⛄ December Recap

Happy new year, and welcome to the second edition of this monthly newsletter! I hope you had a restful, joyful end of 2023, and have entered 2024 with clarity and calm.

In December, I served 86 cups of free tea. Also...

🎂 I celebrated the one-year anniversary of the tea stand!
📰 The BK Reader wrote a profile piece on the tea stand!
🪷 I drank 32 cups of tea at a 10-day meditation course!

More on these updates below!

Before diving into the recap, here are some January events you may be interested in:

⛩️ Popup #25 | the chai stand
Enjoy some free, homemade masala chai courtesy of Friend Adin.
📆 Mon, Jan 8 / 11am - 4pm / Irving Square Park [edited]

🫖 Tea Talk #4 | Beginnings (RSVP)
Discuss "beginnings" – your morning routine, entering 2024, life transitions – over tea with a small group in my apartment. Free!
📆 Weds, Jan 31 / 7pm - 9pm / My Apartment

As always, popups, events, and real-time updates are shared via Instagram.

Now, to the recap!

🎂 Celebrating one year of the tea stand with a "teapotluck"

My New Year's Eve paled in comparison to the celebration of the one-year anniversary of the tea stand, both because the anniversary was a BLAST and because I spent NYE in bed, unwell (feeling much better now!). For the anniversary popup, I set up the tea stand in the exact spot in Maria Hernandez where I had done so for the very first time, almost exactly a year earlier.

This was no ordinary popup – it was a "teapotluck" (double meaning intended). I asked visitors to bring their own tea, with plans to use it as part of a world-record-breaking, never-before-seen GIANT POT OF TEA, in which the myriad, donated teas would be steeped together: a drinkable manifestation of our community.

I also asked visitors to bring their own seating, hoping for a picnic atmosphere (bold given the time of year, I know). Blessed with a balmy Saturday, friends, friends of friends, and park passersby mingled and sipped throughout the day, slowly accumulating as the communal tea moment approached, some arriving with arms full of tea (shoutout Darren – the co-host of 📀 Steeped in Sound – for the biggest donation of the day!).

Just before 4pm, I selected several volunteers from the crowd of two dozen to select one of the day's donated teas, bag it, and drop it in the pot (a Cambro food storage container). 64oz of hot water and five minutes later, our community tea was ready to be served. I poured a few ounces in everybody's cups and shared some words about the journey which the tea stand has led me along. The speech went something like this: "So much serendipity! So much kindness! So much tea – I served over 1000 cups this past year! And the tea stand is now a nonprofit! Thank you for supporting the mission of FREE TEA FOR ALL!"

Surprisingly, the "communitea" was pretty good! A couple of flavors – cinnamon and clove – dominated the drink, but perhaps a sommelier could've detected the nine unique teas present in the brew. And the day didn't end there: more visitors arrived, more free tea flowed, and more connections were made. A sincere thank you to all those who came by to join the celebration, whether with a blanket and some tea or simply a smile. For more photos and moments from the teapotluck, checkout this Instagram post.

📰 Extra, extra! A profile of the tea stand published in BK Reader!

I'm honored to have been featured in the BK Reader, a truly local publication – all their writers and reporters are Brooklyn residents!

I spoke with Shenal from the BK Reader for an hour via video call about the tea stand – its origins, its values, and its journey thus far. The interview served as an insightful reflection tool, especially with questions like "what was the very first tea stand popup like?" and "any favorite tea stand stories?".

A couple days later, Shenal came to my popup in Central Park on the winter solstice to take some photos and experience the tea stand for himself. Friend Tim arrived at almost the exact same time, and the three of us chatted and drank tea for hours. Very few of the numerous park visitors (almost entirely tourists) came by for a cup, presumably fearful of its contents. I imagined the advice they must've received before heading to NYC: "it's not safe there!", "don't trust the people on the street!", "watch out for scammers!". I don't blame or judge those who heed this advice, I simply applaud and reward the ones who are brave enough to trust their intuition and those around them.

Anyway – checkout the article. It's the first piece written about the tea stand and I'm so grateful for the exposure.

🪷 Drinking tea with two hands

Midway through the month, I did something I've been wanting to for years: I attended a 10-day, silent meditation course. The venue was a meditation center in Western Mass, which is part of a global organization commonly referred to as "Vipassana," bearing the name of the meditation technique taught at the courses. It's completely free to attend a Vipassana course at any of the many centers around the world – learn more here.

As the course grew nearer, my "qualifications" came into question – was I prepared for something like this? I thought about the patience and equanimity I've developed at tea stand popups – I often sit in silence while waiting for visitors, intentionally avoiding my phone or other distractions. On a brisk winter day, it's a true challenge: discomfort must be faced head-on, and a warm cup of tea only does so much to a human sitting still in 20°F weather. If I could handle frigid temperatures and icy winds, surely I could handle a cozy meditation hall. Right?

I'm not sure about that logic, but I did I manage to meditate for 11 hours a day for 10 straight days. There's nothing else you can really do, other than eat, sleep, walk around, and praise be, drink copious amounts of tea. (Phones, books, journals, anything that can provide even an ounce of entertainment are collected at the beginning of the course.)

I seized every opportunity to sip – you're only permitted to drink tea at breakfast, lunch, and an evening "tea time." I'd let the tea steep while eating my meal, then carefully unwrap the tea bag's string from the handle of the mug, place the bag in my emptied bowl, stare at the rising steam, and, with both hands wrapped around the mug, take one small sip before setting the mug back down. Deliberate, mindful repetition was the name of the game, both when drinking tea and when sitting still for hours and hours on end. (If I only I could do both at the same time, it'd be just like a popup!)

Riveting stuff, eh? Drinking tea was about as exciting as it got (save for the giddy, giggly moments just before bedtime). The entire experience was infuriating, insightful, incredibly uncomfortable, and (very) briefly blissful. In trying to summarize the experience to friends, the course has resisted my attempts to neatly package and deliver it, but I'm hoping to write more about my experience soon, and if I do, it'll be shared on my personal blog.

Outside of these major updates, I also hosted 🫖 Tea Talk #3, during which we reflected on our 2023s over some white tea. If you've yet to look back on the past year, it's not too late! I highly recommend taking some time to complete The Five Lists, a journaling exercise shared by Suleika Jaouad.

Oh, and one last reminder that you can RSVP here for 🫖 Tea Talk #4 on January 31!

Thank you so much for reading. As always, reply directly to this email with any thoughts – collaborations, feedback, tea-related inquires – I promise to reply.

Be well! Keep steeping!
Miles 🍵