FAQ (ctrl+f is your friend)
Common questions, served with a side of terminal humor.
A terminal tea shop? Seriously, why?
Because we wanted to. And because it's fun.
Also: yes, the addressable market for "people who will SSH to buy oolong" is probably ~38 humans and one very caffeinated raccoon.
But those 38 humans (and raccoon!) are exactly our people. They're the ones who appreciate single-origin leaves, obsessive freshness, and a good vim joke. They tip in crypto, write "thank you" in the order notes in ASCII art, and tell ten friends.
Are there others doing this? To our knowledge we're the world's first and only tea shop you can ssh into. That's not a flex, that's just the current git log.
What if I can't SSH?
We built a browser terminal just for you. Same experience, no command line required. No popups, no cookies, no account needed. Just tea.
About the Leaves
What do you actually sell?
One farm. One harvest. Zero blending.
Every tea we carry comes from a single small family farm we know personally, they are never mixed, never "enhanced," never padded with bulk leaves. We buy the lot, roasted in tiny batches, and pack it within days of leaving the mountain.
You get that same tea in two formats:
• Whole-leaf loose (for your gongfu sessions and eight perfect infusions)
• Biodegradable teabags (for the 90-second, hotel-mug life)
No dust, fannings, microplastics, "premium blend" fiction. Just unapologetic single-origin terroir, so choose your fighter.
Wait… are you really going to sell CTC one day?
Yes. Eventually. Hear me out.
We're single origin purists will always have our unblended, hand-rolled, eight-infusion leaves from one hillside.
But we also secretly love a proper masala chai that punches you in the face at 7 a.m., and the honest truth is that the best masala chai on the planet is built on strong, brisk CTC from Assam or the Dooars.
So yes, one day we'll release a ridiculously over the top CTC Assam that's still from one named garden we've actually visited, cut and crushed the traditional way, and stupidly fresh. It'll still be single estate, never bulk-blended with random lots, but it will be a deliberate, proud blendable base designed to stand up to milk, cardamom, and your auntie's lead foot on the stove.
The purist leaves aren't going anywhere.
The CTC will just gets its own shelf labeled "for when you want to feel awake, not enlightened."
We're tea nerds, not tea monks.
Why offer teabags at all?
Because sometimes you only have 90 seconds and a hotel mug. Our tea bags use plant based mesh, give the leaf room to expand, and taste basically identical to loose-leaf brewing. Convenience without compromise.
Storage best practices
Air-tight, opaque, <20 °C, away from spices. Both kraft tubes (loose) and teabag boxes stay fresh 2+ years. Entropy delayed.
How many infusions?
• Loose oolongs: 6–10 steeps (gongfu goes brrr)
• Teabags: 1–2 solid cups (still way better than grocery-store bags)
Pro tip: watch -n 30s your gaiwan for loose; just sleep 180 && drink for bags.
The Terminal Store (yes, it's real)
How do I ssh in?
ssh tea@livingroots.shop # password: "steep" (prompted once)
No npm install required.
Clients that just work™
macOS / Linux: Terminal, iTerm2, kitty
Windows: Windows Terminal, PuTTY, or WSL
Port 22 • ED25519 fingerprint on site if you're paranoid (be paranoid).
How do I pay?
Checkout happens on Shopify — Apple Pay, Google Pay, cards, all the usual suspects. We never see your payment info. sudo not required.
Is it secure?
SSH + TLS everywhere. Checkout happens in Shopify's vault. No CCs in ~/.bash_history, promise.
Can I script it?
Not officially… yet. But people already ls teas/ | fzf and checkout with Apple Pay. We see you.
Shipping & Ops
When does it ship?
Orders before 14:00 EST → same-day git push production. Tracking email faster than npm i on an M3.
International?
v1 = US-only
v2 (early 2040) adds CA, UK, EU, JP
(by 2070) Mars... Subscribe to the changelog for beta.
Is shipping free?
For a limited time, free shipping for all terminal & browser shop orders. Our way of saying thanks for being a CLI nerd.
Returns
30-day no-questions refund or swap. Reply to your order email — we'll rm -rf the sadness.
Be Kind
This is a small operation
Living Roots is a tiny tea company run by real humans who also happen to code. The terminal store is a passion project, not a unicorn startup with VC funding and a team of 47 engineers.
If something breaks, please don't roast us. Just email support@livingrootsusa.com and we'll fix it. Probably faster than you think.
Yes, we know it's "just a gimmick"
Every few months someone discovers the terminal store and calls it "peak performative nonsense." Fair enough! But behind the SSH novelty is genuinely excellent tea, careful sourcing, and obsessive attention to freshness.
Try the tea first. Judge the gimmick later.
Security concerns? Please tell us
We take security seriously, but we're not perfect. If you find something concerning, please reach out privately first: support@livingrootsusa.com
Responsible disclosure > public dunking. We'll credit you and probably send you free tea.
Still 404?
echo "your question here" | mail -s "help" support@livingrootsusa.com
Or DM @LivingRoots_usa on X — latency lower than ping google.com.
Happy steeping.
— The Living Roots crew (who all use vim, obviously)