⛲ August Newsletter

My mortal enemy, humidity, is once again reigning over NYC. The best remedy – jumping in a body of water – may not be accessible for many of us, but you are never too old to run through a playground sprinkler (seriously, it's the best). Alternatively, find a NYC cooling center here.

Today's newsletter topics:

🍵 Tea Cup Reveal
🦉 Vacation Report
👩‍🌾 The Other Almanac

August at a glance:

RSVP:

• 🗣️ Storytelling: Unexpected (RSVP)
  Aug 20 – Bushwick – 7pm

Housekeeping:

• Next month, we're hosting our first tea ceremonies led by Tim Chacko, available for Big Steepers ($33/mo) and beyond. Offered in-person and virtual.

🍵 Tea Cup Reveal

Every year, we partner up with a local ceramicist to create custom teaware for our highest-tier members, aka "Mega Steepers". The idea is that, over time, these members will receive a full tea set, each piece handcrafted by a NYC-based artist.

It's a sweet arrangement: we materially support local artists, the artists get their work out into the world, and members receive beautiful, handmade teaware every year in exchange for their support. This is the type of circular economy and local autonomy we hope to continue building.

Without further ado, introducing this year's locally made teaware: tea cups made by Devika Kumar!

Devika crafted tea cups in two distinct styles: one using porcelain and celadon glazes, the other following a rough kurinuki style. Both feature thoughtful shapes, colors, and tones; both will undeniably provide a special tea-drinking experience.

Devika is a cherished friend and community member of The Tea Stand. We met in Herbert von King Park over two years ago, just as the membership program was getting off the ground. From the jump, I've been an admirer of her ceramic work and she's been a steadfast supporter and reliable neighbor. I have a vivid memory of her gifting me two gorgeous tea cups last April, which is when the seed for this commission was first sown. Those tea cups immediately became my daily drivers, and remain so to this day.

It's an honor to be collaborating with Devika in this way. To see more of her work, you can visit her website here.

Every Mega Steeper ($99/mo) will receive a pair of these handmade tea cups around the winter solstice. Devika won't be making any extra; the tea cups won't be available in any other capacity.

So if you'd like a pair of these custom tea cups, the deadline to sign up as a Mega Steeper is this Saturday, August 15. Here's the link to sign up. (Mega Steepers: we'll be in touch to take your order next week.)

Additional perks for this tier include an "easy gaiwan" made by Lilian Wu (pictured below), free merch from the marketplace (re-opening soon!), a tour of a local tea warehouse, and all the offerings for lower tiers (including the tea ceremony mentioned above!).

Hopefully this goes without saying, but I'm well aware that the majority of our audience does not have the disposable income available to contribute $99 a month to support The Tea Stand.

Our standard Steeper tier ($9/mo) is where two-thirds of our members reside, another 25% support as Sippers ($3/mo). The Tea Stand exists to serve and commune with all types of people; our membership program is an extension of this ethos.

However, for those who do have the means, supporting as a Mega Steeper is a profoundly impactful way to bring The Tea Stand closer to financial sustainability. To the existing handful of Mega Steepers – thank you so much, I cannot wait to share these marvels with you all!

🦉 Vacation Report

Twice a year, I (Miles) take a 2-week vacation from The Tea Stand, during which I do my best to completely disconnect from all of the responsibilities that come with running a community project. Following a spring that demanded everything of me, I was particularly desperate for a reprieve from the constant logistics, communications, and creative work. (Need I remind you: I crossed the borders of Bushwick just two times all of April.)

In the past, me taking a vacation was more or less synonymous with The Tea Stand taking a break. Only in the past year did this slowly start to change – an event here and there, initially requiring a painful amount of coordination.

Last month, for the first time, The Tea Stand didn't slow down in the slightest while I was gone. I left The Tea Stand in the capable hands of several trusted neighbors – ziggy, Nick, Avi, Steph, Noah, Nickon, and JW. All together, they hosted a total of 6 events while I was away.

I've heard musicians describe releasing an album as akin to having your child permanently leave your household – they will always be your child, but peoples' relationships with them will be completely divorced from this reality.

As The Tea Stand continues to develop in a decentralized fashion (there are now 4 people hosting regular events, and soon to be 6), the amount of people whose understanding of The Tea Stand does not come from a conversation with me is exponentially rising. For some, this may be exhilarating. For someone like me – who loves control more than they let on – I would've expected this to stir up a big pot of anxiety. And yet, I find myself mostly insouciant as The Tea Stand takes shape in ways I cannot foresee.

