Happy Birthday to Us!
It's My Blue Tea's birthday and we have so much to celebrate and be thankful for! It is a reminder we got through each year's distinct challenges and it is also a time to appreciate how much we have been given during this past year. Which naturally leads us to reflect, and what have we given back to our communities?
Receiving and giving
Receiving and giving is a beautiful, natural cycle and it is how we see businesses growing and thriving together. In our increasingly interconnected world, running a business is no longer about simply saying we are the best, mindlessly grabbing as many customers as possible, and pushing out competition. We continue to do and love what we do because we feel we give something that is of real value to customers, we enjoy sharing our passion for blue tea and other superfoods, and there is a drive and an energy that we can feel come back.
As much hard work as we put into growing My Blue Tea, we receive so much in return from our customers and communities. And we are not talking about just in Australia alone but worldwide. Businesses are now digitally connected in cyberspace and customers and opportunities for collaboration are no longer limited to one's immediate neighbourhood. It gives us quite a thrill knowing that someone on the other side of the planet is cooking right this very minute with one of our ingredients they have ordered, trying it out by following our cooking channel on our website and will soon get to enjoy the delicious food they have so proudly made!
There is nothing quite like food to bring people together! Connections were made like this when we were children sitting at the dining table with our families and this dining table has now expanded across the planet!
While keeping a business going does indeed require old-school grit, endurance, perseverance, at My Blue Tea we have also found other values that have helped us grow from year to year. And they are all related to this cycle of giving and receiving - sharing our joy for beautifully natural food that is enticing on the palate and beneficial for the body, and also respecting nature and our environment with the food we receive from the earth.
Receiving Respectfully
A big part of why My Blue Tea is able to celebrate birthday after birthday is because we were very clear from the start we wanted our raw materials to come from a sustainable source. Without the plants, we would have no business! It is as simple as that. We sponsored, educated and helped a displaced community in Malaysia to learn how to farm our butterfly pea flower plants so they could get their own regular, dignified income and be self-sufficient while learning sustainable farming practices. These practices can then be passed on as valuable knowledge to future generations. This initiative gives these communities responsibility and respect, and we in turn are ensured of high quality, sustainable products that we can have year after year. Living in harmony with the earth is ultimately beneficial to all. By actively participating in a farm-to-consumer business, My Blue Tea receives quality ingredients while giving back knowledge and opportunities to locals and their families.
We are very conscious of the agricultural footprint we are leaving on our planet. It is in our hands to build awareness and take our own responsibility to make a difference in climate change and ensure food security for future generations. Read more here about how My Blue Tea is doing its part in keeping its balance in receiving ingredients and giving back knowledge to communities.
My Blue Tea goes beyond just selling pretty blue tea - our business would be quite meaningless if those were our goals. From start to end, we want our customers to thoroughly enjoy what they consume - from making sure its roots are sustainable, to sharing with customers the benefits of butterfly blue pea flower, to giving recipes and cooking tips.
My Blue Tea accompanies our customers on a complete gastronomical journey from start to end!
Giving Back Joyfully
We are especially proud and appreciative of everything during this last year, because My Blue Tea, like so many other businesses, has been put to the test through several challenging periods in Australia. From droughts to bushfires, from floods to COVID-19, My Blue Tea has found the calm amidst the storms and continued on in spite of difficulties. This is also a time when many others need a leg up and some show of support, no matter how little, is how we as communities help each other to get through periods of crises.
Giving back, therefore, was a natural next step for My Blue Tea. And we wanted to make it a joyful collaboration where food becomes the balm to lift people´s spirits and give energy to get through another day.
Giving Back by Collaborating
My Blue Tea jumped on the opportunity to team up with our friends from Melbourne Cari Makan to sponsor meals at Aunty Franklee Hawthorne for students, temporary visa workers or persons in Melbourne who have been economically affected by COVID-19. My Blue Tea contributed cash and its signature blue pea flower ingredient in a cheerful Deep Fried Turmeric Chicken with Coconut Blue Pea Flower Rice dish. It was a sense of community and connectedness that made this initiative happen.
My Blue Tea wanted to do our part in nourishing people who are having a harder time during this period.
Giving Back by Sharing
Another one of our giving back initiatives was to share our blue tea with frontline workers such as the medical staff in hospitals. The doctors and nurses at the Emergency Department of Tweed Hospital appreciated the quiet moment of calm enjoying our blue tea gift. It was our way of saying thank you for having people like them hold up the fort during these challenging times.
Giving Back by Educating
We sent some blue tea over to the childcare staff and children at Clear View Academy early learning centre. While the staff were happy to relax over a blue cuppa, the children were really excited to watch how blue tea turns purple and pink depending on acidity levels. A simple blue tea leaf is packed not just full of vitamins but also information and what could be more fun than a science experiment that is also delicious?
Free tea samples
We also came up with the idea of offering free tea samples with every order shipped to Melbourne. Being in lockdown again is tough going for many right now in Melbourne, and we want our customers staying safe at home to know they are not alone. Cooking is a very healing activity to do in lockdown and we encourage everyone to try out their culinary experiments. Read here about why cooking is a wonderful way to help people connect and stay calm during difficult moments. You can find delicious recipes here to try out and perhaps for a few hours each day, you can change from being in a pandemic to a Pand(an)emic - the simple Pandan powder is packed full of health benefits as well as flavour!
Each birthday is precious and a way to say, we are making and continue to nurture wonderful connections with our customers, our collaborators and our communities. And each year brings new ideas, projects and connections, as well as the enjoyment of natural, delicious food products that nourish our bodies and are gentle with our environment. We are looking forward to celebrating many more birthdays at My Blue Tea with our communities.
Nothing grows if we keep everything for ourselves.
We love sharing the joy of earth-friendly and tummy-happy food with others and it is a truly wonderful feeling knowing that so many are growing beautifully together with My Blue Tea.
This past year has been a rocky ride, and we are really appreciative to our customers for journeying with us through all this.
Birthday celebration offer
To celebrate our birthday, My Blue Tea has on offer:
ALL of our Blue Tea blends including our brand new Blue Chocolate Tea
Pull up a chair, wherever you are on the planet, and savour a moment of blue tea happiness!
