Tea of the Month
Build Our Community – One Ounce at a Time
Raise a cup, and bask in the warm light of holiday cheer! A time to celebrate with those near or far, with a flavor worth toasting! Black tea to keep you up through the festivities, with the sweet gratification of cocoa and peppermint. Let your heart be light, and may the season leave you merry and bright!
(available December through January)
black tea, cocoa, peppermint, candy cane, sprinkles
Sadly, this is our last month sponsoring Oregon Wild. That does not mean we can afford to ignore our environment, we must continue the fight. I do hope this year has been an educational one. That being said, this month we will be pulling all we have learned together to look at the importance of Keystone species in Oregon.
What is a keystone species? Keystone species are those animals that play such an essential role in their environment, that if they no longer existed, the ecosystem would drastically change for the worse. When keystone species suffer, so do their ecosystems! When they thrive, it benefits all the living things that they share their homes with, including us!
We have learned about a couple keystone species such as the wolf, otter and beaver. Some of other keystone species we did not talk about include, coyotes, canadian lynx, pacific salmon, wolverine and killer whales. Of the species that we talked about, I worry for the Sea Otters the most. Why? Because we don’t have any; there is a 900-mile gap on the Pacific Coast with no populations of Sea Otters, from Half Moon Bay in California to Central Washington. The sea otters’ role is critically important to the health and stability of the nearshore marine ecosystem. One important role the Sea Otter plays is to eat sea urchins that graze on the giant kelp forests. Without the kelp forests, the wide diversity of animals that depend upon the kelp forests will not survive. Additionally the kelp forests protect the coastlines from storm surge and absorb vast amounts of harmful carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Oregon Wild has been working towards ensuring the protection of keystone species that are either making a recovery or have already made a recovery. The beavers and wolves, for example, are making a recovery, but they need further protection to ensure they won’t be at risk at any point in the future. Purchasing the Tea of the Month this year has helped Oregon Wild fight.
We hope you continue to keep up with Oregon Wild in the future, they deeply appreciate all the support you’ve given them thus far! For the month of December, when you buy Merry & Bright black tea, we will donate 15% of those loose-leaf sales to Oregon Wild.
Sadly, this is our last month sponsoring Oregon Wild. That does not mean we that we will stop finding more ways to help the environment, we must continue the fight. I do hope this year has been an educational one. That being said, this month we will be pulling all we have learned together to look at the importance of keystone species in Oregon.
What is a keystone species? Keystone species are those animals that play such an essential role in their environment, that if they no longer existed, the ecosystem would drastically change for the worse. When keystone species suffer, so do their ecosystems! When they thrive, it benefits all the living things that they share their homes with, including us!
We have learned about a couple keystone species such as the wolf, otter and beaver over the last year. Some of other keystone species we did not talk about include, coyotes, canadian lynx, pacific salmon, wolverine and killer whales. Of the species that we talked about, I worry for the Sea Otters the most. Why? Because we have been unable to reintroduce them back to our shoreline. There is a 900-mile gap on the Pacific Coast with no populations of sea otters, from Half Moon Bay in California to Central Washington. The sea otters’ role is critically important to the health and stability of the nearshore marine ecosystem. One critical role the Sea Otter plays is to eat sea urchins that graze on the giant kelp forests. Without the kelp forests, the wide diversity of animals that depend upon the kelp forests will not survive. Additionally the kelp forests protect the coastlines from storm surge and absorb vast amounts of harmful carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Oregon Wild has been working towards protecting our keystone species. The beavers and wolves, for example, are making a recovery, but they need further protection to ensure they won’t be at risk at any point in the future. Purchasing the Tea of the Month this year has helped Oregon Wild fight.
We hope you continue to keep up with Oregon Wild in the future, they deeply appreciate all the support you’ve given them thus far! For the month of December, when you buy Merry & Bright black tea, we will donate 15% of those loose-leaf sales to Oregon Wild.