05: Tea Cards

Illustration: Tea Cards a snail mail story @smartigraphicdesign

Paper and pen has a way of elevating ordinary moments through nostalgic snail mail. As a military brat, cards, letters and stamps all had a way of keeping me tethered to the people I loved. So for a couple of years in a row, I've set aside time and energy to draw out a card, write a letter and slip a little bag of tea inside. I called them Tea Cards.

I typically sent them out during the lull months in the springtime when no one expects a missive. The surprise really gets people. Take that, conformity! I would often receive a phone call/whatsapp message in response. Sometimes I even got a letter back. For sure, my parents would hear about how so-and-so got their tea card and how the gesture was appreciated. I liked the idea that it was a little bit of love glowing in their hands. Here's a short montage of the different tea cards I've sent:

Photo Tea Card Montage @smartigraphicdesign

I took a break during corona years because my social circle contracted and I needed a bit of a pause from internal pressures. But I've been meaning to bring back the tradition and so I'm reminding myself of how it all comes together. Maybe it will also inspire you?

Hunt Out a Tea

It doesn't have to be a tea. But I like sending something like a small pouch of tea that will have a whole ritual behind it - boil water, steep the sachet, smell the aroma, pour, sip, etc. It's an act of slowing down that involves all the senses. And at the very least, it can be easily composted in case your recipients don't like the chosen tea. For that reason, I normally choose an herbal infusion. Earthy, fragrant, calming. I always make sure it has a little paper envelope surrounding it to help retain the tea's potency while it travels.

Doodle Designs

Don't overthink this part, sometimes it's just a color that matches the tea, or a poem that springs to mind. One year Abuela taught me to embroider so I made a mock embroidered design for the tea card. Something joyful with small patterns or details that can bring extra delight when repurposed for stickers or envelope edging.

Print Card, Sticker and Envelope

I hunt out companies locally that can print my designs. Lately, I've been using noissue for their eco-based printing services - recycled paper and soy-based inks. I want my tea cards to bring ephemeral compostable cheer, not everlasting waste.

Photos Left to Right: (1) Layout of 2017 envelope/card/sticker detail, (2) Closeup of 2019 embroidery work that inspired a tea card. @smartigraphicdesign

Block Off Time

After a quick assembly line packing the cards, I stack them up and plan to block off time from my schedule. It typically takes me 10min to write a card because my handwriting is small and I like to fill up a card so that it takes at least a couple of minutes to read - enough to legitimize a cup of tea. Sometimes I plan to do one card a day as a morning warm-up. Sometimes I plan to do cards for one full evening every week. Once, I took them on a long overseas flight starting to write at plane taxi-ed and finishing them all just as the plane landed.

Write a Master Card and Brainstorm Non-Sequitors

A trick to getting the brain flowing is that I write a master card to my snarkiest friend. Oooh how my pen flows when I write to them! So I give the whole update on the biggest, the latest, the greatest ups and downs of the past year or so. Most of the time, the master card feature the overly touted highlights of the year.

And then I brainstorm a bunch of non-sequitor ideas - all the other things that I've been saving up. Philosophi-silliness. I share the moments that made me question life, the thoughts that made me laugh, the things I got to witness, the fights and mental hang-ups that I'm working through. It helps to flip through recent notebooks and see where my brain has taken me.

And then I write each person individually. Sometimes they get a version of the master card. Sometimes they get a little piece of my soul. Either way, I try to make it as personal as I can and connect as best as I can. Every relationship is different, so I try to honor that.

Mail & Rest

Once I've written out a nice pack, I like to send it out old-school through a post box. Hunting out postage stamps and post-boxes has become a lot harder the last couple of years as more and more old-school things become outdated, elusive and (wah-wah) digital. And yet, I've still managed to eke them out! Sometimes I think that sending out regular mail is a fight against the laws of modernity.

I know that mail is a lost art, and very few people keep up the practice - and I know that it's a privilege because life is busy for so many people. Even I've lost touch from time to time! But it's always nice to get back into the act of writing and share it in the charm of a tea card.

Happy snail-mailing!

smarti