Steep by Steep: How I Ended Up Building a Community One Cup of Tea at a Time
“The simple act of brewing tea for my coworkers taught me a lot and gave me a newfound passion for community building.”
When I first started working at Yellow Wood Academy, one of things that really struck me was how much freedom and autonomy they give us as teachers. This goes hand in hand with a willingness to experiment and learn from both our successes and our failures. It was this environment that led me last year to stumble into an unlikely role in community building.
I have always been a big tea drinker. As a tea enthusiast, I used to host tea talks at a tea shop in my hometown. People often give me tea supplies for gifts. I have a painting of a kettle on my apartment wall. So in my first year, when they were experimenting with clubs for students, I was very excited to see a tea club in our roster and immediately volunteered to be the faculty advisor. After our first day, I put in a request for an electric kettle and a teapot. Yellow Wood delivered.
It quickly became apparent that this was more of a club for teachers than students. We easily had eight staff members sipping tea together at any given time. We only occasionally had a student show up. I began to realize, these little breaks were just what the staff wanted, and needed.
At the start of my second year, I decided to step things up. We no longer had a tea club for students; what if I made one for teachers? We had an electric kettle and a teapot. I had lots of loose leaf tea. Remembering the tea drinkers from last year I took the plunge and set up a Google Chat. We were tea club 2.0!
The setup was simple. I would brew a pot of tea when I had the chance and send out a message in the chat to let everyone know. A few others joined. I would sometimes go back to check after class only to find half a pot left, which I would finish. I didn’t anticipate it growing beyond that. It did.
Before long we had over a dozen people. A few months later we had over twenty. Just before quarantine we hit our highpoint with 33 members, more than any single department. We never had everyone show up at once, but there was usually a small crowd. We found ways to serve more tea at once, expanding from a pot to include a large decanter, stretching the amount brewed to the very maximum. We started a birthday treat rotation for those who were interested. The birthday person would not only get a treat from the person whose birthday came before, but they’d get to pick the tea and get a guaranteed full cup in our designated birthday mug.
“The tea was great (I made it after all!), but it was also an excuse, a reminder to take a break, relax, and connect with the people around us. ”
There was clearly something special about the ritual that kept bringing people back. It’s true, the tea was delicious and the caffeine gave us extra fuel throughout the day. But there was more to it than that. We were forming a community. The tea was great (I made it after all!), but it was also an excuse, a reminder to take a break, relax, and connect with the people around us. One of our members shared a video that does a great job showing the ways tea can bring people together.
We had just started experimenting with meeting up for tea outside of work when COVID-19 hit. Any plans for get-togethers would have to wait. We did find other creative ways to bring people together virtually throughout the quarantine.
The simple act of brewing tea for my coworkers taught me a lot and gave me a newfound passion for community building. I am now the chairperson of the Staff Community Committee and am working on new ways to bring people together, but my first love will always be tea.
Cheers!
