About

What is Via Tiempo?

At its most concise, Via Tiempo is about the time it takes to appreciate a cup of seasonal tea. Pausing, noticing, feeling the elements of the season: it is life—simple and profound—a whole cosmology reflecting back at you in the time it takes to drink your tea.

I work with families of artisans in the famous tea-growing mountains of China and Taiwan, to curate a magnificent selection of teas. I pay particular attention to the energy of the tea, or how it makes you feel, how it harmonizes with the seasons.

I've designed the Seasonal Tea Journey so that you can enjoy a perfect portion of our most stand-out selections, in the season that allows their best qualities to sing. 

The best teas are extremely evocative, connecting you to the elemental poetry of the seasons as they unfold; letting you relax and feel at home in seasonal time, like a leaf unraveling in a warm pot. 

As the Tea Peddler, it's my job to elucidate this journey through the seasons, to introduce each new tea with joy, and to support your meandering exploration of seasonal tea ritual, as you make the journey your own. 

This is a glimpse of what can happen in the time it takes to enjoy a cup of seasonal tea. I cordially invite you into this wandering tea party. Let's steep.

The Tea Peddler

My name is Michael Busby; I'm the wandering Tea Peddler of Via Tiempo. I've been studying tea since 2012. This journey has been concurrent with my Taoist training in the Limitless Gate Lineage of Taoism—the source of the seasonal way of drinking tea that Via Tiempo explores. I'm influenced a lot by ongoing study of contemplative philosophy, and most of all just from my own meandering in the elements.