How did I come across this powerful plant?
Behind the answer is actually an incredible story, so I hope you make it to this page because you won’t be let down. And it’s likely you’ll be inspired.
Let’s dive (back) in!
It was December 2015. I was in San Francisco. In the middle of a tea shop in the Chinatown.
I was casually (and curiously) browsing through all of the different teas they had available. As you might know, I love tea. And all things related to natural health. So being in a tea store like this is equivalent to a kid in a chocolate factory.
I wonder what other people in the store thought as they looked at me. Because I was certainly wide-eyed in a loose leaf splendor. It’s likely that I looked at every tea they had available in stock.
The names, the origins, the benefits, etc. It all really intrigues me.
And the smells…
I’m kind of like a tea sommelier (well at least in terms of passion…the skills not so much haha). One of my favorite parts about being in a tea store is getting to smell all of the different varieties.
It helps me feel their power and get to know each individual plant.
And this tea store was in Chinatown in San Francisco, so you can imagine that this place was no average tea store.
I wasn’t expecting to find anything (because I don’t believe in living with expectations), however, my intuition did give me the sense that I might encounter something special.
This Is Where It All Began
As I was browsing the vast arrays of tea, I came across a product called jiaogulan. I had never heard of it before, so of course this unique sounding herbal plant piqued my interest…
I tried to hold back my childlike excitement as much as possible as I walked over to one of the staff members and asked if I could sample this tea called jiaogulan.
To my pleasant surprise, the woman seemed almost as excited to share the sample of tea as I was to drink it. This was another sign…that I was going to find something special that day.
Jiaogulan, not surprisingly, turned out to be a chinese grown herb. I found the taste to be excellent. It had a great balance between bitter and sweet (and for those health nuts out there, you know how healthy bitter foods are for us).
Immediately as I started drinking the tea, I could tell that this was a phenomenal plant. I knew that I had to bring some back with me to Canada. I wanted to try drinking it every day for a few months to see how I felt and what my levels looked life after.
I also wanted to share it with some athletes that I was working with so that they could do the same thing (test it out).
At that time, most of jiaogulan’s healing properties were unknown to me because I was just getting to know the plant and learn about all that it is capable of.
I found out that it increases stamina, improves blood circulation, prevents aging, and is a powerful antioxidant.
After returning home, I drank it for 5 months straight. The athletes I mentioned did the same. We observed many benefits such as better mental clarity, better sleep, better endurance during the day while feeling less hunger, etc.
It was pretty incredible to say the least. Like I said, you can really feel the power of this plant.
And there’s a reason that it’s been called “The Herb of Immortality” for centuries.
I Knew This Was Going To Be A Part Of My Life
Of course, in my usual fashion, when I find something that uplifts me and/or that improves my health, I try to share it with all of my friends and family.
So naturally when I found jiaogulan and realized the profound effects that it had in/on my body, I started giving samples to my network and spreading the good energy and the knowledge.
It was at that time that a friend of mine asked me if I was able to find a source that was coming from a place other than China. He had tried the jiaogulan tea that I gave him and he loved it so much that he wanted to order in bulk.
I myself was already very curious of the same thing, and it was his question that pushed my desire to become reality.
I began to look deeper to find a source. My searches led me to a grower in Northern Thailand who grew both organic and fair trade jiaogulan.
I found his website by searching “bulk jioagulan” into google or something of that nature. His website appeared in the search Results, and the name really enticed me – AumTea.
What a cool name!
“Aum” is a sacred sound in many different spiritual practices, and it relates to mediation. So I connect with that on multiple levels.
When I landed on the grower’s website, I was greeted by a stunning video where the grower himself was talking about and showing his organic jiaogulan operation.
As I was watching the video I knew that a great adventure was going to start. The owner spoke with such passion, such warm, and such sincerity. You could feel his energy through the screen, and it was obvious that this was no average human being or average operation.
This was something that I needed to be a part of.
Everything that I said could have come from him and everything that he said could have come from me. It was a powerful connection.
To showcase just how powerful this experience/occurrence here is a crazy part of the story:
I felt such a strong connection through that video, through the plant, and through signals in my intuition, that I decided I had to buy a plane ticket out to Thailand so that I could go meet this guy in person.
And that’s exactly what I did!
I contacted him right away and sparked a conversation.
We ended up talking for hours and both realizing the same thing – we need to meet. So long story short, we organized a time and I bought a ticket.
I wanted to see everything first hand. I wanted to feel the energy of the grower, the land, the live plant in person.
Not just for my health and personal reasons, but for business as well.
I knew that I needed to sell this plant.
I had so many people come to me with stories of how much they loved the tea and how much it helped them that I could not in my right mind choose to let this opportunity pass by.
I wanted to offer this healing plant to more people. And ideally, to help get the word out there because it is still somehow not all that well known in the west.
The experience of traveling to Thailand was by far one of the best in my life.
It was September of 2016, and I traveled there with my business partner. It was the first time in our lives that we visited this part of the world, so we were excited in many more ways than one.
Not only did we meet the owner of Aum Tea and become close friends, but we also met some of his close family and friends, some of whom also became close, lifelong friends.
This was unlike anything I had ever experienced.
We traveled the mountains of Northern Thailand where he organically grows his jiaogulan tea. Walking in the hills where this wonderful plant grows was like a dream… I mean there were blankets of this green healing herb trellised all over the mountain side!
Most of the time in the mountains there were clouds that were very low, which made the scenery feel magical.
And the people that we met in Thailand were genuine and so nice to us.
This conclusive visit gave the greenlight to the business project. We went on to starting a company in Canada that specialized in the importation and distribution of the highest quality jiaogulan in the world.
It was an amazing experience. And an amazing time in my life.
I’m eternally grateful for the experience, the connections, and the lifelong friends. Adding to the soul tribe. One of the best feelings in life.
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