The Tea Man (video)
What a great way to build a community and have a life altering experience. It's something we all want in this unconnected world, and it is such an easy thing to do. I really needed this reminder, that the world isn't always so bad.
Giuseppe Spadafora decided to drive around the country hosting free tea parties out of his bus after a stint in LA left him feeling out of touch with other people. He is now known as the tea man.
Mission
The Free Tea Party Travels this land; this free tea house cultivates community, health, peace, sustainability, and genuine human interactions. The tea bus is about connection – to strangers, to oneself, to the things we interact with. It is about sharing – knowledge, stories, and cups of tea. It is about following your passion – finding your strengths and interests, and figuring out how to cultivate and share them. The tea bus is about community.
The Free Tea Party serves free tea to people on random city streets, parks, festivals, farmers' markets, and at events from a traveling free tea vehicle.
Along with the free tea, Giuseppe and company speak, teach, offer skill-sharing, and lead workshops at schools, colleges, events, festivals and many more on small-scale, DIY, low-environmental-impact, low-monetary-input, high-social-impact, nomadic living. Topics discussed include the history of resource sharing, alternative economics, community-building, resource reclamation (including dumpster diving, using salvaged materials, etc.), mobile permaculture, etc.
Philosophy
The Free Tea Party offers an alternative to self-centered, over-consumptive, over-competitive, under-competent, and high-speed philosophies often fostered by our society. Our alternative is based on:
1 The gift economy
The idea that goods and services can be given without anything required in return. We all have something in abundance to share.
2 The slow movement
The idea that everything has its own speed at which it is done best, and that we often focus too much on getting things done fast. We bring the slowness!
3 Do-It-Yourself (DIY) or Do-It-Together (DIT)
Becoming more directly in control of taking care of our necessities and desires.
4 Permaculture
The main tenets being: taking care of the planet, taking care of the people, and sharing the surplus.
Source The Free Tea Party