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    Global Tea HutNewsletter #11, December 2012

    When you share a single bowl o rothy tea,handed to you spinning like the greatercelestial orbits happening above, you cansometimes close your eyes and eel the others drinking,as i they were your own. We spin the bowl out o re-spect, oering our neighbor a place distinct rom where

    weve put our mouth, but also as a symbol o our har-mony with Nature. Tere is magic in sharing a singlebowl o tea with some loved onesdeep and lasting.

    And there is a way in which this Global ea Hut is ourwhisked bowl, handed round to each o you: like thetea, it has been cultivated with great care and love, timeand energy; and like the bowl o tea, we send it roundselessly and with a great respect or each o you. Weare honored by your participation.

    Tis is a very special month or us all, in somany ways. Te holidays are always a great time o yearto share gits lovingly. It is a time or orgiveness, amilyand riends. Tough the spirit o this month is some-times lost in the commercialism that preys upon it, weshould never postpone the opportunity to show ourloveto riends, amily and strangers alike. Tis timeo year can aord us a great excuse to share a smile, akind word or a bowl o nice tea.

    Tis December also marks the end o the Mayancalendar, which many believe to be a time o transition

    or us as a speciesa movement orward into greaterharmony and consciousness. Tis galactivation, asthe great Gregory Wendt calls it, will turn the volumeup on the earthly and cosmic rhythms that weve losttouch with. Teyve never stopped playingthese Na-ture songsbut many humans have stopped listening.

    We hope that Global ea Hut can play a greater role inthis shit, and that the coming year will truly be one oglobal change. Our part is in the sharing o this ancientmedicine, older than the Sphinx, that it may awaken aconnection to Earth, Sky, Spirit in you; and through

    that the peaceul connection we all long or in our one,true Heart.

    Not only is December a time or giving, it isalso a time or receiving, which is sometimes the hardero the two. Tis month we have a huge announcement

    to make (youll be reading about it later in the issue).We have been blessed this month, and our plans tocreate a permanent center here in aiwan have begunto take orm in a much more dramatic way, shitingrom dream to reality. Many o you know that we havea ourishing school/center in Miao Li, aiwan. Someo you have even come here to visit, experiencing rsthand what it is that we are oering. Our dreams arelarger. We dream o a permanent center in the moun-tains, with a prospering tea arm, Japanese Zen gardens,vegetable plots and ree residence or any and all o you

    who plan on coming in the uture. We also dream it allgreen and ecological: solar powered electricity and hot

    water, organic arming, green building materials, etc.And when that day comes, well host annual ten-day

    gatherings where we can all make this global hut a truecircle o tea shared, rather than rom a distance (whichis nice, but cant take the place o all the hugs we willone day share).

    Tis is a very real turning point or us all. Weare building this center as much or you as we are orourselves to live in. We hope that you will all come andstay periodically, learning about Cha Dao as well as teaarming. Who knows, maybe in a couple years we willhave a month o tea sent out to you that we have grownourselves! Tere is still a lot to do in the coming years,

    but we know that it will proceed with the grace that hasgotten us this ar.

    Tis is also a season o gratitude. We want youto know that we are all here deeply grateul or the op-portunity to serve you and create these envelopes, as

    well as or your kindhearted inancial support. W epray that you have a wonderul holiday season, lled

    with the warmth o those you love. Tere is a warm bedand steaming cup ever awaiting you here should yound yoursel Eastward-bound. You can be warmed bythat as well. You are in our prayers, and they are oer-

    ings o joy, health and happiness

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    To celebrate all the holidays, and in gratitude

    or all your support through 2012, we haveused some extra unds to get a very special teaor this month. Normally, the teas or these envelopesare reely donated by vendors and armers who wish toconnect with all o you, sharing their hard work withthe world. However, this month Mr. sai, whom youmet in April, donated two-thirds and we pitched in theother third to make the holiday season a special one.So, without urther ado, we present your December eao the Month: a 1970s Oolong rom Miao Li County,aiwan.

    Aged tea is great in the winter, as it is warming.Tis tea will light you up, lling your body with peace-ul and warming sensations, calming your mind andupliting your spirit. Te Qi is deep and calm, youllnd, with a Yin rising. Mr. sai stored this tea him-sel or more than a decade, so the energy is clean andpure. It is well-stored without much mustiness, so you

    will nd berries and ruit, wood and incense overlayingmany other avors. It is also incredibly patient, whichmeans you can brew it morning to night through doz-ens o steepings.

    Tere are many reasons why tea sages have al-ways sought out aged tea, some o which we discussedin an article or last months newsletter. Aged trees arealso more alive and wise, with deeper roots and moreconnection to Earth and Sky. Te rst and oremostreason why tea sages nowadays preer aged tea is thatthe Earth was cleaner back in the day. In the 1970s,

    when this tea was produced, there were little to no pes-ticides used on tea arms in aiwan. Tere was no needor the distinction organic, as all arming was naturaland ecological. Te earth itsel was also cleaner, withless air and water pollution and better soil. And physi-cal pollution isnt the only kind; there is also spiritualcontamination. Te armers who made this months tea

    werent saintsactually, they were very simple peoplebut their ood was all local and organic. Tey didnteat lots o meat because it was a luxury. Tey drank

    wine they ermented themselves and smoked home-grown tobacco. Tere was a steadiness in their hand,and they knew the land, the tea trees and the soil liketheir own bodies, or they had never done anything else

    in their lives. Nowadays, a armers lie is complicatedby cell phones, video games, the Internet, not to men-tion all the toxins in mass-produced cigarettes, alcoholand processed oods. Tere are exceptions, o course,but ew today demonstrate the purpose, mindulness

    and natural anity or growing and processing tea that

    the older generations had. Still, there are placeswaysand meansthat modern consciousness is even tran-scending that, since our ancestors natural and organiclieways were unconscious, a part o the landscape so tospeak. Now, we have the opportunity to choosesustain-able, ecological, earth-centered lieways and apply ourconsciousness to evolving them to new heights!

    A cleaner environment may explain why agedteas are avored by modern tea sages, but not why evenancient masters chose to age their tea. A living teadoesnt die in the processing; it lives on in the essence

    o the leaves. ea has a way o going into retreat when itenters the jar, meditating the years away. And as a livingbeing, it grows wiser, deeper and more concentrated.On the physical level, the cells break down and more othe juice comes out. With some teas, like Puerh, bacte-ria plays a large role in the change over time. Neverthe-less, the way a tea changes rom green and astringent todeep, dark and transcendent over time is a great mys-tery.

