Go buy some tea for Taiwan

The Tillerman Tea Company, one of the storefronts in Napa’s cute l’il Oxbow Public Market, just sent off a press release saying it would donate 10% of all its sales, both in-store and online, through Sept. 30 to support relief efforts in Taiwan. In case you weren’t following the news (and I was, because a good friend of mine was there), Typhoon Morakot dumped about 100 inches of rain within 24 hours on Taiwan. 100 inches is about one year’s worth of rain. The death toll is at more than 500 people, many hundreds more are still missing, entire villages have been virtually wiped out due to mudslides, and allegedly Taiwan is still refusing aid offered by Japan and the U.S.A. and possibly other countries–but that’s a whole ‘nother story and I digress.

So, back to the press release, and I quote: “Damage to tea-growing areas was substantial. Among the hardest hit was Alishan township in Chiayi County, one of Taiwan’s best tea-growing areas and the source of several of Tillerman’s teas. ‘We are very happy to report that all of our friends are safe,’ said David Campbell, proprietor for the Napa-based tea shop. ‘But the destruction is significant and saddening. There will be no more tea from Alishan for the rest of this year, if not longer. We cannot even begin to imagine how this will affect the livelihood of these tea growers.’”

So if you’re a tea-drinker, this is a good way to help send support. Face it, your cupboards were growing empty and you can never have too much tea anyway.