📜 Manifesto
Why free?
- Exchanging trust, instead of money, allows for more authentic interactions.
- So that the tea can truly be for all.
Why tea?
- For the qualities it exemplifies: stillness, patience, mindfulness.
- It's affordable and simple to prepare.
Why for all?
- We seek to create accessible spaces for community members to connect across class and identity borders, especially given the current epidemic of loneliness.
- We call for the collective liberation of all people.
Our Values:
- Stillness: the remedy to our fast-paced, distraction-full world. Stillness begets curiosity, curiosity begets engagement, engagement begets connection.
“Thousands upon thousands of people in New York casually take care of the streets. They notice strangers. They observe everything going on.”
- Jane Jacobs
- Hospitality: safe and welcoming environments create the conditions for authentic conversation. We care deeply about hosting.
"Anywhere in Asia, North Africa, or the Middle East, that's the first thing that you do: you offer someone a free cup of tea."
- Guisepi of Free Tea Party
- Openness: to experience, to ideas, to serendipity. This is how we connect to the collective kindness and wisdom of the world around us. Judgement free!
“If you want to understand what an expanded consciousness looks like, all you have to do is have tea with a four-year-old.”
- Alison Gopnik
Our Inspiration:
📗 A Psalm for the Wild-Built (link)
A solarpunk novella written by Becky Chambers and our sacred text. In the book, a non-binary tea monk travels a post-capitalist, harmonious world and serves tea to strangers in search of a life's purpose. Along the way, they encounter a sentient robot and talk about what it means to be alive. A Psalm for the Wild-Built offers a vision of humanity's future which is joyful, sustainable, and full of tea.
✏️ Craig Mod (link)
A writer and photographer who creates books inspired by long walks around Japan's countryside, all funded by members. Eager to demystify and inspire, he openly shares what he's learned as an independent creator. The Tea Stand uses Craig Mod as an archetype for our own 🧧Membership program.
🚌 Free Tea Party (link)
A mobile tea house which drove around the US serving free tea for several years. Based on philosophies like the gift economy and DIY, we admire Free Tea Party for their commitment to a profit-free, tea-centric, community-focused endeavor. Guisepi and Edna Lu (the tea bus) are our heroes and role models.
