The Tea With Strangers Story
Tea times have been happening since 2013, and our organization has gone through a few chapters.
This page pays zero justice to the hundreds of hosts that drove the first few years of our community’s existence, and there are many, many names and stories that are unaccounted for here, but this page should be a helpful starter to give you background on how we got here.
The story of how and why Tea With Strangers came to be could give you more context of the organization you’re a part of; maybe even shed light on your own story in some way.
Here’s a few places to learn about the early days. They’re not our big press hits, but they are probably the most honest and authentic account of the heart of the organization.
- “Let’s get tea,” the original website from 2013 (and a short essay / photo shoot about starting the idea)
- “Strangers, but not that strange,” an interview with Aaron Lewis, an early attendee of tea times in 2014, about the philosophy behind meeting strangers
- “Starting Tea With Strangers,” a talk about turning a personal hobby into a community organization
- The photo albums on our Facebook page document an assortment of big community events we’ve organized. Each of them has a special story in the album description, and each of them were critical in the early development of our community’s values and ethos
These links might be related:
In April 2015, we had an interesting moment where someone critiqued Tea With Strangers on an internet forum called Hacker News. It was an awkward moment for the organization, getting grilled in public, but in the grand scheme of things, it helped us affirm why we exist. The whole thread is here. Here’s one passage I think is worth highlighting, though.
Maybe one day we’ll come up with a “definitive” Tea With Strangers history, but for now, these repository of digital clippings should do.
