David Lee Hoffman facts for kids
David Lee Hoffman is an American tea importer. He is known for bringing special teas from China to the Western world. He also started and runs The Last Resort, a unique research center focused on protecting the environment. Besides that, he has a very large and valuable collection of teas called The Phoenix Collection.
David Lee Hoffman's Story
David Lee Hoffman became well-known for his deep knowledge of Chinese teas, especially a type called puer tea. In the early 1970s, he started bringing puer teas from Nepal. Later, he traveled to far-off parts of China to find rare and wild teas.
His journey and passion for tea were even featured in a 2007 documentary film called All in This Tea, made by Les Blank and Gina Leibrecht. In 2004, David Hoffman sold his tea company, Silk Road Tea. After that, he focused on running The Last Resort and building his Phoenix Collection of teas.
Later, some Tibetan monks helped build parts of The Last Resort. This center is in Lagunitas, California, and it has an Eastern-inspired design. It focuses on ways to live that are good for the environment.
The Last Resort: A Green Living Center
David Hoffman lives and works at a special place he calls "The Last Resort." It's a group of buildings in Lagunitas, California, where he explores new ways to live sustainably. The main goal of The Last Resort is to find better ways to handle waste, reuse water, and make sure people have enough food.
One of his cool projects is "the worm palace." This system uses vermiculture, which is a fancy word for worm composting. Worms help turn all the waste from the house into high-quality fertilizer. David Hoffman hopes this will help create "super soil." He first shared his ideas about worm composting at a big meeting in Columbus, Ohio, in 1994.
The Last Resort also has other green systems. It uses a greywater system, which cleans and reuses water from sinks and showers. There's also a special composting toilet that was approved by the state. Plus, the center uses solar power to get its energy from the sun.
David Hoffman also sees The Last Resort as a "living history of architectural research." For over 40 years, he has built more than 25 different structures there. He uses low-cost and recycled materials, along with building tricks he learned from his travels around the world.
