remember Zealong?

I have to admit that these days I'm very behind about what's happening in the tea world and overall in this world. (On the other hand, I have been having a good time, of which I hope I will have a chance to tell you more!) So whatever that is news to me, probably is already so old-news to most of you.

So today I'm drinking Zealong Aromatic again, the tea I bought from Chicago Tea Garden 5(?) years ago. It's such a lovely tea. I blogged about it and its sister teas a few years ago. Five years later, the tea is still lovely! Probably less aromatic than 5 years ago, but it has a wonderful warming taste and the "throat massage" feeling. I remember this was a great tea that was a little pricy, and remember when I bought this tea from Chicago Tea Garden, the price was even lower than the retail price from Zealong producer, thankful to the US market size and wonderful work of Chicago Tea Garden. After Chicago Tea Garden was closed, one could barely find as good deals for Zealong. But as long as you could afford it, it's a great tea even at higher prices, and totally worth it.

While drinking this tea today, I wonder where people get Zealong nowadays. And then I found this:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/business/9127211/Zealong-Tea-farm-sold-to-avoid-frosty-reception

Aww, this is so sad!

Probably many of you already heard of this nearly 2 years ago. I had no idea! So today I was left totally in shock, holding my last 15 grams or so of precious Zealong...

It took more than 10 years of hard work for the farm to be established, a lot of people's work to have this great tea produced and spread to various continents of the work. It's hard to believe the tea is gone like this! But, that is life. Cheers and many thanks to all the hands that worked on Zealong and passed it to my hands!

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Then, some more news browsing revealed that somehow Zealong survived this whole thing and it's still doing well today. Phew!

So now I'm thinking of getting more Zealong!