90. When tea goes super-niche

Welcome to the world of the Super Niche. According to internet sources a.k.a. Google and their competitors, selling loose leaf tea is in the same category of niche-ness as being an uncut diamond smuggler living his lifestyle dream in the jungles of west Africa. Who would have guessed, that the second most drunk beverage on earth after water, had become super-niche. On one level, it means that as a product I am not as a tea merchant, going to win any popularity contests in the foreseeable future. On the other hand, it means that the company I keep is getting very exotic. So that, probably means (and I am guessing here) that if you read or listen to my stuff, then at some level, you and your life would make a decent fictional character in the right novel. And I bet, you’ve had moments worthy of that classic phrase: “You can’t make this shit up.” Or even better: Seeing a scene on the television or movies, and suddenly realising that it mirrored an event in your own life. But you just can’t tell anybody because they would never believe you. And all I really do is sell tea online. A boring product that I try to dress up with my own honest experiences. Which is not an easy thing to do. I mean, just look at me: I am a loose leaf tea drinking, baguazhang martial artist who plays weiqi. And, who’s idea of family entertainment is visiting the local library for a few hours or taking the family to my local Hongkongese Chinese restaurant. Not very inspiring. And yet… For some strange reason I cannot fathom, I’m super-niche. But if being called super-niche is anything similar to when I was in high school and getting labeled a super-freak before the term got popularized, then I would say that my loose leaf tea is about to do that ka-ching thingy my phone does when I make a premium sale... Liked what you heard & want to connect with me? Join me at… linkedin.com/in/peterhainzl/