10 Year Blogiversary: A Decade as The Oolong Drunk

The Oolong Drunk
27 minutes ago
16 min read

Hello hello!!

Welcome to my annual Blogiversary post!! This year’s post is even more special than before, because this year, my blog turns 10!! Yes, I’m officially a decade old! In the past, I’ve taken creative freedom in my Blogiversary posts by spilling tea in very melodramatic ways. With these posts, I sank on a ship and ended up on the ocean floor, escaped a runaway train, and even floated in outer space. For this year, and for the milestone achievement, I’ll be doing something I’ve never done before:

I’ll be traveling back in time.

(Photos by Zimirah Haefele of Eventide Glow Photography, Colorado)

According to Einstein, time is relative. This means that the way we perceive time is a construct, because it’s all relative to the observer. Although time is linear to us on Earth, time runs in all directions in space. One of the simplest examples I saw of this is a thought experiment that goes like this: Light travels across the universe at 670 million MPH. Let’s say there’s a planet across the galaxy that had advanced lifeforms that were able to build a mega-telescope and point it at Earth. They could be looking through the telescope to see the Jurassic era, and watch as dinosaurs roam the Earth. But how could they be watching us, and see the Dinosaurs that roam the Earth? Well, the light that came from the Earth millions of years ago is currently reaching the outer edges of the universe, so to the observer of that light, Dinosaurs are roaming the Earth, although now humans roam the Earth. Both things are happening simultaneously to the observers because of where we're observing it, and yet, it’s happening differently for us because of when we’re observing it.

So, how would this apply to me? First, I’d need to find a way to catch the light that was emitted when my tea journey started 10 years ago. All lot of the light has dimmed and passed since then, so to find the light, I need to travel to catch up to it. The light I had from that time seems to be long-gone, and the only way to get it back is to find where it went. In the meantime, instead of going out on some melodramatic theatrical bang, let’s start out small by answering the question I get asked the most:

How did I get into tea?

First, we need to go back 11 years to when I was 18. At the time, I had been working as a weight-loss counselor. Many moons ago, it was my career ambition to be a dietitian. While those plans derailed after coming out of the closet, I can pinpoint a day when a client of mine came into my office with a huge secret. She had been struggling to find a replacement for soda, and after several months, she finally cracked the code:

Oolong.

I remember this moment clear as day. She came into my office and said, “I’ve been drinking this stuff called Oolong tea, and it tastes sweet! Wanna know the crazy thing? It naturally tastes like that!! There’s no sugar or additives, it’s just hot water! Next time you go to Central Market, look for this stuff called Dong Ding oolong tea.”

I stared at her blankly.

You see, growing up in Texas, we drank tea all the time. We called it just normal, good old-fashioned sweet tea (or, Texas Sweet Tea to those outside of the South). We’d boil 3-4 family-sized Lipton tea bags in a pot for the afternoon, add a full cup of sugar, mix it in, pour it into a pitcher, and add water until it reached the 1-gallon mark. We’d set it in the fridge overnight, and the next morning, your gallon of diabetes was ready!

However, the idea of drinking hot tea felt very foreign because in the south, you never drank tea hot. If you drank tea hot and without sugar, you were drinking a drink that was only halfway through the creation process. You don’t bake a cake and pull it out of the oven halfway through, right? So why would you drink tea hot?

On my lunch break that day, I drove up the street to Central Market. I browsed the tea aisle and bought a $15 package of oolong tea. I also bought a box of empty tea bags, so I could build my own tea bag. Next door, I drove over to Starbucks and got a cup of hot water. I then went back to work and put my make-shift tea bag in my cup. Since I’d usually make sweet tea by leaving the tea bags in the pot for hours, I decided to set a timer for 30 minutes, walk away, and come back.

Half an hour later, I checked on my tea, and it didn’t look nearly as dark as it would have when making sweet tea, but I was tired of waiting and was too eager to hold off any longer.

With my lips pressed to the mug, and with a single sip of tea slithering down my throat, I cringed as I puckered my face in disgust. I spit out the kerosene-like liquid and frustratingly threw the rest of it away.

“No way I just wasated $20, and no way that woman quit drinking soda for something so repulsively bitter,” I said to myself as I looked at my tea purchases with disappointment and irritation. Perplexed at what my client had been talking about, I decided to go to Google.

An internet search later, I stumbled across the tea subreddit (which is a subsection of Reddit that was dedicated to tea). On the page, I read that oolong tea should only be brewed anywhere from 3-5 minutes, not 30.

Whoops.

