Campaign Update + A Weather Report from Origin

Dear tea friends,

Four weeks ago, when I embarked on our crowdfunding campaign, I imagined that, as the 30-day time limit drew near, I would be announcing that we had raised xyz amount, and writing one last plea for people to chip in. Instead, I have the absolute pleasure and privilege of writing that 85 of you have already helped us meet our goal and raise more than $10,000 to open our — and Boston’s — first Asian-style teahouse!!! The past four weeks of this crowdfunding journey have been heart-warming, tear-jerking, and confidence-boosting. People I knew I could count on showed up. People I didn’t expect to showed up. And even people I don’t know yet showed up. All of your support means the world to me — it means I can secure crucial inventory, hire staff, prepare the space to welcome YOU, and open our doors very soon! It is even more meaningful to me because I know we are all currently facing global economic pains and uncertainties, and everyone is budgeting and spending more mindfully. So for thinking of and including us in your budget, especially at this moment - thank you, thank you, thank you.

If, by any chance, you were hoping to contribute and didn’t get to yet — our campaign is still active until May 15th! Every contribution still gets you 120% back in credits that never expire to spend at our tea room very soon. As a little bonus, our campaign contributors will be receiving an exclusive invitation to our soft opening days (TBD), so you can be the first to drink tea in our new space. Please keep an eye out!

We are now well into the 2025 spring tea buying season, and it’s going to be a good one! If you’ve been with us for the last few years, you might notice that we are debuting our new teas later this spring than in years past. This is because, through conversations with our tea producers, we’ve learned that several of our core tea regions - including southeastern China and Taiwan - experienced a colder winter this year (just like us here in New England) and a later spring harvest. This, however, also means that the tea is very likely to be even tastier this spring, and worth the extra wait. We are very excited for our new teas, which will start arriving in a week or two!

Meanwhile, our Yuja Peel from Jeju, Korea, which is typically harvested in early winter, suffered a crop failure this past winter. The yuja fruits are grown 100% organically, which makes them more susceptible to harsh environmental conditions. Last summer, the typhoon season in East Asia was an especially severe one, so much so that the yuja trees hardly produced any flowers; even those that did flower didn’t bear much fruit. Unfortunately, the tea maker was not able to procure enough fruits to make a 2024 vintage, and there will likely be a significant price increase on the next batch he makes or sells.

Luckily, we still have ample stock of the 2023 vintage, and will keep our price stable as long as we can. Furthermore, as customers who have tried it will tell you, this tea, because it’s made in the same style as Chinese chenpi (陳皮), is meant to be aged, and will only get sweeter and tastier with age.

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Thanks for reading this far, here is a corgi named Oolong that I met at the Northeast Coffee Festival! 😻

As always, thank you for reading and supporting!
- Yin