    Tere is a growing trend amongst tea lovers totry to explain the changes in tea over time, but there re-

    ally is no answer to why. It is not a manmade process; itis natural. Tere is nothing to do; you just leave the teain a quiet, dark place and protect it rom mold, water,or other disasters. It will change on its own. Spiritually,its energy is alive and growing just as our consciousnessis evolving. I you ask the old-timers how they storedtheir tea they will look at you askance: What a sillyquestion! I just put it on a shel. What do you meanhow did I store it?!

    Te act is that there is a special magic in agedtea. And nothing but drinking it will bring understand-ing o that. Some people believe that only Puerh canbe aged, but that is not true at all. All tea can be aged,and all tea gets better with age. Puerh does have a spe-cial reputation or its age-ability, because o the manyhundreds o species o mold and bacteria that cover theleaves long beore they are picked, but it isnt even theonly tea with such ermentation. Black tea is anotherexample. Lighter teas are also tricky, as white, green andyellow teas are very nice when drunk resh. However,they can indeed be aged to great eect, though it will

    take longer or them to change ully since their oxi-dation is oten arrested dramatically and they are alsocomposed more exclusively o buds (at least i they arene quality). We have had ty and even hundred-year-old green teas that were as dark as an aged Puerh and as

    Your Tea of the Month, December 20121970s Oolong ea, Miao Li, aiwan

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    rich and ull o Qi. We have at the center a 120-year-oldjasmine green tea that is absolutely stunning. We alsohave some amazing ten-year-old Long Jing green tea.(Remind us to prepare them or you when you visit!)Still, there is also a special magic in resh green, whiteand/or yellow teas. As with all things tea, there is no or-mulayou must choose based on each tea individually.

    Oolongs age very well and oten aster thanPuerh. Furthermore, Puerh is a sensitive tea to age. Itrequires high humidity, airow and seasonal tempera-ture uctuationsa subtropical environment, in other

    words. Otherwise, the bacteria and molds will die andthe teas Qi with them. eas stored in dry climates otenlose all Qi, as well as avor and aroma, in ten to teenyears. Oolong, however, preers a dry, sealed environ-ment without any changes at all. Tis means that mosto you, no matter where you live, can successully storeOolong tea with great results. Ideally, you will wantto choose a tea with a bit more oxidation and heavierroasta more ull-bodied, traditional Oolong. Fill a jarcompletely so that there is less oxygen inside. (You may

    want to use a glazed jar so air doesnt come in through

    the pores and because the clay will inuence the tea.)Seal the lid with wax, laying a string within the melted

    wax so that you can break the seal easily. Keep the teasomewhere dark, clean and quiet. Energy matters, sosend it some love, put some armative words on the

    outside or place it near an altar. Ater ten, teen oreven ty years you will have an awesome tea awaiting areunion.

    Our ea o the Month also comes rom MiaoLi, which is the home o our center, making it extra spe-cial. Most o the tea this old was not intentionally storedto start with, but rather cast aside. For that reason, it

    was originally not stored very well. But the decade withMr. sai has more than made up or that. Nowadays,Miao Li County armers only produce Oriental Beauty,though in the 1970s they were making more Oolong.

    Tis is a striped Oolong, akin to the Rock eas pro-duced in Wuyi, Fujien, which is where most aiwanesetea armers originally came rom.

    Since this is a precious tea, you may want tobrew it gongu style. And o course share it with somebeloved human souls, especially since this is the seasonor giving, sharing and loving. May all the age and wis-dom o this tea be your very own, and may it radiaterom your eyesull o your light, may it then bless allthose whose paths you cross

    * As we mentioned in previous months, we recommend lettingthe tea get over its jet lag. Let it sit a week or two and becomeacclimatized.

    ea o the Month, December 2012

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    Ancient Oolong processing center

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    T

    he old man sipped his tea. He had nevergrown weary o that avor. His ather hadpicked Oolong tea, as had his athers ather

    and grandather. And his young grandsons would alsoone day pick tea just like his daughter did now. It allmade sense in a comortable kind o way. He was proudto be a armer o Oolong tea, and took pride in the actthat it was the best tea in all the Kingdoms. Even thegreat emperor, Lord o Heaven and Earth, was said topreer the taste o Oolong above all else. Te old mannodded, agreeing with his own thoughts. He drainedhis cup and watched his two grandsons sprint across theyard towards the house, the dying sun inusing the skybehind them in the same sweet amber liquor hed just

    nished.Te village boys were only clean right ater a

    bath, and even then but briey. Te old grandpa didntmind having them on his lap though. He loved the boys,as his grandpa had once loved him when he came homedirty and rufed by a day o adventure. He too had oncesat on his grandathers bony lap and listened to stories.He smiled now at his own bony knees. It was a smile

    o contention. He was a part o something longer andgreater than himsel. His reminiscence o his amilyslegacy in tea put him in the mood to share it with the

    boys. He poured them each a cup o tea and laughedat the awkward way they held the cup, smelling theliquor as he had once taught them. He rufed littleChangs hair. Do you know what makes Oolong teaso special? his bushy white brow ared in askance.

    I do. Said the older Chen, not waiting orrecognition. Its because o the shaking.

    Tats good Chen, he sighed patiently. Hepoured them each another cup. Let me tell you aboutthe origin o Oolong tea. Te boys ignored the tea andstared at him with rapt, glimmering eyes. Grandpas

    stories were the highlight o their evenings

    Long, Long ago people here picked tea justthe way they do now. And they ried, shaped and er-mented it just the same too. But they didnt know howto shake it the way we do. Oolong tea wasnt the greattreasure it is today, and the armers had a hard time sell-ing it. He looked at the children in mock-seriousness,

    How Oolong Got Its Name4By Wu Diddly

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    And the children had to work all day instead o playingby the river. Te older one moaned and the young-er Chang gasped in disbelie. At that time there wasone armer named Wu Long Wang. He actually likedhunting much more than picking tea. He was youngand loved to daydream, and rarely brought home hisquota o leaves. And that was why he was nicknamedWu Long or Black Dragon, because he always tookso long to gather his leaves that he was tanned dark bythe sun. His amily was always complaining. No onethought any good would ever come o him. He did oc-

    casionally redeem himsel, though, by bringing home agood catch to share or dinner. Wu Long Wang took hisbow with him everywhere. He wasnt any good at pick-ing tea or arming, but he sure was a great shot with thatbow. In act, the villages annual archery contest was theonly time everyone liked Wu Long Wang. Te rest othe year he was a just a lazy dolt. He paused to remindChen o the virtues o hard work.