I then walked back across the street to Starbucks, got another cup of hot water, and made a new tea bag that I brewed for only two minutes. Once the cup of water cooled down, I took a sip of the tea, and from that moment on, my trajectory in life was forever changed…

While reflecting back on this moment, I had an idea. Maybe to find the light from 11 years ago, maybe I need to re-create that moment to find the light again. You know, as a refresher of sorts. So for the next few days, I dug through my entire tea collection and dug out every Dong Ding oolong that I owned. After pulling out four different oolongs, I made them back-to-back, and after sipping one after another, I couldn’t recreate the light that I once had when I initially tried tea. I closed my eyes and tried to mentally put myself back to the moment when I initially tried oolong tea, but couldn’t...

Maybe I’m going back to the wrong place and time in my timeline. Maybe I need to go back to when I worked at Teavana? Or maybe go back to when I went to my first tea festival?

Instead, I need to go back to the point in time when I created my blog.

But how did I start my blog? What was the driving force behind it?

(Photos by Zimirah Haefele of Eventide Glow Photography, Colorado)

Around 6-8 months after initially trying oolong for the first time, I had already started ordering tea from various companies. During that time period, I had discovered puer tea and had made my very first puer tea purchase from Yunnan Sourcing. I had even made a larger purchase with White2Tea, and couldn’t get enough of my tea exploration. I was posting tea photos on Instagram, and had a hobby on the side. However, the idea of starting an actual blog website didn’t really start until the beginning of January of the following year (2016).

While browsing tea companies on social media, I came across a relatively new tea company that had just recently launched. They had a cool aesthetic and had puer tea that looked affordable and tasty. However, while looking through their very first launch, I noticed they had a 100g cake that looked good and was around $60-ish USD. While intrigued, I wanted to buy this tea, but couldn’t afford it at the time.

So what did I do?

I emailed the company and asked them if they ran any discounts or had any sales coming up. They explained to me that because they were only several months old, they didn’t have the ability to host any sales. However, they did say that they needed some sort of media coverage, such as a blogger of sorts, to help spread the word on them. And if there was a blogger interested in them, they’d give them a wholesale discount on the tea cake.

Less than 2 hours later, on January 8th, 2016, my blog website was born!

I got the wholesale discount, I reviewed the tea, and my very first collaboration was complete. Even better, I now had a blog website and a blank slate to move forward with.

In case you were wondering, yes, I really did launch my blog out of being cheap…

(Photos by Zimirah Haefele of Eventide Glow Photography, Colorado)

While thinking about this moment in reflection, I decided to go back and drink one of the very first teas I bought from this company. I also decided to go back and read some of my earlier blog posts, in hopes of finding the light.

While re-reading some of my earlier posts, I didn’t find light, but I did manage to find a lot of cringeworthy writing. I also found irritation at my past-self, and wish I had gone about blogging with a more mature stance (that’s neither here nor there at this point). However, I couldn’t re-create the original light that I once held.

Out of frustration, I started digging through some of my teaware tubs to see if I could find any of the original tea ware pieces I bought from 2016 to see if that could help me re-create the light. To my disappointment, I could not.

After thinking of other various ways to find my original light, I started to have doubts and gave up my search.

Maybe the problem wasn’t the fact that the light from this time period didn’t exist, because somewhere in the galaxy, the light is traveling to the unreachable borders of the universe.

Instead, maybe I was the problem.

While on this search, I started to realize that I couldn’t find the light I used to emit, not because I was looking in the wrong place, but because I stopped emitting light altogether.

The light doesn’t exist.

Somewhere along the way, I had stopped believing in the magic of tea exploration and stopped emitting light from my journey.

In my 10 years of tea, I had a lot of hard knocks, and had a lot of experiences that eroded the hope and wander I used to have for the tea industry. I have been through hell and back, and while trying to keep my head above the water, I stopped living and started existing. I was kicked down from World Tea Expo, and on top of that, I even created a blog series that was inspired by needing to heal from some of the nightmare experiences I had in my tea career.

So what do I do now?

Suddenly, I had an idea.

Light is comprised of sub-atomic particles called photons, and according to quantum physics, photons can transcend time and space by existing in every state at the same time. This means that photons don’t react to linear time in the same way that we do, because photons exist in spacetime. Photons exist in the medium in that they’re observed, meaning that we can only observe them as being linear because we can’t physically interact in time and space. So if the same photons that came from the light I emitted when I first got into tea, then maybe the same photons that exist within me now also exist from that moment on.

The only thing I can think of is to write a letter to my past self, with hopes that the photons from the light that's emitted from the letter can transcend spacetime to deliver the message back to myself. If I write the letter and put it out in the universe, then through Einstein’s theory of relativity, it would have always existed. This means I can talk to my past self, and maybe he’ll eventually read it.

