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For the past 8 years, I have been making tea for a living.  I brew chai and I brew teas that are made with hot peppers and citrus.  I brew and bottle the teas at the Heartsong Chai Hut in Ashland Oregon.  This strange career has led to some very strange niches.

 

For example, several years ago, the Heartsong Crew began serving our teas at festivals.  We quickly evolved this into a tea bar serving till the wee hours of morning.  Heartsong’s reputation for providing hydration to thirsty, celebrating masses, drew in a loyal following.  Then one day, at a party in Mt. Shasta, a group of rowdy people gathered on an outside porch to greet the sun.  People were sipping my tea and we were speaking of the spice.  I said, “Sometime somewhere someone will realize how beneficial the Pepper Brews will be to the people of Black Rock City and they will take me there.”  One of the rowdies, took a sip, smiled and said, “Done! You are going to Burning Man.”

 

Sure enough, a month later I’m packing a makeshift brewery and heading out to the desert to brew my tea. Turns out I was brought to Temple Camp to brew for the Temple Crew.  I set up my little kitchen and get to work hydrating and nourishing these hardworking folks.  News of the “spicy shit” spread well beyond camp.  This buzz about my brews changed my life.  Working for years within the sterile and highly regulated industry of food manufacturing, this was the first time I felt recognized and celebrated as an artist.

 

Heartsong was invited back in 2006.  We returned to BRC with the Temple Crew.  This time we arrived the day the playa opened and brewed for the city builders. We brewed all sorts of teas for the Temple Crew, the Man Crew, DPW and the rest of the people building the city infrastructure.  When the event officially began we opened our double decker mobile tea temple and served our brews to dusty, thirsty people on the Esplenade, out at the Temple and at Entheon Village.  In the end, the Heartsong Crew spent just over a month on the playa, burning our Tea Temple on the Temple burn platform on Monday night.  The highlight of my year was when Super Dave came to find me asking if he could have a private stash of Habanero Honey Brew.  Super Dave is one of the guys on the playa that seems to make EVERYTHING come together.  And here he was, standing in my camp, telling me how the “spicy shit” was sustaining his world!

 

In 2007, we returned to the playa, this time camping with the superstars of Burners Without Boarders.  This year, all our brews were in kegs and on tap at our tea bar.  This mobile tea bar served 500 gallons of tea in five days on the Esplenade.  It weathered dust storms, was towed by a fleet of bicycles, served the Critical Tits ride, took a face-plant during a windstorm, hydrated the lamp lighters, witnessed the great light saber battle and survived an attack from the Beet People.  We brought a crew of fifteen folks, ten of them playa virgins… what a wild ride!

 

People often ask me why Heartsong participates in Burning Man. The questioning is something along the lines of “Isn’t it a commerce free event?  How do you make money?”  It is difficult to explain why this journey to the desert is so important to my company and myself.  While it is true that Heartsong doesn’t directly generate income at the Burning Man Festival, the networking opportunities we encounter there have proven to be incredibly beneficial in the long run.  People that first experience Heartsong Brews on the playa, bond with us in an unusual way.  These relationships continually lead to prosperous, co-created efforts off playa.  While Heartsong’s Brews are currently distributed only in Oregon and Black Rock City, our customer base extends from BC Canada to Gerlach, Nevada to Los Angeles, California, thanks to the citizens of BRC.  And now is when it gets exciting, as the distribution of our brews is expanding to include Washington and Northern California!

 

Most important to me is actively creating a space in Black Rock City that is nourishing, hydrating and alcohol free.  I also appreciate the opportunity to bring people I love together to make this incredible offering!  Burning Man is a gorgeous, empowering and one of a kind exercise for our team.  This year we spent nine days on the playa together, working hard, playing hard and enjoying our time together.  When we returned to Ashland, we had greatly enhanced our ability to communicate, listen, problem solve, co-create and appreciate one another.

