I am very much in love with this idea. There's a chicken-and-egg problem, though, where I live in a city that I doubt will get a host spontaneously (Amarillo, TX) but I'd want to attend one of these to get a feel for it before I'm willing to host one myself. I wonder if there's an opportunity there, to have a sort of "training materials" that can better bootstrap a host in this kind of situation.
Tea with strangers
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Re: Tea with strangers
#22I haven't personally been to one of their events but met the founder (Ankit) by chance a few months back through a mutual friend who has been to a few. Definitely seems like a genuine guy who's passionate about the idea and being rightfully cautious about expanding at a pace that ensures all their events are of high enough quality with good hosts to guide good conversation. If they're in your area definitely be sure…
Do it, then do it again. Riga is on my long list of places to visit. If you're making coffee too, I'm interested :)
Re: Tea with strangers
#23As an ex founder of similar ideas, good luck to you. This needs to happen. I'm just curious: doesn't tea give you a British angle?
Tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world after water, and it comes from China, not Britain! Obvious, perhaps, but the popular association of tea with Britishness is a tragedy that must be stopped. That's why I also firmly reject the ludicrous notion that the artificially scented "Earl Grey tea" is some kind of default option; why give such credence to the habits of 19th century British aristocrats?
Re: Tea with strangers
#24Is this something like Couchsurfing but mildly less creepy?
Re: Tea with strangers
#25As an ex founder of similar ideas, good luck to you. This needs to happen. I'm just curious: doesn't tea give you a British angle?
Tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world after water, and it comes from China, not Britain! Obvious, perhaps, but the popular association of tea with Britishness is a tragedy that must be stopped. That's why I also firmly reject the ludicrous notion that the artificially scented "Earl Grey tea" is some kind of default option; why give such credence to the habits of 19th century British aristocrats?
Artificially scented? The bergamot orange is a real plant.
Every culture that has tea will have flavored teas. It gives you something to do with the low-grade leaves. Just last night I tried ginseng oolong for the first time. Is it as artificial as earl grey?
Re: Tea with strangers
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world after water, and it comes from China, not Britain! Obvious, perhaps, but the popular association of tea with Britishness is a tragedy that must be stopped. That's why I also firmly reject the ludicrous notion that the artificially scented "Earl Grey tea" is some kind of default option; why give such credence to the habits of 19th century British aristocrats?
Artificially scented? The bergamot orange is a real plant. Every culture that has tea will have flavored teas. It gives you something to do with the low-grade leaves. Just last night I tried ginseng oolong for the first time. Is it as artificial as earl grey?
So they say. Sorry, I'm half joking, half referring to this, from Wikipedia:
"Tea flavoured with bergamot to imitate the more expensive types of Chinese tea has been known in England at least since the 1820s. In 1837 there is a record of court proceedings against Brocksop & Co. who were found to have supplied tea 'artificially scented, and, drugged with bergamot in this country.'"
Yes, I'm quite a big fan of oolong flavored with osmanthus; haven't tried ginger.
Re: Tea with strangers
#27Oh, I wonder where other Portlanders on HN go for tea!
Re: Tea with strangers
#28Oh, I wonder where other Portlanders on HN go for tea!
Re: Tea with strangers
#29Wow. Didn't realize this was on HN. Hi guys. Ankit here. I started TWS. Happy to answer any q's here or by email (Ankit at teawithstrangers.com). Actually in the middle of a gathering of the SF host community right now so will be a tiny bit delayed on responses but will get to everything!
Lots of gratitude for all the good words and valuable critiques.
Re: Tea with strangers
#30This sounded interesting to me when I first loaded the page and imagined it was talking about virtual tea: me sipping tea at home while typing/conversing live with a random person halfway around the world.
Is there such a thing? Turns out there are quite a few, as I just discovered with a quick search. Any HN readers have good experiences with any of them?
I just tried one briefly, and had a string of disconnects after just 'hello', and then one that didn't want to reveal the country they currently live in, after which I gave up.