    One day Wu Long Wangs ather told him thathe had better bring back a whole basket o tea leavesor hed break his bow over his head. Wu Long Wang

    worked hard all morning and aternoon and lled hisbasket with the best leaves he could nd. Just as he wasabout to sit down and be lazy, he saw the biggest, plump-est rabbit hed ever seen. It noticed him and darted away.

    Wu Long Wang sprinted ater the rabbit, without even

    thinking o setting down the basket o tea on his back.Hal o the leaves ew out behind him in a trail, but hedidnt stop. He had to have that rabbit. Te old manpaused dramatically to let the boys imagine the chase.Finally ater an hour or two, the rabbit grew tired and

    Wu Long Wang used his bow to shoot it. He was soproud he didnt even stop to rest, but skipped merrilyback to the village. He showed his ather the rabbit,but his ather only had eyes or the hal empty basketo tea. He grabbed Wu Long Wangs bow and the oldman mimicked breaking the bow over Chens head and

    both the boys laughed. Wu Long Wang went to bedwith no dinner. He was very sad. For two days andnights, his ather reused to speak to him. On the thirdmorning, the village elders were all waiting or WuLong Wang when he woke up. He thought he was inbig trouble or sure. o his great surprise they all shookhis hand, congratulating him and asking him i he hadslept well. He looked at them conused.

    Wu Long Wang they said, the tea you pickedtwo days ago was the best tea we have ever had. All othe elders in the village have tasted it and agree that it is

    heavenly. You must show us where you picked it. WuLong Wang showed them where hed ound the tea,but they had picked that tea beore. Tey asked him totell them exactly what had happened that day. Te old

    How Oolong ea Got Its Name

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    pleased. He looked at the boys and asked, Do youknow the moral o the story?

    Yes grandpa, I remember replied little Chang,daydream a lot, but dont orget to jump at the rabbit

    when it comes.

    6How Oolong ea Got Its Name

    man set Chang on the ground next to his brother andleaned in, and do you know what they ound out?

    I do, I do said Chen excitedly, All the run-ning had shaken up the tea leaves and thats why theytasted so good.

    Clever boy he patted Chens head. And romthen on, we have always shook the tea. Te village

    elders were so happy with Wu Long Wang that theynamed the new tea Oolong ater him. He was allowedto hunt and daydream or the rest o his days, as he

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    I

    remember that beore I had really learned anythingat all about tea I thought the only Oolong teas inthe world were the green, high-mountain ones.

    Shortly ater moving to aiwan and starting to requentthe Hut, however, I was introduced to my rst aged Oo-long tea. I remember distinctly that it was my rst timelearning what was meant by Cha Qi; in act it wasmy rst aged tea experience o any kind. Most o thesekinds o teas are accidentally stored; tossed in the backo a shop somewhere ater not selling out that year, andthey vary widely in quality. Now I must admit that myexperience with aged Oolongs is not vast by any means.

    Well-stored aged Oolongs tend to be quite expensive,and are somewhat rare to boot. Luckily, I was very or-

    tunate to buy an uncommonly aordable, intentionallystored, 25-year-old Oolong tea o denite vintage andlocale with which I could amiliarize mysel a bit withthe genre. In the meantime, Ive had individual oppor-tunities to drink perhaps a dozen or more others, and soyoull hopeully nd some o this experience interestingor useul to you as you explore your ea o the Month.

    o me, aged Oolongs seem to occupy a space inthe world o teas that is dicult to describe, I guess be-cause they have what almost seem to be some conict-

    ing qualities. Its important to remember that Oolong-teas are the most rened teas out there. Tis means thatthey have the greatest subtleties o avor, body, andQi. But it seems to me that as they age, some o thesesubtleties are lost, while the most dening qualities othe tea become more robust and developed, perhapsbecause the only other aged tea I have much experience

    with is Puerh. I nd that aged Oolongs remind me oaged Puerh: they are earthier, have a deeper body, adeeper Qi, yet they retain greater complexity and re-nement than aged Puerh tea. It could be, however,

    that these similarities are more the similarities o agedtea rather than these two genres.

    I also nd it hard to describe the Qi o manyaged Oolongs. Are they Yin or Yang? Although my ex-perience is that the Qi does dip down into the chestmore and spread into the body more dramatically inaged Oolongs than it does in younger ones, whichgenerally rise strictly upwards, I have yet to drink one

    Extraterrestrial Reflections on Aged Oolong8Article by Kaiya

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    where I elt powerul Qi deeper than about the heartlevel. Well, there was one time, but that was an outra-geously old tea, and not worth discarding this observa-tion over.

    My 25-year-old tea is denitely more Yin thanYang at this point, however. I still wouldnt play a reallydeep rhythmic chant while drinking it as I oten woulddrinking a 25-year-old Puerh; aged Oolongs simply

    arent nearly as deep. Instead, i I want to have a quietsession, I may play something rhythmic and steady, butit will be more in the middle o the scale, not too deepand not too high. Just as oten, however, I nd that Imight listen to something lyrical and soothing. I suspectthis is because the hand o man is so much more presentin the tea because o the processing; Oolong teas in gen-eral leave me eeling a bit more talkative than most teas,and so I guess listening to music that has words comesout o that.

    All in all, aged Oolong teas are denitely oneo my avorite teas to drink, and many o you are in agood season to drink them now as well. Tey are greator cool to cold weather. I enjoy them especially in theaternoon and also nd they are suitable as evening teas

    with their soothing, relaxed energy. As always, though,remember that nothing is a substitute or experience,and mine is still quite limited; Im sure its even lessthan many o you out there, so i nothing else maybeyou can nd some inspiration here to share your ownexperiences this month with everyone on the orums!

    Well look orward to hearing all about it

    Refections on Aged Oolong ea

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    O ne o the best Gongu tips we can give you is to stay open-minded and humble. Always revisit old experiments.Sometimes you may not have noticed anything in the rst try, but the results will stand out clear as day thesecond or even third time you try. Other times you will notice the result more distinctly; and sometimes youwill come to appreciate dierent aspects o the experimentsacets you hadnt noticed beore.

    When doing Gongu experiments, it is important to maintain such open-mindedness, especially in learningrom experienced brewers. Just because you cannot distinguish between two methods clearly doesnt mean there isnt adierence. It is okay to brew your tea in the way that is comortable to you, but it is a good idea to periodically revisit thecore experiments to see i you get dierent results, and do so with an open mind. Sometimes one o our teachers woulddescribe a sensation we were incapable o discerning. We would thereore not necessarily incorporate that particularaspect into our tea brewing. However, we always stay humble, listen and try the experiment again later. Many times wend that as time passes, we come to nd our teachers methods have a basis in genuinely improved tea.