Behind this calmness is a deep sense of trust: a trust in the individuals to serve tea and hold space with care and neighborly love, and a trust that this gradual expansion is the right path forward. The former trust comes from meaningful conversations and shared experience; the latter comes from a respect – a devotion, even – to lettings things run their natural course. A contradiction, you may say, with my controlling nature, but I think of it more as a marriage between control and surrender, structure and freedom.

It's like this: we're floating down a river, having reviewed our packing list thrice over and tested all of our equipment. Once we've departed, the river is responsible for our journey downstream; we must work within the forces of the currents, not against them. We cannot control the flow of the water or the presence of rapids, only our response to them.

Even now, 3+ years into The Tea Stand, I'm not exactly sure where we're headed. But every time I take a moment to look around, I'm astounded at what I see around me. And when I turn my gaze forward again, the path through the next batch of rapids makes itself known.

Before I sign off, here's a brief recap of my favorite section of my time off, a 10-day road trip around Vancouver Island with my partner.

Upon learning that we were visiting Vancouver Island during peak season (our inspiration was a novel titled A Tale for the Time Being which takes place there; we hadn't a clue there was even any tourist infrastructure), we decided to head due north, away from the touristic (and, apparently, breathtaking) west coast.

Highlights included the U'Mista Cultural Centre on Alert Bay (where we did a cedar weaving workshop), a crick-adjacent cottage on Quadra Island, and reading Ruth Ozeki's new collection of short stories and Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane while on Cortes Island. And the BIRDS! We came prepared with binoculars and caught some epic views of Great Horned Owls, Bald Eagles, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, Belted Kingfishers, and Rhinoceros Auklets.

Shoutout to our "ferry godmother" – a stranger named Karen who we met on the ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria and generously shared her time and knowledge with us, culminating in a ride to the airport where we picked up our rental car. We got our entire itinerary from her, having zero plans prior. Strangers are the best <3

👩‍🌾 The Other Almanac

I contributed a written piece to the 2027 version of The Other Almanac – an annual publication compiled by Ana Ratner which re-imagines the classic Farmers' Almanac for modern biophiles, especially NYC residents. The Other Almanac features seasonal checklists, ecological data visualizations, and a range of essays focused on botany, cultural history, and the power of noticing your surroundings.

My contribution is a technical and spiritual guide on "How To Serve Free Tea For All". It's an overview of the equipment we use and the philosophies we follow. Writing it was a joy; I can't wait for readers across the US and world to read it!!

Here's the link to pre-order ($23) – orders will ship in October.

I first came across The Other Almanac at a shop in Beacon, NY. It felt like exactly the type of publication I'd been searching for as I sought to cultivate a deeper relationship with the nature around me, as (deceivingly) limited as that may be in tree-poor Bushwick.

About a year later, I met Ana at a birding event led by Indigo Goodson-Fields (who wrote a staggeringly beautiful essay for the 2025 TOA), and our paths crossed again at a Wild Tea Workshop event we hosted last summer. Soon after, The Other Almanac joined our discount program – members still receive 20% off the 2026 version! (Discount code here, sign-in required.)

Then, during Perpetual Brew a few months back, Ana stumbled upon The Tea Stand while doing field research for her own contribution to the 2027 edition. We chatted, I failed to introduce her to Tree, a pigeon-wrangler who's famous in Maria Hernandez Park for his bluetooth speaker antics, and Ana invited me to consider what a Tea Stand contribution to The Other Almanac might look like. I followed up that evening with an early idea which eventually evolved into the final piece.

I explain all of this for a couple of reasons: one, because I've always been curious how collaborations like this come to be, especially as someone who has only recently found themselves on the other side of the question. And two, as a testament to the facts that good things take time and, relatedly, good things happen when you go outside.

As we near the end of year four of The Tea Stand, I'm becoming more aware of how difficult it is, for myself and others, to remember how much energy has gone into getting here. We recently hit a couple milestones which may help illustrate this point: we hosted our 300th event and served our 13,000th cup of free tea.

All of this – the collaborations with local ceramicists, the continued service by and for the community, the contributions in established publications – started with a cup of free tea in the park. Opportunities naturally arise through simple actions; it's often just a matter of noticing them and following them to wherever they may lead.

That's all for now! Thanks to...

Our new member: Morgan.

Those who donated tea: AW, Ravi at Bardo Tea.

You, for reading! Hope to share tea with you soon.

Keep Steeping,
Miles