Pinkies Up: Exeter Tea Club
As a group of Exonians lean in around the tables on a cold winter day, the steam from their tea mugs brushes past their faces and clouds the windows. Tea Club co-heads, lowers Gavin Hickey and Winslow MacDonald, pass around samples of loose-leaf green, black and oolong tea, while the members decide their favorites. This routine repeats every Sunday from 3-4 p.m. in Elm Street Dining Hall’s Seabrook Room.Not only does Tea Club cater to the many tea lovers across campus, it also serves as a refuge on the Sundays as work and snow piles up outside. The two club heads make this time a social event for the members, while still striving to educate people about the tea itself. MacDonald said, “tea and relaxation go hand-in-hand, but it is really more about everyone being together and enjoying each other’s company.”Upper Marvin Bennett agreed with MacDonald, explaining that the club gives him a chance to take a break from the work. He said, “[Tea Club] gives me a chance to relax and step back from a very busy and often stressful Exeter schedule. It’s also great because I can always count on it to help me get a study break that I so rarely get at Exeter.”
“It’s great to enjoy a warm drink and spend time talking to people that I really care about.”
Tea Club officially formed this year when Hickey and MacDonald, both widely known as tea-connoisseurs across campus, decided to team up to share their passion for tea. Even though the club is so new, it has attracted a following of about a dozen loyal members that attend each week without fail. The two have coordinated with each other to acquire the large amount of tea needed for the meetings. They continue to do this with neither help nor funding from their faculty advisor, language instructor Ming Fontaine, who is abroad this term in Taiwan. Since its establishment, the club has begun to thrive as the co-heads have established connections with some of the local tea shops in the Exeter community.Besides collaborating with and building a network of tea suppliers in the area, MacDonald and Hickey have already made other plans for the club’s future. One of their ideas is to host a tea event sometime this year—where both local tea shops and the club itself will set up booths in the Academy Center. Hickey said the aim of the event is to “educate the campus on the exciting world of tea, give everyone a refreshing warm drink in the dead of winter and also hopefully attract more members to our club.”As the club matures and the membership grows, the co-heads plan to incorporate tea-related snacks in the meetings. For the time being, they feel that while the tea is great and the club’s atmosphere fits its needs exactly, they would still like to find a way to expand the club’s horizons. Often, as MacDonald said, “People come in for a quick cup of tea and then leave. I feel the club can become more than that, almost like a secluded part of every Sunday to just be with people who share similar interests.” They hope to accomplish this through the addition of biscuits or scones.Overall, Tea Club provides a relaxing and casual experience to anyone looking for a nice break on a Sunday or to learn more about the vast and complex world of tea. With its convenient time, minimal commitment and passionate club heads, the Tea Club has become many Exonians’ literal “cup of tea.”“Tea Club, for me, has become a staple of my Sundays here. It’s great to enjoy a warm drink and spend time talking to people that I really care about. I urge everyone to stop by and check it out sometime,” Bennett said.Contributions from Meg Bolan