The Way of Tea and Justice: Rescuing the World's Favorite Beverage from Its Violent History

(Hardback)

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What started as an impossible dream-to build a cafe that employs women recovering from prostitution and addiction-is helping to fuel an astonishing movement to bring freedom and fair wages to women producers worldwide where tea and trafficking are linked by oppression and the opiate wars. Becca Stevens started the Thistle Stop Cafe to empower women survivors. But when she discovered a connection between cafe workers and tea laborers overseas, she embarked on a global mission called "Shared Trade" to increase the value of women survivors and producers across the globe. As she recounts the victories and unexpected challenges of building the cafe, Becca also sweeps the reader into the world of tea, where timeless rituals transport to an era of beauty and the challenging truths about tea's darker, more violent history. She offers moving reflections of the meaning of tea in our lives, plus recipes for tea blends that readers can make themselves. In this journey of triumph for impoverished tea laborers, hope for cafe workers, and insight into the history of tea, Becca sets out to defy the odds and prove that love is the most powerful force for transformation on earth.

Reviews

[Women served by Thistle Farms] would be dead by now if it weren't for a remarkable initiative by the Rev. Becca Stevens..to help women escape trafficking and prostitution.--Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times
Accompanied throughout by deliciously unique recipes for homemade tea blends and brews, Stevens' narrative is a softly delivered meditation on the power of faith and love to make a difference in the lives of those who need it most.--Kirkus
Becca Stevens is a force of nature-both as a speaker and with her words on the page. Her message always gets right to the heart of the matter.--John Prine, songwriter
If you have not already met Becca Stevens of Thistle Farms fame, it's time you had the pleasure, and here's your chance. Just look how she shares tea and happiness-isn't she wonderful--James Norwood Pratt, America's Tea Sage, author of JNP's Tea Dictionary, etc.
With her characteristic warmth, wisdom, and insight, Becca Stevens opens up the strange and fascinating world of tea, masterfully stitching together stories about mindfulness, justice, healing, and community. Few writers exhibit such a remarkable ability to bring faith to life in the very world we can see, touch, taste, smell and feel. Every word of this delightful, instructive book tastes like sacrament.--Rachel Held Evans, author, A Year of Biblical Womanhood

Author Bio

Becca Stevens is an Episcopal priest serving as chaplain at St. Augustine's at Vanderbilt University. She is the founder of Magdalene and Thistle Farms, social enterprises for women recovering from violence, prostitution, and addiction. The White House named her a Champion of Change in 2011. The Small Business Council of America named her the Humanitarian of the Year in 2014. Learn more: BeccaStevens.org