I haven't mentioned it, yet David Lee Hoffman's "estate" in Lagunitas has, after years and years and millions in attorney fees; apparently been sentenced to some form of eviction?

Maybe there's hope? I don't know:

https://www.marinij.com/2026/09/26/last-gasp-for-last-resort-complex-in-lagunitas/

If you have no idea who David Lee Hoffman is; apparently he helped get 普洱茶「pu-erhcha」aka pu-erh tea, sanctioned for sale in the USA. Oh sure, doubtlessly others were importing such things previously via various smuggling methodologies (e.g. Omei [a Chinese restaurant, now gone] in Santa Cruz, California used to apparently use their furniture importing business to smuggle in Szechuan peppercorns [during the time when those too, were illegal]). If I recollect some retelling of the tale, border agents suspected the "brick" or "cake" forms of the fermented tea as posturing for other illicit herbs?

I have been to the "estate" in Lagunitas and it is lovely.

Apparently the whole ordeal started because of some nosy NIMBY making a report that perhaps some of the buildings on Hoffman's property were not "up to code"; and thus the gradual, protracted, legal disputes began.

As far as I have heard, some of Hoffman's teas, as they have aged in his myriad structures, have taken on characteristics which have led to folks in China, paying a premium price for his aged teas when re-imported (which is to say, exported from the USA, back to their country of origin).

All of that subtly and nuance, is lost of legally fixated uncultured sorts.

It is deeply distressing, and a sign of the times in which we find ourselves. The courts turn a blind eye to billionaires and their largess, yet seem to have no end of animosity to leverage against a little guy with a tea business.

It's been some months since I have visited Hoffman's Tea Museum in Lagunitas (separate from the property in question) so I haven't heard the most recent situation from the source, yet when I saw such headlines in my mobile "phone" news apps? That was: not a good sign. ;(

Being focused on more primordial forms of enjoyment than electronic distractions, it probably comes as little surprise that some of his related websites may throw TLS certificate errors sorts of browser warnings (as in: they are plaintext HTTP):

e.g. http://www.thephoenixcollection.com/ or http://thelastresortlagunitas.org/david-lee-hoffman/ the pictures of Hoffman there are much younger than he is now; yet despite an increase in age, his disposition is pleasant and his knowledge on tea and travels, vast.

Should you have an opportunity, he has been the sort for whom I am grateful to have known. For my part at least, the initial introduction was largely thanks to Oshan Cook (fellow teajay; indeed, the first individual I know who used that phrase) of Om Shan Tea (after he had a falling out with the late Master Wong of Medicine Buddha, he began sourcing teas predominantly from Hoffman and the Phoenix Collection. Other places, such as Wu Wei Tea Temple, in Fairfax, California, also feature a tea menu largely derived from the Phoenix Collection.) Some, perhaps were familiar with Silk Road Teas, which was a brand which Hoffman established, and sold off (and in doing so I think maybe signed a five year non compete clause; and subsequently, The Phoenix Collection, when it began, was done so much more quietly, rather than vying for store shelf space; more via word of mouth among other tea aficionados).

Many things come and go, yet the Hoffman "estate" as it has been phrased? I think should have stayed. The NIMBYs? In Marin in particular? Are awful. No doubt most are presumably more familiar with Marin NIMBYs being why BART does not extend into the North Bay; yet this tale is tragic and a failing in a completely different dynamic; a much more individual tale of the hammer punching down on those where, if we lived in a more just timeline, it would instead be attempting to protect and defend against Hoffman's adversaries.

#tea #茶 #Hoffman #DavidLeeHoffman #普洱茶 #puerh