🫐 August Recap
In August, we served 152 cups of free tea!
Our August Recap includes:
🫶 Collectivizing The Tea Stand
🫎 Adventures in Alaska
But first, some upcoming events in September:
🫖 Tea Talk (link)
Our next Tea Talk – a small group, facilitated conversation over tea – is on the topic of change. We'll sit in a circle, sip tea, and share stories. RSVP required.
🗓️ Sep 11 // 7-9pm // Bushwick
🎭 Free Chai at Flood Sensor Aunty (link)
We'll be serving free masala chai at four performances of Flood Sensor Aunty, a community play about climate change written and directed by Sabina Setti Unni.
🗓️ Sep 21, 22, 28, 29 // various times + locations
All upcoming events can be found on the Calendar.
🫶 Free tea for the people, by the people
On August 13th, for the first time in The Tea Stand's history, I (Miles) was not the one behind the stand. In my place was Serena, a BedStuy resident, radical dancer, and trusted friend.
I met Serena in February during a ⛩️ Popup in Herbert von King Park. She was sitting on a bench across from The Tea Stand for almost two hours, patiently observing the park, before she finally came up for a cup of tea.
We immediately connected. We talked about land stewardship, the best cheap meals in NYC, and our favorite dance parties.
Over the next several months, our connection grew stronger. We both cherished our Brooklyn communities, were eager to share resources, and loved to bring people together.
When Serena told me she was moving to the west coast, we started brainstorming how we could collab before parting ways. I'd been wanting to invite someone to guest host a ⛩️ Popup and this felt like the perfect opportunity.
What better way to say goodbye to your local park than to sit in it for hours, offering conversation and joy to friends and neighbors?
So, I biked over all The Tea Stand equipment to the magical Herbert von King Park and walked Serena through the whole setup, most of which she was familiar with (as a frequent visitor and fellow camper). At 1pm, Serena was ready to serve and I was (reluctantly) ready to depart.
Four hours later, I returned, jittery in anticipation to hear how it went. The scene in front of me said it all: a blanket full with visitors, all sipping tea, all smiling.
The concept of collectivizing / decentralizing / open sourcing The Tea Stand has been on my mind for a while. Our motto, "free tea for all," brings to mind a global community of Tea Stand's – a table offering free tea in everybody's local park. Crazy, but beautiful.
One small step toward collectivizing The Tea Stand was to start using "we" pronouns to reflect its community-run spirit:
- Our tea is donated by locals and often served with the help of volunteers
- Our programming and design is a result of conversations with friends and strangers
- Our 🧧Membership program keeps this project running (that's the goal, at least)
Using "I" pronouns just doesn't feel right most of the time – it places too much emphasis on the individual (me) in lieu of the collective (you, us, we). It's also a small but powerful act of resistance in our fiercely individualistic society!
With all of this said, The Tea Stand is a HUGE part of my identity, an act of creative expression, and a natural extension of my values. It's young, fragile, and rapidly evolving: fully open sourcing it is still a ways off.
Here are some of the questions I'm excited to continue exploring with you all:
- How does the host's identity / presentation affect the experience of The Tea Stand?
- Who might be interested in hosting future ⛩️ Popups?
- What does completely open sourcing The Tea Stand look like in practice?
Big questions without clear answers. Baby steps, then. Serena's ⛩️ Popup being the first. And the next step?
A ⛩️ Popup hosted by our friend Michelle in Boston! The current plan is to host the event in mid-September, however, that's not my decision to make – I won't even be there! Michelle is currently sourcing all the necessary equipment (table, thermoses, etc.), the result will be a totally unique version of The Tea Stand!
🫎 An Alaskan quest for Hudson Bay tea
I spent the last two weeks of August in Alaska with a group of ten friends, my second proper break from The Tea Stand of the year. The intention of the trip was to experience the marvelous Alaskan flora and fauna, get way out in the wilderness, and have uninterrupted quality time with loved ones.
On the flight over, I started reading Blonde Indian, a memoir written by Ernestine Hayes. Hayes is a member of the Tlingit community, which is one of the major culture groups of Alaska Natives. In Blonde Indian, Hayes shares the indigenous wisdom she received from her grandmother, the colonial narratives forced upon her in school, and her family's and culture's relationship with the land.
One detail kept resurfacing: Hayes' ritual of sipping Hudson Bay tea. I had never heard of this tea (is it a brand of tea? an herb?) and became committed to finding it during my trip.
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The highlight (and lowlight, and everything in between) of the trip was a 6-day hike in the backcountry of Denali National Park. "Backcountry" generally refers to wilderness areas only accessible by foot, but Denali's backcountry goes beyond this: there are no trails, no campsites, and next to no chance of seeing any other humans. This translates to constant bushwhacking, navigation difficulties, and wilderness in the purest form I've experienced it.
About once each day, while in the midst of dense willow brush and alder trees, boots soaking wet, a fresh, mossy fragrance would take over my senses, the most pleasant of distractions. Each time I noticed it, I would sample a few of the dozens of plant species in my field of view, hoping to identify which was responsible for such a lovely aroma.
On our fifth day in Denali, following an oatmeal breakfast with foraged blueberries, I finally succeeded in finding the source of the scent. I plucked a small sample to identify once we returned to civilization.
Following one of the greatest showers of my life, I used Seek to identify the plant, full of curiosity and excitement. Immediately the result appeared: Hudson Bay.
I couldn't believe it! How serendipitous! The very herb which Hayes mentioned throughout her memoir. Giddy, I began searching for local shops which carried the Hudson Bay tea (also known as Labrador, Greenland moss, and storytelling tea), but came up empty handed.
I had one final encounter with Hudson Bay tea on our last day in Alaska during an incredible visit to the Alaska Native Heritage Center. In a traditional Athabascan ceremonial house was a small collection of herbal remedies on display. In the top left corner sat a jar of Labrador tea!
Alas, I returned to Brooklyn without any Hudson Bay tea, though the satisfaction and excitement of the whole experience was more than enough. (Though I did bring back a different Alaskan tea – a blend of fireweed and lingonberry!)
Outside of our 6-day hike in Denali, we also spent time in Seward and Kenai Fjords National Park, a place of glaciers, rich marine life, and shifting ecosystems.
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On my way home, I had a layover in Fort Worth, Texas, and spent a few hours walking around the town. I stopped in a café, needing a strong dose of caffeine following my red-eye flight.
I pulled out my camping mug and ordered a black coffee.
"I love when people bring their own mugs! This one's on me," they said with a smile.
I couldn't wait to return the favor.
Thank you for reading!
Only two headlines this time around: trading breadth for depth. Hope you enjoyed, and please reach out if you're interested in talking about our efforts to collectivize The Tea Stand.
Thanks to those who donated tea in August: Kerena and my mom! Get in touch if you have tea to donate!
Keep Steeping,
Miles 🍵
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