Introducing the June Box Theme: Steep & Unfold

Something happens when you sit down with a cup of warm tea. The conversation opens up in a way it usually doesn’t

I’ve noticed it in different settings.

With a loved one. when you sit down with no particular agenda, just to be together, you end up talking in a way you don't always get to. Something about having something warm in front of you makes it easier.

With a friend you haven't seen in a while. The kind of catch-up where an hour disappears and you look up wondering where the time went. You leave feeling like yourself again.

And sometimes on your own. Early in the morning, before the day starts pulling at you. Something you've been carrying around at the back of your mind comes forward. You figure something out. You carry it into the rest of your day.

Tea does something to a room. It slows it down just enough.

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When I was 9 years old, my best friend invited me over after school and her mother made us tea. She had a whole cabinet of teacups: all different designs, all beautiful. She opened it and let us choose our own, and I remember standing there looking at everything, feeling like that was its own kind of gift. My friend went straight for the Alice in Wonderland set. The little pot had illustrations of the Mad Hatter on it, and the cups matched with Alice and the Rabbit.

She held up the milk jug that was part of the set and showed it so I can see the cute illustrations. It had the Cheshire Cat on it. She said, “look at this one” and I remember thinking, that’s soooo cute.

Never had I imagined that this was going to be a core memory of mine.

 

We sat down with our milk tea and talked about what was popular in class, who said what, the things that feel enormous at that age. I don't remember every detail of the conversation. What I remember is how that afternoon felt — warm cup in my hands, her mother quietly refilling things without rushing us, nowhere to be. The afternoon just unfolded. One thing leading to another, the way it does when nobody's watching the clock.

There's a word for that feeling in Japanese: 団欒 / danran. The warmth of being gathered with people you like, something good in front of you, the kind of ease where the conversation goes exactly where it wants to go.

The June box’s theme, "Steep and Unfold," was made with that in mind. A cup of tea is a small thing. But sit down with the right person, or even just with yourself, and something usually comes up.

An idea.

A feeling you've been sitting with.

A conversation that ends up meaning more than you expected.

That's what steep and unfold is about.

As always, thanks for reading.

One question before you go: who do you want to have tea with? It doesn't have to be anything planned. Sometimes a simple "let's catch up soon" is all it takes to get the afternoon started.

I wish you a lovely weekend,

Paper Bento