Flash Brew #6: Celebrating by Serving
Birthday tea in the park is the perfect chance to serve others.
It was my birthday yesterday on the Ides of March. While not being particularly lucky for Caesar, I’ve always enjoyed my March birthday. As the month rests on the leading edge of spring, I always felt March had a lot going for it–coming in like a lion and going out like a lamb. In Michigan that usually meant crazy storms; in Texas it’s 70 degrees and sunny.
March and April are the nicest months in Texas. The summer furnace doesn’t turn on until May, which is why I wanted to take advantage by hosting a birthday tea gathering outside. It’s something I’ve been meaning to do for a while but didn’t have the chutzpah to put together. However, with it being my birthday, I decided I wanted to celebrate by serving.
I put out a tweet and picked a spot–first on Lady Bird Lake in the east, but later moved to Zilker downtown.
As the white tents, black gates, and blue port-a-potties popped up in Zilker Park nearby, heralding the start of SXSW’s music festival, Yoshiko and I posted up at the designated picnic table and started brewing. We had a few friends visit us: the wonderful Madi Taskett, who brought me a gracious gift of Japanese black tea from Zhi Tea in town; and Paul (who writes
) and Angie (who writes ), who took their first real outdoor trip with 2 week-old (!) baby Michelle to come and see me.We sipped, we chatted, and in a flash time jumped from 10am to 2pm.
With our hearts full but our stomachs empty, Yoshiko and I wrapped up and went for tacos at Taco Joint, one of Madi’s recommendations, nearby on Riverside (verdict: good!). As we sat eating our tacos in the car, we chatted about the morning.
Yoshiko was struck by how fluid (pun intended) the conversation felt. Tea was there, giving us succor as we wandered through a vast range of subjects: tea knowledge, art and creativity, consistency, planning for babies, having babies, entering the pathless path, and more.
This is nothing less than the power of tea. As I am fond of saying, tea creates community. This superpower is subtle–most don’t even stop and think about how tea is exerting its sympathetic influence on the scene. And I, as the host, get the pleasure of pouring a little bit of my heart into each cup as I serve each of my gusts.
I can’t think of a better way to celebrate my 37th year of existence on this planet. Times are crazy, perhaps crazier than any other time in my life, but that just means it’s even more important to pause and take a moment to be with one another.
You can bet I’ll be doing more of this in the future. If you’re in Austin and want to be notified, following me on Twitter is your best bet. I plan to launch my Substack chat soon too, which hopefully will help. Lastly, I’m brainstorming a little project that will help me create a group of folks who want to sip tea and linger a while in each other’s company. No promises on a timeline for that, though.
I’m grateful for the chance to serve on my birthday and for all of you reading The Tea Letter. Thanks for being here.
great reflection!