Our 7-year anniversary sale was very successful. I want to thank you all for your support! I am very happy and thankful that this season's tea has been selling well. A lot of teas have sold out much faster than I expected: Aged Baozhong, Alishan, ShanLinxi, Dong Ding Select, Buddha's Hand, and 2011 Muzha Tieguanyin.
I have been seeing an increase in business at both the store and on our website. I have very much enjoyed sharing tea with people who came to the store, and have had wonderful tea chats and email correspondence with customers who can't visit us in person. At the same time, I have been encountering a challenge: it's become more difficult for me to get things done.
I am very excited to add some new services and benefits for our customers. I would like to announce some changes to our tea tastings, the launch of a tea lover's club and the introduction of more tea classes both for the shop and for the online customers. I am hoping that these changes will help me to organize my time, while still allowing me to share tea and tea knowledge with all of you.
-Tea Tastings: I will offer tea tastings from 12 to 3pm on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. This is a great opportunity to sample some teas that you are interested in. These tastings will be informal and fun. Seating will be first-come, first-served: $5.00 per person. The tasting fee will be applied towards purchases of $25 or more.
-Tea Classes: I will be updating tea class schedule once a month. In the next month or so, I am hoping to set up a web cam system so that I can offer classes to tea customers who can't visit the shop.
-Floating Leaves Tea Club: I am very excited about the tea club. I am planning to meet twice a month, possibly on a Friday afternoon and a Saturday morning. Among other benefits, Floating Leaves Tea Club members will have exclusively access to taste rare teas that I source on my tea trips and from my suppliers, as well as being able to taste our new season's teas first. I will also be providing different tea brewing experiences, competition style tea brewing, and hosting discussions and topics on intermediate and advanced tea topics. This club will focus on Taiwanese Oolongs, but over time, I plan to bring in high-quality puer and Chinese Oolongs for our club members. I will also being teaching directly from Chinese texts written by some of the great tea masters. In the future, tea members will be able to make requests for special tea purchases.
If you are interested in becoming a club member, I will be offering the first two meetings for free. To sign up, please talk to me or contact me at tea@floatingleaves.com. For our online customers, please give me some time to set up our web cam system before I will be able to offer similar membership to you.
I hope that by making these changes, I will be able to offer you a better-organized, in-depth tea education and experience. Meanwhile, your comments and feedback are welcomed.
With Autumn here, our Charcoal Roasted Dong Ding has arrived, just in time. It's full bodied and fruity, with a nice touch of warm charcoal-roasted notes
lingering in the mouth.
*Photo provided by Douglas King.
