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Making Time to Pause, Especially When Busy

This post shares my determination to make time to pause with tea, especially when I’m busy. It also explains the Virtual Tea Table, an online group that I created to help tea lovers cultivate a practice of pausing.

When life gets busy, it’s so tempting to reduce or eliminate breaks. We need that time to work because there’s so much to do, right? I have responded like this to the challenges of being busy for years–okay, decades. But, now that I know better, I am trying to do better. The Virtual Tea Table is one way I make time for breaks…and invite other tea lovers to join me!

Four little cups of tea arrayed around a clay teapot. A teapet turtle sits on a card that says "Pause. Steep, Sip. Connect."
Pause. Steep. Sip. Connect.
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Portable Electric Kettle Review: Traveling with Tea

This post reviews a balbali portable electric kettle (AKA mini kettle) and shares some different approaches to traveling with tea.

Balbali portable electric kettle with a measuring tape on one side and the detachable electrical cord on the other
The personal-size balbali portable electric kettle is compact,
roughly the size of a commuter mug or thermos.
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Complicating “You Can’t Pour from an Empty Cup”

Reading Tricia Hersey’s critique of the maxim “you can’t pour from an empty cup” got me thinking.

Are you ready to get poliTEAcal, Tea Friends?

Teacup with a few drops of tea in it, poised as if ready to pour.
You can’t pour from an empty cup.
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Tea Love Stories

Let’s explore some tea love stories! This post shares how tea has been a conduit for different kinds of meaningful relationships among members of the tea community.

A glass, heart-shaped mug full of tea and love, surrounded by colorful tulips.
Love for tea connects so many of us.

Marriages and friendships have been made and celebrated through a shared love of tea.

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A Lesson about Beauty from Tea Life

Tea life has taught me a lesson…again! This time, the lesson is about beauty.

In this post, I share how my tea practice helped me realize the source of my reluctance to use a very practical tea accessory that is also beautiful.

A tea accessory that taught me a lesson. Shown: Blue tea travel bag with flowered ribbon and button detail.
The lovely tea travel bag I received for my birthday, with a rolled up chabu on top.
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Virtual Tea Table

The Virtual Tea Table is a space to gather online with other tea lovers and build pauses into our workweek. Read on for Traci’s dream for the group and how to join.

[The *Winter* Virtual Tea Table has ended. You can still sign up for the *June* gathering.]

If you follow me on social media or subscribe to Tea Infusiast News, you may have noticed that I have been trying to be more intentional about building restorative pauses into my day. Grind culture, unfortunately, makes this effort seem transgressive –particularly on “work days.” The Virtual Tea Table is part of my effort to invite other tea lovers on a journey together to create a better way.

The Virtual Tea Table is for pausing
to steep, sip, and connect.
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Tea Less Serious

This post shares how my relationship to tea has both deepened and become less serious.

Not too many years ago, I enthusiastically embraced the punch line of the following joke that you may have seen on social media.

“How do I take my tea?”

“Seriously. Very seriously.”

Indeed, a number of my friends even sent me this joke back then. But, I feel very differently now. Although I may be a “serious” tea drinker in one sense, it is no longer the whole story of my tea practice.

Clay ram teapet with white and magenta orchid on its head.
Playing with my tea pet, Rocco, and adorning him with fallen orchid petals–definitely an example of how I tea less serious.
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How to Enjoy Tea When You Can’t Taste

After losing my sense of taste while having COVID, I’ve pulled together some tips on how to enjoy tea when you can’t taste anything.

I read about people who lost their sense of smell and taste while they had COVID-19. For me, however, it was hard to fully appreciate what that would be like until I also temporarily lost these senses. Tea is an important part of my life. So, I was determined to find a way to continue to enjoy tea when I couldn’t taste or smell it.

Colorful gold and blue teacup and saucer on vibrant red cloth
Colorful teaware and accessories can brighten
tea time and the mood.
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Gift Ideas for Tea Lovers, Part II

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. (Post revied and updated on 11/24/23.)

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.

Person in front of a computer at an online event. A mug of tea is nearby.
Online tea classes can be fun and convenient!