🌨️ February Newsletter

It's been painful to be away from home during these cold & dark times – I hope you're staying warm and channeling your anger/grief/despair toward a livable future for all. If you're in need of inspiration, this zine from the Red-Winged Blackbird collective might help.

Today's newsletter topics:

🌀 Perpetual Brew v2
🐴 Steeping on LNY
🇨🇱 Chile Travels

Our February calendar:

RSVP for upcoming events:

🫖 Tea Talk on "Love" (RSVP)
Feb 11 – Bushwick – 7pm

📀 Steeped in Sound (RSVP)
Feb 16 – Greenpoint – 2pm

Volunteer & takeover opportunities:

🥬 Distro with Riders4Rights
Feb 14 – BedStuy – 10:30am

🪂 Tea Stand Takeover
Feb 22 – BedStuy – timing flexible

Housekeeping:

• Our survey, "The Future of The Tea Stand," is still open here! We'd love to hear your input & feedback as we finalize 2026 plans.
• If you have software skills and would like to put them to good use, we're looking for some help with our website. Stack: Vanilla HTML/CSS/JS & any modern web framework (e.g. Django, Rails, Node).

🌀 Perpetual Brew RETURNS (with your help!)

Last year, we served free tea in Maria Hernandez Park every single day of April and made a zine about the experience. We called it Perpetual Brew (more here).

This April, we're doing it again: free tea, Maria Hernandez Park, 30 straight days. Perpetual Brew v2!

This time around, we want to explore the artistic & anthropological potential of Perpetual Brew. What questions – about our neighbors, about springtime in Bushwick, about serving tea in public spaces – can we investigate together?

We invite you to apply to join our "Brew Crew" – a squad of curious, creative folks who wish to participate in this year's Perpetual Brew in one of these ways:

1. You can take over for a day of Perpetual Brew (serve tea in my place)
2. You can submit a piece to the zine (which will be dedicated to PB)
3. You can do both!

In this way, we hope to make Perpetual Brew more of a community effort, while also bringing in new perspectives, questions, and styles.

Zine contributions can take many forms – you could write a poem about a visit to Perpetual Brew, illustrate how the park scenery changes throughout April, create a collage with visitors, etc. You can see examples of last year's submissions here.

Or, you could serve tea for a day without any pressure to submit something to the zine afterwards. It's up to you!

A couple final notes on the application:

1. Technically, you don't need to live in NYC to apply, but you should be able to come to Perpetual Brew at least once.
2. This is on a volunteer basis (unpaid)!

Here is the link to apply to the Brew Crew! We'll review submissions on a rolling basis; we encourage you to apply sooner rather than later.

The formation of a Brew Crew is one of several improvements we're making for this year's iteration of Perpetual Brew.

A few other changes coming with this year's Perpetual Brew:

• Regular Hours: 12-6pm, every day in the park.
• Actual Perpetual Brew: one pot of tea will be continuously brewed all month (logistics pending).
• Weekly Reports: one email per week with stories & photos.

Also, in the spirit of artistic ambition, we're collaborating with some local illustrators & printers! More on that later :)

Perpetual Brew is only two months away... I eagerly await another month of abundant outdoor time, daily ritual, and serving free tea for all.

Stay tuned, more info & announcements to come soon. And if you're interested in being involved in Perpetual Brew outside of the Brew Crew – such as bagging tea, running errands, or translating – you can join our volunteer group chat here!

🐴 Lunar New Year themed Steeped in Sound

Goodbye Wood Snake, hello Fire Horse.

On Lunar New Year's Eve – Feb 16, which is also Presidents' Day – we're hosting a special LNY-themed edition of Steeped in Sound.

Here is the link to RSVP ($8-24).

100% of profits will go toward anti-ICE efforts (50% to MN ICE Watch, 50% to NYC Migrant Solidarity).

Some ~special~ things about this volume:

• Hosted at L&SD, a beautiful space in Greenpoint with hi-fi audio & soft seating
• An extended lineup of 4 DJs, 3 of whom will play all vinyl sets!!!
• Food available for purchase! More info soon...
• All attendees will go home with a little red envelope with a sticker & tea

As always, the event will open with a guided meditation and free tea will be served all event long. We'll also have some local goodies for sale (reach out if you're interested in vending!)

If you haven't been to Light & Sound Design before, we'd be honored to introduce you to this magical place. You can see their upcoming events here.

We – The Tea Stand & LEEWAY, your hosts of Steeped in Sound – are honored to have kept this event series going for over two and a half years now.

Thanks to everyone who has attended, volunteered, performed, and otherwise contributed their energy to support us along the way.

Here's the link to RSVP once more.

Hope to see you there!

🇨🇱 10 days in Chile

I spent the last 10 days of January in Chile – 5 days in Santiago and 5 days in the Atacama Desert.

This trip is part of the four weeks of vacation I allot to myself each year, an amount of time which feels sufficient for my wellbeing without approaching morally questionable territory (I take y'all's membership contributions very seriously!!).

Why Chile?

First, because I've been wanting to visit the Atacama Desert ever since I missed an opportunity to study photography & microbiology there. Second, my dear friend & chashi Adin was already floating around Central/South America. And third, to continue practicing my Spanish!

I'm always excited to explore a new place through the lens of tea. Prior to coming to Chile, I was unsure which of the Three Holy (caffeinated) Plants would be most popular: coffee, tea, or mate.

In my very limited observations, coffee appeared to reign supreme, but I did see some folks in the park with a mate gourd & thermos. Tea seemed like more of an afterthought, not so different than in the US.

And then there's coca leaves! Coca leaves don't contain caffeine but do contain a wee bit of cocaine (and are thus illegal in the US). I drank coca tea almost everyday in the Atacama Desert to help with altitude sickness and found it sweet & herbaceous!

My tea prayers were answered when I came across a small herbal vendor in San Pedro de Atacama, where I found & purchased two of the desert-native, medicinal plants I had learned of in the previous days – pingo pingo & rica rica.

Both pingo pingo & rica rica have long histories of use by the indigenous peoples of the Atacama region, also known as Atacameños. Pingo pingo is used primarily for urinary system ailments, whereas rica rica's medicine helps with indigestion.

If you're curious to try these herbs, reply to this email and I'll save you some while my small supply lasts :)

Lastly, I must share my appreciation & admiration for the public spaces I frequented while in Santiago.

The most notable is the Gabriela Mistral Cultural Centre, a massive complex of performance venues, art exhibits, public plazas, and the place where I'm typing these very words. The building was occupied by the Ministry of National Defense during Pinochet's brutal regime, making its current reality as a center for art & community (named after the legendary poet & educator) all the more significant.

A short walk away is the charming Parque Bustamente, where you can find teenagers spooning in the shadows, dogs splashing in fountains, and a public library / café smack dab in the middle of the park!! What I would give...

In my experience, Santiago's public infrastructure felt healthy – the metro system seemed reliable, lots of folks get around by bicycle, and the parks were active & well-maintained.

(It's worth noting that I spent almost all of my time in a limited radius within the more touristic neighborhoods of Bellavista, Lastarria, etc.)

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

Anna, Ella, and Paige for becoming members.

Miki & Paige for donating tea.

You, for reading! Hope to see you soon (calendar here).

Keep Steeping,
Miles 🍵