So, here we go…

(Photos by Zimirah Haefele of Eventide Glow Photography, Colorado)

Dear Cody,

Hello there! It’s me, you!

Now, you’re probably wondering why I’m reaching back in the past to write to you. Something went wrong along your timeline, and I wanted to let you know what you should expect. You see, I’m in a predicament where I lost the joy I once had in being a tea blogger. However, if I give you enough preparation, maybe you can prevent us from losing that passion that you currently have. So here’s some advice that I think you should follow to change the course of our timeline.

Now, first things first: You’re currently 19, just starting your blog, and not sure what your style is. I know it’s daunting and you’re currently not sure how to start out, but let me tell you what not to do. You’re going to launch your blogging career by putting on a performative persona of yourself. Just don’t. You’ll receive a bit of backlash for it, and the best way to circumnavigate that is to be your most authentic self. I know it’s scary, especially since you just went through being homeless due to coming out of the closet. While others have weaponized your identity against you, that doesn’t mean you should let them take your identity away from you.

Second, there’ll come a point in time in your blogging career where you’ll be invited to attend various tea events. While that might not happen for several more years, you will quickly fall in love with the tea industry and will find a new purpose with it.

However, at some point, you will go through a lot of hardship. You will be displaced from your home again and forced to relocate to Missouri. Your entire upbringing will be uprooted, and you will go through a life transition with yourself.

Also, side note: There’ll also come a point where you get into a Discord argument during this transition, and just let it go. You’re going to pick a petty argument with Oolong Owl, and she would have had nothing to do with it, and you’ll lose that argument. So, just don't.

When you start your entire life over again, you’ll think that your life is over. While your old life might be over, you have to remind yourself that your new life will just begin. Some of your core memories will happen during this time period, such as teaching a class at the Midwest Tea Festival in Kansas City. You’ll also quickly make friends in Missouri, as well as people you get to call your own. These people will be your chosen family. You’ll meet an older couple named Joe and Julie, and they’ll take you under their wing as if you were their own.

In fact, one of your happiest memories of making tea will involve Joe and Julie. After your second year in Missouri, they’ll talk about holiday plans with their family and will tell you, “We're speinding Christmas with family, so when will you be here?” You will go over to their home and make tea for their entire family. And despite being lost in Missouri, this will be the very first time you will feel like you were truly found.

Next, you’ll meet your ride-or-die named Danielle. While Danielle isn’t crazy about tea, she’ll become a sister to you. She’ll be in your life for at least the next decade. Now, you will make close friendships with other people, especially through tea, but don’t hold on to some of these people too closely. When some of these people are ready to exit your life, you’ll fight for those relationship tooth and nail. However, the longer you hold onto these people, the more you’ll get hurt in the end.

When they're ready to leave, let them.

Now, not everything will be bad. In your career, you’ll be invited to write several pieces on tea, including being a regular contributor for World Tea News!! You’ll get heavily invested in tea-education, and you’ll quickly fall in love with spreading the love and joy of tea.

There will be several speed bumps in the road, including a global pandemic that will take place at the beginning of 2020. Now, I know that 2020 is still 4-5 years away from you, but whatever you do, start buying toilet paper now. You’ll thank me 1 month into the pandemic when you can’t find toilet paper and are forced to take a shower every time you need to use the restroom...

However, during the pandemic, you’ll meet two of your soul-mates. You’ll meet Luke, and over time, you guys will have virtual tea over FaceTime. Eventually, Luke will propose to MacKenna, and you'll get to have virtual tea with MacKenna. Now, you’ll make it through the pandemic. You’ll come out of it with the realization that Missouri was only a yield sign for your journey, and you’ll eventually relocate to Colorado. You’ll get invited to speak at World Tea Expo, twice! You’ll also get to travel to Portland to teach a tea class, as well as teach another class at Penn State University.

I know this is a spoiler, but after you move to Colorado, you'll get invited to serve tea at Luke and MacKenna’s wedding as a groomsman in Carmel by the Seal, California. You’ll get to watch your chosen brother get married to your chosen-sister, and it will be the happiest moment of your life.

However, while there, you’ll get to meet MacKenna’s sister named Kayley. Along with Kayley, you’ll get to meet their mom, Stacey.

Now, unbeknownst to you, Stacey has cancer. Also unbeknownst to you, Stacy will be one of the most important people in your life because her legacy (MacKenna and Kayley) will change your life forever. Stacy will hug you at the wedding, she’ll say that she loves you as a mother would, and Stacy will periodically message you throughout the next three years to cheer you on and give you motherly support. You don’t know it now, but when you meet Stacy in California, please spend more time with her. Talk to her more. Most importantly, please hug her one more time. When Stacy loses her battle to cancer in 2025, it will be a turning point in your adulthood, and it will be one of the hardest times you’ve ever cried in your adult life.

