Become a Tea Ambassador

 

Wenshan Rougui Baozhong, spring 2021

The purpose of a Tea Ambassador is to help spread the culture of Gongfu Cha in the Western world. Gongfu Cha is the skill of brewing high quality tea leaves without any sugar, lemon or milk! Only high quality leaves can make a tasty brew without these additives, provided they are prepared following some rules or advice. There's much to learn and experience, because the world of teas is almost infinite. It's fun and enables us to enjoy life and good company.

We are several online tea retailers who decided to launch this initiative together : Farmer Leaf, Nannuoshan, Crimson Lotus, Essence of Tea, Yiwu Mountain Tea and Tea-Masters.com 

So, what we hope is that the Tea Ambassadors help promote Gongfu Cha, by organizing tea events, tea gatherings with their family, friends, colleagues, neighbors... and that you post those on your social media with the hashtag #TeaAmbassador (and #TeaMastersBlog if you are using my tea or ware) to help generate more interest in GongFu Cha and quality tea. Maybe this can even help you find out if there are other Gongfu Cha enthusiasts close by?!

By using the hashtag #TeaAmbassador, you also make it possible for us vendors to see that you are indeed active promoting Gongfu Cha around you and this allows us to give you our support to spread the love of tea. 

This support can vary depending on your needs and your plans. A Tea Ambassador will get more access to the vendor(s). With our experience, we can be useful resources. And speaking of resources to learn about GongFu Cha, I think that you'll find a lot of help on my blog! I've been writing on all aspects of tea since 2004. Therefore, before asking a question, I recommend that you make a search on my blog on the front page at the top left corner. And if you prefer to learn about tea in video format, please check my YouTube channel where I post a new class weekly. My latest video, the fastest way to rinse tea, is one of the funniest I've done. (Tea doesn't have to be boring!)

These resources are available to everybody. What Tea Ambassadors get is the opportunity for longer exchanges with the vendor(s) and maybe even a video conference call. We may even make publicity for Tea Ambassadors and try to link you with other tea friends in your neighborhood (with mutual consent). 

And since Thanksgiving is approaching, I would like to thank you all for your support this year. It was a difficult year for online tea retail from Taiwan, because a lot of countries had closed their borders and didn't accept postal shipments from Taiwan. And also because shipping costs have gone up dramatically and I did my best to absorb these costs by continuing to provide FREE SHIPPING for orders above 100 USD (or 200 USD for EMS). 

This is a good reminder to be grateful for the fact that tea actually remains one of the most affordable luxury in this world of mass consumption. Tea is a great product on so many different levels: it affords good wages to people in Taiwan's countryside. It is healthy and lets you drink and drive. Dehydrated, it is light and easy to transport (compared to wine, for instance). It also soothes the mind, warms you in winter and cools you in summer. Tea can be a door to discover Chinese names, Asia's geography, the long history of tea through the dynasties, Chinese literature ('The Dream in the Red Chamber', for instance)...

But the best part of tea, for me, has been to meet wonderful people over the years. So, even though I didn't get to make any real life tea class, I've very much enjoyed interacting live with my students when I teaching tea live on FB. I'm not sure I'm getting much better at talking in front of a camera, but, at least, I feel more comfortable than when I started last year.

Note en français: puisque j'en suis aux remerciements traditionnels de Thanksgiving, je tenais aussi à remercier tous mes lecteurs et clients francophones. J'ai vraiment de la chance que, si certains loisirs attirent des gens de peu d'intérêt, le thé, lui, me met en contact avec des personnes très sympas, patientes pour les délais de la poste (qui arrivent parfois) et très talentueuses. 

Cette année, j'ai notamment eu la chance de faire connaissance virtuelle avec Olivier Delasalle. Il est l'auteur de plusieurs livres: 'Le philosophe errant', 'Dans les rues de Tokyo', 'Dans les rues de Brooklyn', 'Marrane', 'L'odyssée du microscopique'... Lui aussi est un Français expatrié et cela lui permet d'avoir une vision décallée et originale de la société dans son blog. Merci à lui et à vous tous!

Wenshan Rougui Baozhong, printemps 2021