 

In response to those who nay-say the presence of corporations on the playa I ask you to take a closer look.  In deed, many hard-core burners are successful entrepreneurs.  Who else would pay to take a working vacation?  Feel free to complain about the unending ads for U-Haul and Ryder truck, the “eco” car parked next to the Green Man, or the pallets of Rockstar that appear out of nowhere with no one to pick up after them.  But please be careful not to complain about the artists who represent themselves and who happen to be incorporated in efforts to make a living in the crazy other world that is 358 days a year. 

 

In 2005, the Heartsong Herbal Brewing Company was a one-person company. She was on the playa brewing tea.   In 2006 there were three of us.  We took turns running the company and serving the city builders. And by 2007 Heartsong was a four-person company.  We had just opened our microbrewery and café.  We celebrated the successful launch of this facility by brewing 500 gallons of tea and taking it out to the playa.  To keep the café open, we hired two recent high school graduates to run it while the four of us went out to serve BRC. 

 

This is the spirit of Burning Man, gathering people together to share our collective skills with strangers for the sake of creative expression and celebration.  We appreciate companies like ourselves that represent themselves humbly through participation in the city.  We very much appreciate the opportunity to grow, to learn and to get schooled by the playa.  Looking forward to 2008!

 

 

Elizabeth Chai Mama 

Tags: Creative Expression Burning Man Alternative Business Green Heartsong Celebr

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Heartsong Herbal Brewing Company
News For You

February 2008
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Greetings from the Chai Hut!

     We are excitedly settling into 2008! There have already been so many positive events and we look forward to many, many more in the coming year, and years. This last year sure was epic!

     This time of year allows us to tune back into the office with great concentration and focus. We are creating strategies on exactly how and where we want to grow. Our focus now aims at Seattle and San Francisco.

     We have also begun some preliminary planning for the "festival season." We have booked ourselves for the Taste Of Ashland and will be sponsoring the Ashland Independent Film Festival in April.  Additionally, we plan on returning to the High Sierra Music Festival, Oregon Country Fair, and Burning Man. We certainly know how to keep busy, but more importantly, we know how to hydrate!

     We might have a few tasty surprises in store for the summer as well. Curious yet? Well, you should be!  Perhaps you are salivating at the idea new Heartsong Brews? Stay tuned for more hints as the year progresses!

     In the meantime, slip with each sip further into the present moment with a warm, tasty cup of Heartsong Chai to soothe your soul. As many a world traveler have let us know, Heartsong Chai is the best chai out there....

with BIG Love,
The Heartsong Herbal Brewing Company
What's Important Now New Heartsong Accounts From the Desk of the Chia Mama The Year Now: 2008 Upcoming Events Website and Webstore Update New Heartsong Accounts!       We are proud to announce two major account acquisitions: New Seasons Markets in Portland, OR and PCC Natural Markets in Seattle, WA.  Look for the 12-oz Pepper Brews in stores mid-March.
    
     As always, a compelte list of where to find Heartsong can be found on our website.

Heartsong Pepper Brews

     The Habanero Honey Brew was created as a solution to the "energy drink craze" (Red Bull, Rock Star).  The Habanero peppers, along with organic ginger root, stimulate an endorphin rush in the brain that travels throughout the body loosening and energizing muscles.  The Habanero Honey Brew is made with lemons, which enhance the immune system with strong vitamins and electrolytes.  Best of all, there's no chemicals or post-rush-crash.

     Thai Dragon Tonic is a burst of lime and kiwi gives way to a back-throat pepper burn.  Pay homage to your heart and blood through a pleasurable mix of vitamins and minerals. Not as spicy as the Habanero Honey Brew, Thai Dragon Tonic is sure to stimulate your pallet with the sweet and subtly spicy freshness held within each bottle.

     Mate Fire, our newest Pepper Brew, offers the double stimulation of Serrano peppers and yerba mate.  Sweetened subtly with organic agave nectar and balanced with the tartness of organic cranberries, this brew is stimulating, captivating and certainly unforgettable.

 The Year Now: Our Plate in 2008      In 2008, the Heartsong Herbal Brewing Company wants to grow with intention and integrity! This is why we keep making our own products, from the juicing to the brewing and bottling. We do it all. Please come visit the Chai Hut sometime and take a tour.