    When doing Gongu experiments remember to ocus on the moutheel more than the avor or aroma. For thatreason it is helpul to use a tea youre extremely amiliar with and brew it lighter than you usually do. It may also beuseul to alternate the experiment with water. Even i you eel that you discern a radical dierence, you will still benetrom returning to the same experiment annually.

    ry the core Gongu experiment again: use three identical cups. Pour into the rst. Ten pour hal o that intothe second and hal the second into the third. I you did this experiment last time with water, try it with tea (or viceversa). What happens to the liquor as it travels rom cup to cup? How would you describe the changes? Are they qualita-tive? Are there any eatures you notice this time around which you didnt beore?

    Humility is a very important part o the Spirit o ea. For that reason, we should never cultivate a sense o ex-pertise or an air o superiority. Always be willing to learn and to improve your tea brewing, which is to improve yoursel.

    When giving workshops we always tell the students that we will promise to never, ever judge the way you make tea iyou promise to always keep learning and improving!

    December Gongfu Tea-Brewing Tips10

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    11Gongu ips

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    In a small town like Viljandi, Estonia, youre bound tomeet some people with olk wisdom. With a popula-

    tion o 20,000 its a town indeed (theres a mall, astrip club and a Chinese restaurant ater all) but talk tothe people and you know its essentially a village withtown aspirations. Te old part o town is a snapshot othe 19th centuryalmost as i the last hundred and tyyears had not happened. Tis timeless aura has inusedmany locals with a sense o the eternal, and the predict-able rhythm o the passing, distinct seasons have givenmany whose lives are still closely dependent on the landsome inkling o natural laws. Tese olk have lived o theland since childhoodthey may not be antric masters

    or savvy system players, but they seem to have a deeperunderstanding o how lie (as in Nature, not the Samsara

    we usually call lie) works than busy city olk. My visionmay be awash with romantic illusion, but humor me, goon. Its an article!

    Te public sauna (or banyain Russian) is a placewhere lie truths tend to be discussed. Te sauna is a par-ticularly eastern European and Russian tradition, a space

    where all are equal, where people go to bare all in ronto nonjudgmental riends and lose themselves or a ewhours in a heat that envelops, comorts and washes away

    all that is unnecessary. Tis is not the tiny, dry saunaound in the western-style gym, nor the gay bathhousevariantin both o these one can certainly bare all inront o appreciative onlookers but little in terms o ac-quisition o lie wisdom usually occurs.

    I just returned rom the public sauna in this lit-tle town o Viljandi and returned several grams lighter,ready or deep sleepand a little wiser. I met Jaak there,a mason who built the hearth in my apartment here. Ahearth is an antiquated concept or almost anyone livingin cities in the developed world, at least or the last 70years, but beore that most any house had as its heart theheartha kind o wood-burning urnace/replace withextended stone or brick encasing whose job it was to heatthe entire home in days beore electricity or central heat-ing. It was usually placed in the centre o the house andits walls thereore ormed a part o several rooms whichsurrounded it, heating many parts o the household. Inthese parts, every older house still has one.

    Jaak is over sixty, has a strong build and his grey-white beard and hair lend a riendly dignity to his still-

    handsome ace. I see he struggles a bit with emotionalissues. He seems to have been unlucky at love, despitebeing a charmer and a looker, and is a loner at heart. Hisson is an alcoholic and he has been betrayed by riendstoo many times to take too many new ones close to

    heart. But wow, this guy is cool: dedicated to his crat,loyal and with a true respect or the world o objects as

    living beings. It took him about ten months to built myhearth, usually a two month job, as it simply took thetime it needed to do it properly, to do it justice. It wasnta matter o how ast he could get it done, but o how longthe hearth needed to be completed.

    So there we were, sitting next to each other inthe oppressive, sometimes scalding yet still comortingheat, talking about the universally-shared eeling amongbanya-goers o being beyond the reach o the outside

    world, o having pleasantly dropped out. Outside in theshower area, surrounded by older men dousing them-

    selves with water rom metal pails or scrubbing theirwhatnots on the stone slab benches, I took the opportu-nity to ask something Id been wondering earlier in theday: why was the heat he created out o my hearth dier-ent rom the heat I created in it? I know how and whento regulate the valves and how to start a nice re but itseems I dont get the hearth quite as piping hot as he can.

    urns out Im too tentative and conservativewith the amount o wood I use: he stus some 30 slabs owood in there and gets a roaring, blazing re going romthe start. Its this intensity, later captured in the glowing

    coals which maintains high heat once the nal valve isclosed. In contrast, I tend to use 5 or 6 wood slabs andget a sweet, picture-perect re going which is nice toread a book in ront o but which will not heat a home.

    Te hearth is constructed to heat a large area, itwill do its job well i its treated well, he explained. Iyou eed it well and treat it as it wants to be treated, it

    will give back in spades. I you dont, it will also give thatback.

    Law o Attraction?Sweet story, youre welcome, but whats it doing

    in a tea-related newsletter? Wheres the Cha Dao in thistale o naked masochists and antiquated replaces? And

    what i anything has it to do with Wu Des recent visit?He wasnt one o the naked guys beating themselves withbirch branches, ater all.

    Glad you asked. As I was sitting on the stonebench scrubbing my whatnots, I ound that Jaaks wordsreminded me o a story that Wu De told when he was

    here in Estonia at our tea drinking sessions and work-shops: about a student o his who had elt a total personaltransormation ater drinking tea or two years, whereassome teashop owners had been drinking tea or 20 years

    with no such transormation in sight.

    A Wudelicious Visit12Article by Steve Kokker

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    Everyones grandmother too has been sipping tea or 40years but that hasnt in every case led to spiritual awak-ening, has it? Whats the dierence between the studentand the grandmother or teashop owner then? Wu Deliked to taunt his audience with the question. I wontspoil the plot too much, but it has mainly to do withdrinking living tea (vs. the deadened, tortured commer-

    cial variety). However, it is also about intentbasically,what we oer to the tea-drinking experience. Dont treata hearth properly and get tepid heat; dont show amplerespect or tea and teaware and guests and onesel, andget hal a tea experience. Empty your cup, open yourheart, send your ego on vacation, drink living tea andyoure well on the way towards spiritual transormation.

