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Tea in the Canyon

This post shares my three-week experience enjoying daily tea in a canyon. It also reflects on how an encouraging stranger inspired me to change how I prepare for outdoor tea.

Reed Canyon by the lake.
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Cost of Running a Tea Blog and Offering Events

Have you ever wondered about the cost of running a tea blog and offering events?

I have started thinking of Tea Infusiast as a passion and a business, charging for the tea events and groups that I organize. Some people have been curious about why. In this post, I share what spurred me to develop a business side to Tea Infusiast.

A stack of white business cards with the Tea Infusiast logo
A stack of Tea Infusiast business cards.
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Review of T Shop in NYC

This post reviews T Shop in NYC, a serene and charming teahouse where you can enjoy gongfu tea on your own, guided steeping experiences, or a cup of tea to-go. Since fees and services may change over time, please check the T Shop website before you plan your visit.

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Sign Up for Tea Infusiast News

Tea Infusiast offerings to help us connect with and through tea.

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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.