doing running around? I was I'm
I'm training for the army and

they all get a kick out of it
cuz they know like I'm saying

that as a joke, but the only
way I know that to be a joke is

because I have obviously spent
some time in that culture and

understand what it means to
them for the young men to make

it into the army. I mean pretty
much if you make it into work

for you are like set for life.
Your family is set for life.

you have a career for life and
so it's like it's such a high

honor and such a high goal for
for young boys. So we had that

whole idea of of training for
the Gora Army is like and even

like when I've had like heavy
business conversations with the

producers and I talk about like
it's just an example like the

they'll ask me or is there a
big buyer that we can we can

sell to. We'll be buyers like
to work on terms and if they

can't sell your tea, there's a
risk that's you know they won't

pay like how are you gonna
safeguard on this? We gotta get

some contracts and their
response is no do you have a

cori just go knock on their
door with your Coker. There's a

very aggressive thing to say,
and they're like it's it's like

a joke. but then it's not a
joke. It's like really serious.

It's like no if we need to
stand up for ourselves, we'll

stand up for ourselves. the
moral of the story. So yeah a

little. Off topic from the
Cinco Hey, Jason Good to see

you you're on a sales cellphone
or computer cheers. Happy Cinco

de Mayo. Enjoy yourself a
margarita. you're you're you're

entitled to it. It's our
culture. Alright, Well, no one

's joined the tea room. so I
think I'm gonna I'm gonna tune

it out for now. it's been about
an hour and a half now I

appreciate all of you. Thank
you so much for holding space

for this conversation. I know I
talked about a lot of

controversial things you know,
maybe you feel uncomfortable,

but ultimately, I wanna make
sure that everybody feels

comfortable. everybody feels
respected and everybody feels

empowered to expand their
perspectives expand their

cultures and you know build
this loving United World so.

With that much love to you guys
happy Cinco de Mayo Day. See

you later.