welcome!

come have some tea with me 🫖

My dad and I had a routine for years when I was in primary school — a memory that came back to me a few weeks ago.

Most nights a week, after I got picked up from school and we arrived home, my dad and I would inevitably find our way to the dining table in our kitchen, grabbing mugs and starting the kettle on the kitchen counter. It was our informal, but sacred, tea hour: from the moment the kettle began rumbling to when we emptied it of water (once on weekdays, twice or more on weekends), we’d sit uninterrupted, sharing Tesco-brand shortbread cookies over mugs larger than my 8-year-old hands could hold. 

I don’t remember many specifics about these afternoons: I think I mostly shared play-by-plays of my school day and my dad would explain cool facts and news events to me, or we’d read and look out at the apple tree in our tiny backyard. Tea time, though, was distinctly relaxing and slow, a routine that I now realize is incredibly rare for an overworked dad and young kid. I’m grateful for these moments: elbows perched on the flowery tablecloth, dipping biscuits into a milky Twinings or steeped puer, I gained a mindfulness and quiet appreciation that grounded my childhood.

---

Ironically, the older I grow, the harder it’s been to find this slowness – and, woefully, the more undesirable it sometimes feels. By middle school, feeling the pressure of comparison, I was sucked fast into the overachiever starter pack: tennis practice, math team, Chinese school. (I think my dad and I stopped drinking tea together regularly around then.)

And now, in college and working in tech, I’ve coveted the productivity and busyness that’s plastered all over my Twitter feed: the perverse pleasure of the 3 am grind, a filled gcal, and sleep-minning¹. Taking tea breaks doesn’t seem to fit into an ‘optimizing the hell out of life’ philosophy, so instead my daily drink has become a 16oz cold brew (max caffeine intake, min wait time).

In chasing productivity, though, I’ve found myself forgetting what I’m even working towards. I started writing as an antidote to this disorientation: to live with more awareness and pursue thoughtful values and goals.

tea & biscuits², my revamped ‘stack, is my recreation of the dad-and-daughter tea time of my childhood — a tiny space on the busy internet where I catch my breath, indulge in intention & silliness, and try to figure out how we can build better lives, communities, & societies. Every week, I'll sit down with a cuppa and share thoughts on personal growth, philosophy, culture & identity, ethical tech, & more. Welcome, tea buddy; I’d love to have you along for the ride :)

— jasmine

photo evidence of baby jasmine’s struggles to hold up big tea cups (she also says hi!)

1. opposite of sleep-maxxing haha

2. the name is a nod to my chinese roots, british upbringing, and of course my name :)