Author: Traci Levy

This post shares more gift ideas for tea lovers, focusing on giving tea classes and the opportunity for online tea community. It is part II in a two-part series of gift ideas.

So, you are thinking about gift ideas for a friend or family member who is a tea lover. This may seem counterintuitive, but giving tea can be a challenge unless you have a very good idea of what kinds of tea the intended recipient loves and what they already have in their cupboard. For this reason, the first post in this two-part series focused on tea-themed items like stationery, jewelry, and apparel. This second post likewise focuses on non-tea gift ideas for tea lovers. But, instead of tea-themed items, it highlights tea classes and opportunities to be part of an online tea community.

This post shares why I am launching a Tea Infusiast Newsletter in January of 2023, why you might want to subscribe now, and how to sign up!

Looking for gift ideas for tea lovers and aren’t sure where to start?

This post shares some ideas for tea-themed items. It is part one of a two-part series.

If you have bought your ticket, please join us for our rescheduled “Sip & Listen” edition of Story of a Teacup on January 14, 2023! We will join together online, settle in, steep tea together, and listen to four members of the #CommuniTEA share a story about a special piece of their teaware. (This event was rescheduled from November 2022.) I’m thrilled to welcome Taniya from Yoga, Tea, and Poetry as our special guest for this event! Nazanin from Tea Thoughts and Jeff from UNYtea will be joining Taniya and me as featured storytellers.

The proceeds, ALL ticket sales, have been donated to a nonprofit organization in Chicago, Erie Neighborhood House. This organization supports low-income and immigrant families. Among the many things it does, Erie House has also been providing direct assistance in Chicago to hundreds of people who have been bused in from Texas under Governor Abbott’s inhumane policies against immigrants legally seeking asylum at the southern border.

Meet the potter who creates turtle tea pets that have brought so much joy to the tea community.

Herb, the Instagram-Famous Tea Turtle

If you follow tea accounts on Instagram, you may have seen the handiwork of potter Michell Hovey. She created the ceramic tea pet, Herb, and a number of other turtle tea pets that show up in the Instagram photos of various tea lovers.

Do you enjoy loose leaf tea, bubble tea, rainbows, lots of purple, handmade jewelry, and fair trade clothes? What about a business with a front door that proudly proclaims the location an LGBT “safe space?” If you answered “yes,” then let me introduce you to Compass Tea in Luray!

We need call out and push back against the cult of productivity. Too many spaces promote time scarcity and encourage us to behave as if we were robots. This cult is terrible for our minds, bodies, and creative energies. Two experiences recently underscored how relentlessly we can focus on productivity. This post identifies some pernicious aspects of the cult of productivity. It also shares ways to resist. Calling out inhumane elements of work culture (including those we have internalized) is important. Likewise, cultivating restorative personal practices like intentional tea sessions can help, too.