Tea InfusiastThis post overviews the flowering of Chilean tea culture. Specifically, it shares how tea displaced mate, and how Chile became the country with the highest per capita tea consumption in Latin America and the only one that drinks more tea than coffee.
This post shares my experience enjoying afternoon tea at The Parlour in Park Slope. This New York City tearoom is one of two run by Brooklyn High Low. (BKHL also has a location in Prospect Heights.)
The Parlour’s Address: 69 7th Avenue, (under the stoop) Brooklyn NY 11217
Té Company has tearooms in the West Village and (more recently in the) East Village areas of Manhattan in New York City. It specializes in Taiwanese tea and their own handmade and delicious tea snacks. You can also buy tea and snacks on their website. (Té is pronounced “tay.”) [Post last updated 3/2/25.]
I can’t believe I haven’t written a review of Té Company before! I have visited Té’s West Village location (the original location) more than any other teahouse in Manhattan. The calm and cozy space, thoughtfully curated tea choices, excellent service, and delicious snacks keep me coming back.
(Photo: Traci at Té Company, West Village location in Manhattan, NYC, with her friend’s plushie bison AKA a “luff”. Photo taken by Taniya Gupta.)
This post explains the relationship between my tea and rest practices, the journey they took me on, and how to register for the events they inspired me to create. My August and September 2023 events center on rest!
Summer updates and information about a new way to support my tea work
Hello Tea Friend! Thanks for stopping by the blog. I have been focusing on several projects. This summer, I’ve held two tea meet-ups: weather and summer meant they were tiny, but lovely. I am about 60% through the online, 12-module meditation course I have been taking. (I mentioned it in my post, “Enticements to Speed Through a Mindfulness Course.”) Also, I’ve been at work planning August-through-December tea events. These projects have left me less time for posting on the blog lately. Thankfully, that is about to change!
Besides posting more on the blog, I am so excited to share my plans soon! You’ll usually find out first–and get exclusive discounts–if you subscribe to my monthly newsletter, Tea Infusiast News. Now for that new “support” part…
Have you ever sipped a tea that evokes a non-tea memory? It’s not uncommon for a specific tea to evoke a memory of a previous time or occasion when I have enjoyed it. Lipton, for example, will always remind me of growing up and having tea with my family. Black currant tea immediately takes me back to my bridal shower and that exciting time in my life. But, that’s not the kind of memory I’m exploring here.
In this post, I reflect on several enticements to speed through a mindfulness course.
My ever-evolving relationship with tea has been one of the main paths through which I have deepened my mindfulness practice. I am also expanding my practice in new ways. Notably, I recently began an online mindfulness training program. The materials recommend we aim to complete the course in about three months, although we have flexibility. So far, I’m really enjoying the training program’s mix of information, stories, guided meditations, and journal prompts.
What happens when you and a friend conduct a three-week “no input” experiment? In Part II of this two-part series, I share my reflections after blocking out at least 30 minutes every day not to read, scroll, or turn on anything to listen to. This experiment revealed some of my limiting ideas about when and how I practice mindfulness. It also pointed to a way that I was still buying into the cult of productivity. Changing my behavior gave me time to process my thoughts and feelings, find more contentment in the mundane, and (perhaps most surprisingly) cultivate a new relationship to traffic lights!
Tea on the Trail began on June 1, 2018 as an art project to drink tea and photograph thrifted teacups on hikes. Nicole McKinney is the talented photographer, ardent tea drinker, and kind soul who created it. In honor of the five-year anniversary of Tea on the Trail, I asked Nicole to reflect on her experience.
GUEST contributor! In this Part 1 of a 2-part series, Taniya Gupta of YogaTeaPoetry shares her experience with “information rest,” a 21-day challenge we both embraced. Taniya reflects on her inspiration, process, and results of setting aside 30 minutes every day to not consume any new information–no media, no books, etc.