    Tis was one, and only one, o the lessonsbrought up during Wu Des recent visit. Tese were lielesson, not just tea lessons. Tats why they can also belearned among sweating old guys in an obscure Estonian

    town or in trying to make a re or in how you preparetea. Tats the essence o Daoit seeps into everything,not just one aspect o lie. During the seven seminars,

    workshops and drinking sessions we hosted here in Es-tonia, we likely spoke about tea per se no more than 35-

    40% o the time. Te rest o the time was lie. I youwant to make a proper cup o tea, you must rst learn tobe a proper human being.

    Wu Des Scatters Seeds in EstoniaIts been a ew weeks now since the seminars,

    time or some o the lie lessons learned to sink into adeeper level o awareness. ime also or some o them tobe lost and orgotten; some seeds thrown up graciouslyor all to benet rom have been ignored and let all wherethey may by lack o ocus, readiness or awareness. Tatslie. We tend to be so locked into our own habitsothought, o doing, o beingthat when introduced tonew ideas or ways o being, initial insight and excite-ment eventually get relegated to the back, dusty shelveso blurred, inconsequential memories by very strong as-pects o ourselves that resist or ear change... or simply do

    not know what to do with it.Yet like with scattered seeds, some which do not

    immediately spring to lie or die out might take root atsome later point or in unexpected ways. Ive seen exam-ples o all o this ollowing the seminarswithin mysel

    A Wudelicious Visit

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    and in others. Forgetting and continuing with long-heldpatterns only with a new illusion o change has been inevidence; we are, ater all, habit-loving humans. Yet in somany instances the people who attended these sessionshave been transormed in some subtle ways orever. WuDe and the seminars come up requently in conversa-tions every single day. Many tell me they are continuing

    bowl tea every morning; or that they think about peaceand space dierently; or that theyve been inspired toclean up their living spaces; or inspired to be better par-ents to their children; or that theyve tried to relate to tea,objects and others as more than just bodies...

    For several weeks ater the workshops, my stawalked around as i in a bubble, lled with a lightness obeing and grace ater having received an intense dose o

    Wu De Wisdom (WDW I believe is the ocial, copy-right-protected acronym). I can say without exaggerationthat or a number o persons who attended the work-

    shops and drinking sessions, lie will never be quite thesame. In quiet moments over sensually steaming cups, orvia electonically-bleeped emails, I heard about how someshit o consciousness occurred in the peace o those teatimes, or in the words spoken during them. Many havetold me that their mornings would now not be complete

    without three quiet bowls o tea. Most meaningul andmost beautiul or me personally, however, I saw the ac-esthe sotened, opened aces o those during the semi-nars listening, eeling, changing.

    Indeed or me the single most wonderul aspecto having gone through the almost two weeks o semi-nars was seeing the aces o people who mean a lot tome shit. In their eyes reected an opening towards andbudding awareness o another way to live, or approachto lie, a way which holds the promise o less mind noise,more connection with onesel, Nature and othersone

    which brings into bloom the true sel outside the realmo what Eckhart olle would describe as the Little Me.

    All this with a little help rom Camelia sinensis.I received sms texts rom guys who had tears in

    their eyes hours ater a workshop, so touched and movedwere they by the themes brought up during them; I re-ceived emails rom others ull o thanks, thoughts, eel-ings; I received heartelt handshakes and deep looks intomy eyes or having done my part to materialise thosesessions.

    My own tea sessions have taken on a deeper di-mension and I am more comortable with encouragingand dealing with silence in my tea guests. I am work-ing on creating an altar in my living space to encouragethe dominance o my higher sel and minimize Monkey

    Brain Intererence (hitherto MBI). I learned more aboutwhat aspects o the Sel and No Sel to cultivate in orderto cultivate a space through which higher wisdom can bechanelled.

    Despite my serious tone right now I must alsoemphasize the un we all had too. Tere were so, so manymoments o laughter and silliness in and outside o theseminars. Laughter is an essential part o surrendering toones higher sel. So many mind-created blocks and de-ences all o when ones head is thrown back in laugh-ter; so many loving eelings emanate outward as the ace

    transorms into a smile. More healing than words even,the laughs we all shared were perhaps the glue whichsealed in our insights. I people could only hear someo our lurid jokesyikes!we might get some cancel-lations o the GH (or a rapid increase in subscriptionsrom some quarters). Seriously, though, laughter is thegrounding orce which helps plant the sometimes too-loty and ethereal ideals we strive or in becoming betterhuman beings.

    In short, what an intense and transormative pe-riod it was!

    14A Wudelicious Visit

    Te Incomparable riin

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    In no particularl order, no special rhyme or rea-son... some selected phrases rom those enchanted days

    which jump out rom memory:

    A little bit o riin is now in the dog outside who smelledher.

    What kind o tea do you expect to fnd i you drink it at thesame time as watching the computer? Te kind o tea that isdrunk while watching a computer!

    I you want to bring living tea into your lie, you must makeroom or it. Ten, show it respect and love and attention orit will leave...

    Learn to relate to things and not just use them.

    When we drink tea with one hand we have a tendency oorgetting the tea.

    Did you know that tea is a sexual plantnot just us!

    A lot o work rom Nature went into making a tea tree.

    What relation did the snake poop have on to this tea thatwere drinking? Tis is a reminder o our interconnectedness.

    When you drink tea that has destroyed the Earth, how canyou have a proper relationship with that plant, or with the

    Earth itsel? You cant meditate and connect with Naturespirit while sipping tea that has destroyed the Earth.

    Te timeless sutras o tea are written by Nature and notman. Tere is no miscommunication here, as what has hap-

    pened when human prophets words get mistranslated.

    How do you Facebook the Google?

    In the morning, we are sot, we are flling up, just like Na-ture, so lets fll ourselves with goodness. Make our morningsthe frst note o our days symphony, keeping in mind that the

    frst note sets the tone or the entire symphony.

    Tere is no separation o anything. As i one cell rom yourhand could suddenly revolt and say that it no longer wishesto play the hand game! Change one element in your sur-roundings and you change everything

    Gongu tea teaches sensitivity, bowl tea equanimity.

    Growth should come rom a sense o spiritual advancementand betterment, not rom a desire or convenience, expedi-ency or pleasure.

    Te purest orm o Love has no object or orm.

    15A Wudelicious Visit

    A Few Memorable Wu De Quotes

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    As many o you know, our center here in aiwanis an amazing place with three tea rooms. It is amagical building, lled with the light o hun-

    dreds o visitors, tea and ood, smiles and good memo-ries. It is, however, small or the trac we are alreadyreceiving, and it looks like so many more o you are plan-ning to come in the next year. Its hard to top the goodnews o ar away riends coming or tea, but we think wecan right now: this month a good riend and supporter oea Sage Hut donated around three acres or us to builda permanent center!