So please, go hug her one more time.

Do it for you.

Do it for me.

While you spend time in Colorado, you’ll start to feel isolated. In fact, you’ll start to feel disconnected from people and struggle to make friends. You’ll spend nearly 2 full years without receiving a hug from anyone, and you’ll slip into a deep depression. You’ll actually feel so lonely that you’ll plan to go to the rooftop of your apartment's garage and plan to jump and end it all. However, don’t forget about Marika -- she’ll FaceTime you and she’ll talk you off the ledge. She’ll save your life. Another future friend you’ll make, named Neldon, who will also save your life by helping you find a thearpist.

The loneliness will try and kill you, and no matter how bad it seems, please remember that it wont.

Ok so, I know all of this looks bad, but there is a bright side to it all. You will go to therapy, and you will start to get better. It will take time, but you’ll eventually meet people who’ll love you for who you are. You’ll find a 2nd home at Trident Booksellers in Boulder, and you’ll find a mentor in Peter, who runs the shop. You’ll get to eventually meet with Danielle, Luke, MacKenna, Joe, and Julie again, and you’ll be reminded that you are loved by so many people. Eventually, there'll be a coffee shop that opens at the base of your apartments, and you'll get to meet a different Joe, and his wife Marla. The coffee shop employs speicial needs individuals, and you'll start volunteerting there. They'll take you in as one of their own and their love will ultimately give you a new purpose, and will help end your long reign of loneliness.

Now, I know all of this is daunting. However, somewhere along the way, you’ll lose your passion for the tea industry. Although it started with the incident World Tea Expo, there will be other events that will lead to the dimming of your light. You will often find yourself sitting at home alone, having tea by yourself. You’ll be celebrating blog milestones by yourself. To make things worse, you’ll have absolutely no one to share your joy with for a lengthy stretch of time, which will make you jaded about tea and life in general.

However, while your loneliness will start to define you, please keep the following in mind:

Start therapy much sooner. I know you will feel like you don’t need it, but trust me, you do. Also, please force yourself to take a break from time to time for the blog and change up your routine. Above all else, please don’t forget to love and care for yourself. I know loving yourself is the biggest challenge that lies ahead of you, but you need to start practicing it now before it's almost too late.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there’s still a lot of stuff you have to look forward to!

You’ll get to look forward to launching your own tea-talk show where you raise money for charity and have tea with people from all over the world. You’ll also get to continue to write tea-educational articles that will be published! You’ll also get to teach tea classes at a place called Trident Booksellers, where more of your core memories will be created. You will get to release a tea-cake with Crimson Lotus Tea, as well as release a tea blend with a company named Steep Mountain Tea!

Hell, you’ll even get to release your own tea cake production! Yes, you’ll source tea cakes to sell as a blog fundraiser and it will go better than expected!

You’ll also write a novel while drinking tea at Trident! And funny enough, while writing this novel, Julia Roberts will sit next to you and ask you about the tea you’re drinking!!! Although none of the people you sent it to will have read your novel, please remember to be proud of yourself and to keep doing the things that make you happy.

Above all else, please hold on to the joy you have for the tea community. You love tea, and you love your life. However, it’s up to you not to let the darkness overshadow the brightness.

Keep reminding yourself why you should be here, instead of why you shouldn't.

Hold on to that light the best that you can.

~Cody Wade

Now, there is no guarantee that he’ll get to read the letter. I already stated above that despite existing in spacetime, we humans can only perceive time as linear. So maybe it’s not possible for me to write a letter to myself in the past…

However, there is one thing I can do to send myself a message while working around our linear perception of time.

I’ll write a letter to my future self...

Dear Cody,

It’s you, me.

Now, you’ll read and revisit this blog post and this letter very quickly after posting them. When you do, I want you to remember one thing. You might not get to re-create the light you once had when you started this journey over a decade ago. However, you do have something else.

You have a blank slate ahead of you, and you get to create a new light.

With this new light, paint the sky with all of the colors you have within you. No one will be holding you back — not even me.

You have a blank slate and it’s up to you to start over, but this time, start over with excitement. You have a LOT more to look forward to.

Now, go make us proud.

I believe in you.

With love,

~Cody Wade

At the time of posting today’s blogiversary post, I can confidently tell you that I'm beginning to find a new light…

… and I can’t wait to see how far in the universe it’ll go.

~Cody Wade

Aka The Oolong Drunk

“Blissfully Tea Drunk”