(5min read)
Everyone and everything starts with an origin story. And that origin story has an origin story, which has an origin story and so and so forth. The inception of Chajin didn't start on the day it was formed, but the day that tea saved my life.
Let’s retract a little bit. My name is Adrian Gabriel Vega Perez-Alonso and I was born in a part of Miami called Kendall. Ma’ always says that the second I came out of the womb I had my personality: boisterous and ‘travieso’ with a good heart. I was raised by a powerful immigrant woman from Nicaragua, and my father was from Argentina which meant one thing: soccer, soccer, soccer. From the moment I was born I was wrapped in red and white (the colors of the club team my family follows), and as soon as I could walk I had a soccer ball next to me.
Growing up soccer, music, and family were everything to me. Every day was soccer practice, then to my older brother's soccer practice, then to my Aunt’s house to play with my cousins. For the most part, everything on the surface seemed to be going smoothly.
In opposition, I always felt a sense of injustice in the world. This injustice was validated once my cousin showed me the rock band ‘Rage Against the Machine.’ I was about eight years old and it explained to me why things felt so wrong for marginalized communities. There was a split inside of me, a “good life” with loving parents, a home, my passion for soccer, and an anger I could not talk about nor control.
Years went by and growing up in Miami exacerbated the anger brewing inside of me. By the age of 23, I decided I didn’t want to play soccer professionally, I had gone to rehab, totaled a couple of cars and was completely unhinged. The future had nothing to look forward to. At least I felt this way. Coincidentally, as a counterweight, I began to learn about powerful movements like the Zapatistas, Jazz, and Agnes Martin,
“The jester is brother to the sage.” - Arthur Koestler
Not too long after I found myself running my own media company and working side retail jobs for extra cash. One job I landed was a small tea shop in my neighborhood which led me to start drinking tea pretty regularly at home for its medicinal benefits.
By this point I had lived a few near-death experiences and had different moments that started to shift some of my fundamental core beliefs. Tea seeped right into this shift with love and compassion.
One night while living at my parent's home I prepared oolong tea out of my kettle (for no other reason than it being a routine I created that was starting to ground me somehow). It was something that I had that wasn't chaos. That night, I felt for the first time in my entire lifetime what it was like to be present. To be here, now.
I knew I would be forever a different person. Someone closer to who I knew I was deep down inside. As Lin Yutang once said, “There is something in the nature of tea that leads us into a quiet contemplation of life.”
Up until that point, my life was full of noise, pain, confusion, worry, and terror. That night, this moment where it seemed like I had taken my first breath, led me to be here writing this with so much gratitude, love, and understanding.
In a very powerful and profound way, tea saved my life.
Chajin is more than just tea or Matcha. Chajin is about connecting with others and oneself. Chajin is about that first breath. About nurturing what in Buddhism they call bodhichitta - the awakened heart.
“You let the pain of the world touch your heart and you turn it into compassion.”
I thank you from the deepest part of my soul for taking the time to read this and I hope you trust Chajin enough to try one of our fantastic and carefully curated teas. They come from a lot of love and care directly from farmer friends of ours in Japan.
Lastly thank you to one of my tea mentors and original founder of Chajin Dani for always believing in me and the path.
With love,
Adrian