    We are so excited to announce that we are hal-

    way there. As all o you know, it has long been our dreamto build a center that would outlive us allwe wroteabout it in previous issues o this newsletter. It is amaz-ing to see the universe responding to our dreams, and to

    watch them take orm. We envision our center as a homeor all o us. You are all welcome, ever and always, justas you have been to this our smaller (though still lovely)center in Miao Li. We see a bustling place with plenty oroom or visitors, annual ten-day gatherings where all themembers o this Hut can meet up or some good ood,

    tea and ellowship. Wouldnt it be great to meet the many

    brothers and sisters sharing this tea with you in person?Te land is just outside the town o Da Hu, MiaoLi county, in the mountains. Unbelievably, it has a wa-terall, a river with clean drinking water, clis and er-tile land or growing vegetables and tea. Tats right, wehope to have a thriving tea arm within ve or ten years!Maybe one month o each years Global ea Hut will betea weve grown and processed ourselves. It is our aimto create a ully sustainable community, using green andeco-riendly building materials, solar electricity and hot

    water, as many dry toilets as possible, organic ecological

    and arbor tea, a vegetable garden capable o sustainingmost i not all our oodstus and o course Earth-cen-tered, spiritually-minded human beings to maintain itall. We hope to be almost completely sel-sucient andact as a paragon or other sustainable communities inaiwan and throughout the world.

    Originally, we had dreamed o a more accessi-ble center somewhere just outside the city, but our visionhas changed in the last year to include a tea arm. Wetake many o our visitors to produce their own tea whilehere anyway. It will be nice or you to be able to interact

    16 Finally!!The News Youve Been Waiting For

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    with center trees, which we aim to grow ecologically withroom between each tree as they grow deep roots and tallcrownstrue living tea, as we have so oten discussed inthese newsletters. Te area is bathed in morning mistsevery day, has its own river with mineral-rich soil, rocks

    and clis and vibrant green all around. Tere is a vastarray o plant and animal lie, ensuring ertility. Also,there is little else aroundthe air, land and water are allpollution-ree. It is a ne place to grow some tea, whichmeans its also a nice place to meditate, calm down anddrink some tea in quiet.

    We plan to start with our buildings. Te mainhall will house tea rooms, Zen gardens, koi ponds, stor-age or tea as well as the kitchens and dinning halls. Weplan to build it out o stones quarried rom the land itsel.Tis will make the building strong and long-lasting. We

    hope to decorate in a Japanese style, with ying roos, us-ing antique wood, tatamis and simple dcor throughout.Ten, there will be three guest houses to start. Each willinclude our beds, a private bathroom and closets. Wehope to use a lot o bamboo in the construction o these,

    as there is a huge bamboo grove on the property. Bamboocan last up to ve years beore repairs are needed, and we

    will thereore have a constant supply. Tis is a cheap andenvironmentally riendly way to build our guest houses.Finally, we will build a meditation hall on the terrace

    near the waterall. It, too, will be built in a Japanese style.We also visualize a ully landscaped center withZen stone gardens, owers, and gorgeous trees. Te tea

    will be grown on three or our stone terraces, and we alsohave a sizeable area or growing vegetables. With a bit olandscaping, you will be able to see the waterall romanywhere on the property. It will be a place o solace andserenity, with plenty o opportunity to get close to theEarth as well.

    Great News!

    17

    Part o our waterall

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    ConstructionWhile receiving the land is a tremendous git, we

    are only halway to our goal. We still need to raise themoney to build. We think that it will take between 300and 500,000 USD including all landscaping and decora-tions. We can do this in stages or all at once, dependingon how much we are able to raise. We pray that others

    will contribute with an understanding that this is to be ahome or all tea loversthe worlds only ree tea school/center devoted to Cha Dao.

    We see three potential avenues or undraising:rstly, we are creating a sel-sucient, sustainable com-munity and hope that economically-minded donors and/or environmental concerns are willing to support us assuch; second, we are creating a tea school/center with reeclasses rom several tea masters happening year round.

    All classes, room and board and expenses will be com-pletely ree. For that reason, we hope that many tea lov-ers around the world will be interested in participatingin this monumental project. Finally, our center will be aplace o meditation, Zen. We hope that meditators seek-ing a place to do spiritual work reely will be interestedin contributing. When we speak o Zen, or Chan, we arenot reerring to any organized religion. On the contrary,

    we hope to create a completely ree spiritual center whereyou can come and practice in any way you see t, as longas it does not disturb the order o the center. All orms o

    meditation are welcome. We intend to provide medita-tive space, ood and lodging that you can use in your own

    way.I any o you would like to make a donation to

    our project or have any insights as to how we can raise

    these unds and reach our goals, please contact us. Terewill be a page up or center donations on the Global eaHut website (www.globalteahut.org) and we will be put-ting up a video shot at the site soon. We will be updatingyou in all the ollowing issues o these newsletters, so you

    will know how things are progressing. It has been raininga lot lately in Miao Li, so we dont have many good pho-tos o the land to show you yet, but they will be orth-coming, both in uture newsletters and on the website. Inthe meantime, these will have to do

    Tis is an exciting holiday season, indeed!

    Finally, beore we orget, wed like to share the nameo our uture center with you: Light Meets Lie()*.

    *Te Chinese is actually deeper, literally translating LightMeets Lie and Becomes Infnity.

    18Great News!

    http://www.globalteahut.org/http://www.globalteahut.org/
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    Lunar planting has long been practiced withinthe realm o agriculture. Planting by the cyclesand rhythms o the moon is simple, tangible,

    and connecting. Te inuences can easily be seen inanimals, plants, and soil. Tese eects remind us o theinterplay between the cosmic and the terrestrial. Teyhighlight the beauty and splendor o the relationshipbetween Earth and Moon. Tey call to our attentionthat Nature is Great.

    Its not dicult to extend this notion o cosmicrelationships beyond the moon to that o the sun, withits obvious gits o warmth and light. o consider otherplanetary relationships with the Earth and zodiac con-stellations might also be entertained by the open mind.

    I we take this one step urther and ocus our attentionon agriculture in light o all o these actors, we begin toenter the realm o Biodynamics, which is the armingpractice employed at Finca Luna Nueva (New MoonFarm) in Costa Rica.

