The Anatomy of a TeaBuy - In a World Wide Pandemic

Semi-wild and Wild Tea Hwagae Valley Jeri Mountain, Korea

We at Morning Crane Tea have been offering select Korean teas for a number of years. A Few years ago we began to call these offerings ‘TeaBuy Korea’ because the name Morning Crane Tea doesn’t really say what we do and the web wants to know.
As you know, we are not a regular tea shop. We don’t pre-purchase teas and try to sell them at a profit. We actually make very little money for the time we spend trying to educate you about Korean teas and getting them into your cup. You may already know we often offer some teas at our cost. Our goal is to educate the tea world about the wonderful teas Korea is producing.
Morning Crane Tea and TeaBuy Korea has always tried to get teas to you as quickly as possible but sometimes things are beyond our control. First, there are just two of us doing this. So that simple fact alone can delay everything. But this year the worldwide pandemic has added and extra way of delaying everything. Fortunately, not by virus illness.
We must have all the money in hand before purchasing the tea in Korea. This year, because it was the 10-year anniversary of Mr. Lee joined me in this effort. We reduced prices on some teas but asked for checks when possible to try to avoid the PayPal %. Some of the checks were very late in arriving because the USPS, our national postal service, has been attacked by the virus. The USPS staff has been greatly reduced through both death and illness in many areas of the country including mine. In addition the national government refuses to assist the USPS for political reasons. As an example of shipment delay, a check was mailed, by 3-day priority mail, to me near the end of July. That check took 10 days to arrive and it was not the last check to arrive. As  you know once a check does arrive it takes a few days to clear into my bank and then a few days more to be available in my PayPal account, Then it takes time to reach Mr. Lee in Korea so that he can make the purchases. Then the producers are paid and the teas are shipped to him.
Essentially, the virus has delayed us about 3 weeks. What it will do now is in the hands of customs and the postal service.
Today, as I write this, five large boxes of tea are on their way to me from Korea. These however are not the last boxes to be shipped. Mr. Lee anticipates the remaining boxes will not be shipped for another few days because, as chance would have it, it is a holiday time in Korea and everything has stopped.
When the first five boxes do arrive here, they will be used to fill the orders for the teas they contain and as quickly as possible shipped to you.
I appreciate greatly your continued patience and trust. There will be tea!

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