Here is a synapsis of the upcoming year for Heartsong:

• Heartsong brews and spice blend boxes will be available on the shelves in New Seasons Markets, Whole Foods, and PCC Natural Markets stores in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.
• Heartsong will be even more accessible across Oregon, Washington and California.
  
• Heartsong will have a booth at the Seattle Green Festival April 12-13, 2008.
  
• Heartsong Brews are on their way in to San Francisco! We are now seeking distribution of Heartsong products in the Bay Area. Please let us know where you want to buy Heartsong Brews!
• Moving our brewery! It is inevitable that we will need to move our brewery to a larger location to accomodate increased production and demand. In just two short years we have already outgrown the Chai Hut. Hopefully we'll be able to hand off the Chai Hut to local people who want to expand it's offerings of food, meanwhile moving our production to a large space where we can drive a forklift and store pallets of product.
  

Upcoming Events Here is the information for the events we have planned thus far for these winter and spring months. I am sure this list will evolve as time moves forward.

March 1st, 2008
Dance Party!
Heartsong and the Inner Child Cafe are co-sponsoring a fun and fundraiser at the Inner Child Cafe. Come dance to the funk of VibeSquad (Aaron Holstein from Zilla and Spoque, CO), the melodic grooves of saQi (PDX, March Fourth Marching Band, and an old-school Ashlander), mad breaks from lAvA mAcHeTe (long-time friend of Heartsong), and beats like non-other from Tarrah (SF). There is even a surprise guest DJ for the early morning. There is a sliding scale of $10-$100 at the door and the music begins at 10pm. Don't forget your mug!

March 27, 2007
Dance Party!
This event is still in the planning stages, but in tradition, expect some amazing DJ's from San Francisco to shake the Chai Hut once more....

Website and Online Store Upgrades       Heartsong has upgraded our website infrastructure and web store. We have been working with a good friend of ours, Ben, at Stop Physics. He is amazing to work with with, asking lots of questions to make sure that Heartsong is getting exactly what we want.

     We have switched to Sustainable Websites for our host for your green pleasure. They offset 100% of their energy usage with Certified Wind Power. Awesome!

     Expect a newly designed website early this spring. It is sure to be stellar! It will be Heartsong's fourth official website design. This will also be done with the services of Stop Physics.

     Our new and improved web store allows easier shopping and shopping and purchasing in a safe and secure environment. We will also feature some of the products that we carry in the Chai Hut Food Artisan's Gallery & Cafe, such as Lulu's Raw Chocolate Alchemy, Higher Power Raw Sprouted Trail Mix, and Smart Monkey Raw Bars, to name a few.

     Stop by the on-line store  right now and get a few boxes for yourself and as gifts for your friends. You know you want to!


Quick Links...

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Heartsong Chai

Heartsong Pepper Brews
Heartsong On-line Store

The Chai Hut

More About Us
Contact Page

Contact Information

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541-488-5614 phone
541-488-5629 fax
e-mail: info@heartsongchai.com

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Save 15%

Type in the word" GRATITUDE."

Save 15% of your final purchasing price before shipping and handling. This coupon is available for website purchases only. It is only good at the Heartsong Herbal Brewing Company on-line store, at http://www.heartsongchai.com/store. Final discount will be calculated by the end of purchase and be reflected in final price. Thank you for supporting organic food artisans!

Offer Expires: March 10, 2008

Tags: Chai Heart Song

Kentucky State Representative, Danny Ford introduced a bill on Jan. 25 to prohibit the sale of any carbonated beverage that exceeds a caffeine content of 71 mg per 12 oz and contains taurine and glucuronolactone to anyone under 18 years of age.  The bill, HB374, would require an ID check wherever energy drinks are sold.  Ford said he introduced the bill after a contest called, "It Ought To Be A Law".  The submission that moved him was the story of a student who purchased an energy drink on the way to school and said his "heart started beating rapidly".

 

I suspect this is the beginning of a very strong conversation about the appropriateness of allowing and encouraging young people to fill their bodies with caffeine and chemicals. 

Tags: Soda Toxins Obesity Health Concerns Beverage