    Finca Luna Nueva is a sustainable rainoresteco-lodge and biodynamic arm. Te arms 220 plusacres o tropical rainorest is host to a wellspring o bio-logical diversity. Being so close to the equator, one can-not help but notice the dense humidity, abundant rain,verdant richness, and dramatic cycles o lie and de-composition. In the tropics, everything is bigger, aster,more colorul, and in greater company. It is a palpableenvironment or plants and animals to simply abound.

    o pay tribute to such grand biodiversity, FincaLuna Nueva created a Living Seed Sanctuary; living ina literal sense, and also in relation to the living qualityound in the tradition o Cha Dao. Imagine not somechilled seed bank in a snowy mountain cave, but a dy-

    namic collection o over 300 medicinal plants repre-senting and protecting both tropical and cultural bio-diversity. Considering that many cultures rely on plantsas medicine, its no surprise that within this Sacred SeedSanctuary we nd the tea plant: Camellia sinensis.

    Biodynamic Tea at New Moon Farm20Article by Shane Marrs

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    Biodynamic ea

    I went to Finca Luna Nueva on a three-monthinternship to ocus on ea and Biodynamicsveryuncharted territory in Central America. Coee is kingin Costa Rica, and Biodynamics is only just bloomingbeyond its once esoteric connement. First, let us con-sider this elegant portrayal o Biodynamics:Bio-dynamics, though not disparaging o common sense,is concerned essentially with consciousness-expansion in re-

    gard to plants, animals and soil. Te attempt is made tolook into the deeper spirit o Nature. Out o this deeperawareness, based on exquisite observation o Nature, theapproach calls or not letting things run their naturalcourse, but or intensiying certain natural processes (cre-ating optimal animal populations, making special com-

    post preparations, planting selected companion plants atcertain cosmic constellations), aiding Nature where She isweak ater so many centuries o abuse, short-cutting de-structive processes, and instead using human intelligence,kindness and good will to oster positive developments.

    Culture and Horticulture

    Demeter certied Biodynamic Ginger andurmeric are the two commercial crops at Finca LunaNueva. Besides the Sacred Seed Sanctuary, there is

    also a hardy cacao grove, an abundance o ruit trees, athriving vegetable and herb garden, and a very small teagarden consisting o about eighty tea plants, o whichroughly ty are harvest-ready. Tere are some veryspecial qualities about this small tea garden: Te origi-nalAssamica-variety seeds were planted in 1997. Tey

    were essentially let to grow untended into trees, whichthe large-lea variety naturally does. In the heat o thetropics, accompanied by ample rainall, each seed burst

    orth into its own genetic uniqueness. Tis alone is adistinguishing actor rom most tea plantations todaywhere cuttings are the propagation method o choice.Cuttings hold true to their mother plant, geneticallyspeaking, which may possess certain desirable quali-ties such as high crop yield, uniormity, pest resistance,adaptability to climate, and other such economic-driv-en actors.

    In many cases, the crown o a plant or treereects that o its root system. When tea plants arepruned to a manageable height or harvest and main-

    tenance, their root structure reects that through shal-low growth. As trees grow towards the light, their rootsgrow down into the depths o the soil where energy,minerals, nutrients, and abundant resources reside. AtFinca Luna Nueva the plants were eventually cut back

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    to create a plucking table. Not all o the trees were cutback, however; three were let to stand, ranging betweentwenty and orty eet tall. Tese are the trees rom

    which they harvest seeds or urther propagation. Seedsthat not only contain genetic variance, but the geneticquality inherited rom mother trees whose root systemsreect teen years o unhampered crown growth. Tat

    is poetically and literally deep.Besides all o that grandeur, the tea gardens,

    along with the rest o the arm, thrive o the energy oBiodynamic arming practices. Te term Bio-dynamicderives rom the two Greek words, bios (lie) and dy-namis (energy). Everything rom planting, weeding,and harvesting, to pruning, processing, and tendingcan be considered in the light o Biodynamics. Whether

    were harvesting near the new moon, spraying compostpreparations by the alignment o Earth and Saturn, orgerminating seeds near the ull moon, lie energies are

    at play. Tis is an organic, sustainable, and spiritual ap-proach to raising tea.

    During my time at the arm, over two hundredbaby tea plants were transplanted into two beautiulgardens, and another couple hundred seeds are current-ly being germinated. From the harvest-ready plants,

    we tried our hand at processing red tea, and with suchhigh-quality raw material, it was tough to go wrong!

    Without any reerence or processing tea in CentralAmerica, we had un experimenting with all the ac-tors involved such as withering, rolling, oxidizing, and

    22Biodynamic ea

    drying, not to mention harvesting by dierent cycles othe moon as it passed through dierent zodiac constel-lations. We thoroughly enjoyed our small-batch, hand-rolled tea, as did our arm guests during a BiodynamicRed ea Workshop I gave to conclude my internship.Te ounder o Biodynamics understood the importantrole that water has to play in carrying and transmitting

    energies. Very precise uses o water are specied whenpreparing certain compost-sprays. Special stirring orainwater introduces cosmic orces that enable the wa-ter to become a dynamic carrier o the lie energy asso-ciated with a particular compost preparation. Tis maysound strange i you are not amiliar with Biodynamics(and probably strange even i you are), but it meansnothing more than this: water is sensitive and very re-sponsive to external stimuli. Its unction and structurecan be altered by human attention and consciousness.I that still doesnt sit well with you, then let us also

    allow room or the mystery inherent in any tradition:spiritual, agricultural, or otherwise.

    In the end, the underlying concern o Biody-namics lies in creating healthy living soil. As water isto tea, soil is to the tea plant. I the water is clean andpure, tea can express itsel without any resistance. I soilis healthy and alive, plants will be nutritious and hardy.One need not orce a good bowl o tea or try to growhealthy plants, you just need good water and soil. Ac-cordingly, Nature will take care o the rest.

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    Do you think it possible to dissect ahuman being, render it down into itsconstituent parts, eed them into a ma-chine which measures such things anddetermine rom that its ability to paintor create great music? No? Ten why do

    you think that once you have done thiswith my body you know anything aboutme?

