Virtual Tea Party - Live Weekdays 2PM PDT on Facebook, Youtube, Twitch

In this casual Tead Talks to group gets back together to catch up about local news their areas. Priscila from Ecuador joins and gives some insights of how the members of her community are holding up with gatherings to sing Christmas caroles and New Year's celebrations. Additionally, Jeremy from Terre Haute, Indiana which was host the first federal execution in over 13 years. We discuss the federal and local criminal justice systems.

Elyse welcomes her first in-person guest on the Virtual Tea Party for this week's Constitution Study Group where with Justin Yuen they look at their personal opinions of the constitutionality of the US response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In masks in solidarity of public health the two determine that the state's orders to close the economy or mandate face masks, if based on solid scientific evidence is constitutional. Elyse also ready Brutis 1 of the Antifederalists papers that posed many critiques of the dangers of too large a centralized government.

In this education tea industry update we look at articles that highlight 40% increases rainfall in the current Monsoon Season which is causing more delay in the production of tea in places like Assam, India. Infrastructure is delayed and damaged including many dams in China that were opened for the purpose of relieving pressure due to flooding. Flooding does affect tea quality as is highlighted in much of the research by Dr. Selena Ahmed who found that quality compounds are significantly lower during Monsoon seasons, water dilutes the quality.

Due to increasing cases of COVID in Nevada the state has decided to shut down the bars to reduce the risk of further spread. In this casual and open discussion Dignified Hospitality celebrates bartenders and servers that are affected by this decision and the ways they can work to create a better future for themselves. Paul from Ester's Kitchen joins to discuss what reopening has been like for him and the team there and the confusion there is among the community about what is fair and what is safe as far as reopening the economy.

In this tea industry update we look at an article the discusses the economic impact of pandemic and floods on the tea industry of Assam, India. Outputs are down 40% in India and price continue to increase due to scarcity. The Indian domestic market typically consumes 80% of their production, which means that overall demand is down as the majority of tea consumed in the domestic market is out from tea vendors during work. With employees staying home all the tea consumption is happening in the home.

In this continued conversation about colonized tea cultures around the world the group talks in more details about how we as individual tea drinkers can respect, support, and develop tea culture. In this more lighthearted conversation the group looks to the idea of developing custom slag language among tea drinkers and reviving older tea words with a fresh look. A funny one is the old style British word for tea of "scandal water". Let us Spill the Tea and discuss more.

In this week's Constitution Study Group Elyse reads the most important Federalist paper No. 10 along with countering Centinel No. 1 which is the countering argument among the Anti-federalists. It is obvious the different points of views these two sides had and amazing how similar the different points of view are among the partisan political groups and activists for democracy and decentralization that we see in the world today. For the remainder of these events both the Federalist Paper as well as countering Anti-Federalist Paper will be examined together.

In this solo version of Dignified Hospitality Elyse looks at a recent published report from Yelp which shares the data of permanently closed restaurants on their network. Since the beginning of March 2020 and June 15, 2020 53% of the restaurants on their app have permanently closed. What do these closings mean and how can the remaining businesses prepare themselves for resilience with imminent reclosing of the economy due to COVID case increases.

In this quirky and fun social tea time we look at all the strangest and most unique teas we have ever encountered. Many great innovative tea ideas came out of this discussion such as durian scented Hong Cha (Dark Tea) and matcha mixed with ginger and onion, a delicacy that Eric Glass experienced in South Korea. Tea is such a diverse culture and crop it will continue to evolve and future tea lovers will find more and more weird teas to experience.

The Tead Talks crew welcomes Rui Liu of Grass People Tree in London to talk about the nuances and consequences of colonialism in the tea industry. Rui is from Guizhou, China where ancient tea trees are being cut down to make way for more cash crops. This is cutting down the lineage of tea in these communities and forcing these people to sacrifice their history and culture. The group talks about this same problem has happened in other contexts in the tea world and what the world of tea drinkers can do to better protect the future of tea culture.

In this week's Constitution Study Group Elyse moves on from the Constitution to begin reading and studying the Federalist (and the Anti-Federalists papers). In this first dive see looks at Federalist 29 to better understand the context of militia and historical definition of the need for a militia. She thens looks into an article that tells the history of the police system of he United States and its origins with the Founding Father's intentions to create militia. The police began as a very democratic system that has evolved to a closed system.

A longstanding conflict at the India and China border has been escalating lately as China continues to build infrastructure in the area, posing a threat to needed resources to communities in India, particularly water. This area is home of ancient tea trees and reminiscent of the tea communities of Yunnan. Elyse shares a positive article that proposes a nature preserve in the contested area supported by the other surrounding countries; Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Bhutan.