    -ea

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    When you begin down an Eastern path, and Cha Dao mostly heads East, you quickly realize the impor-tant role language can play in our thinking, and consequently our insights. For the most part, we come to lovethe ancient spiritual words in languages like Sanskrit and Chinesefor their subtlety and breadth. Tere is oneEnglish word weve come to like better than its Eastern equivalents, however: Enlightenment. When most peo-ple think of Enlightenment they see in the word the light and are reminded of the light in us, which we all

    travel towards. But light in English has another meaning: not heavy! Being enlightened means, literally, light-ening up! Dont take yourself serious, or anything else for that matter. Tere is an old Indian saying: beware thespiritual/religious man that takes himself seriously! And many of you know how we here do so love laughter andhumor. We thought that these newsletters might be getting a bit heavy and that we would en-lighten them up.

    en-Lighten up

    As many o you know, we are huge olkien ans here at the center. Te re-

    lease o the Hobbit ullled two o our loves: lm and Middle Earth. As aresult, we thought we would show you a couple movie posters to promotethe lm. Tese posters are all throughout aiwanon telephone poles, oldhouses, along the highway and even in public bathrooms. We have alreadyseen the movie once and plan to go again. It was great!

    24

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    25En-lighten Up

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    I am airly new to tea having been introducedto Oolong by my good riend, San Bao, who runs thetea ceremonies at the health spa we both work or inKoh Samui, Tailand. Tat was about two years ago.Beore that, I had been put o tea as a young kid who

    was orced to drink milky builders tea by my Dad at

    mealtimes! Later in lie I got into Buddhism, particularlyconnecting with Zen, and was surrounded by inspiringstories o monks sipping tea in the mountain peaks... Idesperately wanted to like tea, and even had a riend whodid Oolong tea ceremonies, but ound mysel the loneBuddhist at our center who didnt drink tea. . .

    However, two years ago I sat at San Baos tea cer-emony determined to give it another try and a lovelyKwan Yin Oolong tea was placed beore me. I drank itand, lo and behold, I loved it! I immediately bought astarter kit: a tray, some cups and a couple o tea pots,and Ive never looked back. I started to give other teasa try and ound something miraculous happen: thoughI rarely liked them at rst, maybe ater ten brews somestarted to taste great. Perhaps this was my palate slowlygiven up my association o tea with my Dad!

    San Bao has been very helpul all the way, shar-ing his passion with characteristic big heart. He also in-troduced me to Wu De by way o Wu Des rst bookand the oldArt o eamagazines. He also told me aboutGlobal ea Hut.

    In December I had the good ortune to visit ai-wan with San Bao and his partner, Gila, and had theopportunity to visit the ea Sage Hut community. Wehad such a great time, and I would recommend that youall get there i you can. I love receiving my tea packagerom the gang every month. It is lovely to think o youall around the world, and because I am so new to tea,each month so ar has been a new type o tea or me.

    Tea Wayfarers

    From now on, we plan to introduce one o the Global ea Hut members to you each monthin these newsletters. We hope that this helps us all get to know each other better. Its also topay homage to the many maniestations that all this wonderul spirit and tea are becoming,as the tea is drunk and becomes human. Te energy o the tea uels some great work in this

    world, and we are so honored to show you some glimpses o such beautiul people and theirtea. We thought wed introduce you to the incredible Nick Dilks.

    Normally, when I get into something I go madreading books and trying to nd out as much as I canabout it. But with tea something dierent is happening: Iam just enjoying whatever comes my way . . . and ratherthan seeking to master the subject o tea, I am waiting tosee what the master, the Lea, has planned or me!

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    he Global ea Hut website now has a orum up, wherewe can all discuss this months tea and ask or answerquestions, as well as share our experiences. It is a great

    way to meet some o your brothers and sisters in the hut.Come and join us:

    www.globalteahut.org/forum

    (We are also on Facebook and witter now!)

    We have launched the new video series! Te rst video

    is an introduction to this Global ea Hut. Te second isabout bowl tea. Te third is about Mr. Xie. You can visitour Youtube channel via the GH website or watch thevideo on the new page at our site. We will be launchingregular videos starting in August, with tutorials, inter-views, introductions and much more about this love othe Lea!

    here are currently more than 116 people in Global eaHut rom all around the world: countries like Spain,Russia, Estonia, Australia, New Zealand, America, Can-ada, USA, the U.K. and aiwan. Our accountant, Kaiyathe Magnicent (and Merciul) says that once we get toaround 120 people all our nancial worries will vanishand well live happily everater, orever and ever... Mem-bership will be limited to 200ish members!

    I any o you are interested in seeing these newslettersin color, you can read them on the Internet at the GH

    website, under the link or newsletters. Some o thephotography is worth taking a peak at.

    You are all welcome to visit our center in aiwan. Allclasses, as well as room and board are completely ree ocharge. We have tons going on. You can read more at:

    www.teasagehut.org

    We werent able to send the envelopes without havingthem registered. Tis is because the post oce inormedus that they will be mishandled that way. I your enevel-ope is returned to us, we will send it back. I it gets lost,please let us know. ry to choose an address where some-one is sure to be home during the day to sign or it. Also,remember to pick it up rom the post oce.

    We have given out 5 scholarships or a ree year o GHto people who want in but cannot aord the cost. I youknow anyone else interested, please let us know. It is a

    great joy to expand this community!

    I any o you have any ideas about how we can raise theunds to build our new center or would like to make adonation yoursel, please contact us through any o our

    websites.

    Let us know about what you think o Global ea Hut soar, either by contacting us or expressing your thoughtson the new orum. We would love to hear your com-ments or criticism. We are here to serve and make thisexperience better or everyone, bringing us all closer to-gether.

    www.globalteahut.orgwww.teasagehut.org

    www.the-leaf.org

    Be happy!

    Center News 27

    http://www.globalteahut.org/forumhttp://www.teasagehut.org/http://www.globalteahut.org/http://www.teasagehut.org/http://www.the-leaf.org/http://www.the-leaf.org/http://www.teasagehut.org/http://www.globalteahut.org/http://www.teasagehut.org/http://www.globalteahut.org/forumhttp://www.globalteahut.org/forum
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    Our center Expenses (essentially covered by local donations and Global Tea Hut) Food and entertainment, trips and gas for visitors who wish to see Taiwan Bowls and tea for every guest to take home A Puerh Cave on the third oor A library of vintage teas for future students to study from

    A Large collection of various teawares to learn from

    Future Center Mountain land (We got it! Chek this one o) Building (We will need from between 300 and 500,000 USD)

    Gardening (both landscaping and vegetables for eating)

    Publications Te Lea, ea & ao Magazine (Online and ree at:www.the-leaf.org) Translations of some Chinese texts for free distribution Printing of pamphlets and introductions for free distribution e purchase of copies of Wu Des books: Faces o the Master, ea Wisdom, Way o eaandZen & ea, One Flavor

    or ree distribution at our center

    Videos We still need around 500 USD worth of equipment

    Tea Sage Hut projects