Today we’d like to introduce you to Mia Fraser.
Hi Mia, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Grandmothers seem to be an eternal source of inspiration and likewise, my grandma was definitely mine. She has always been a living encyclopedia of plants owing to growing up in rural colonial Jamaica. That experience made her well versed in the use of herbal medicine, which in the Caribbean often takes the form of herbal teas. In a bid to pass down her knowledge, she also began to share her wider love of classic teas from her time in Europe. Combined with my experience with tea in China, I was soon faced with a wealth of information and nowhere to put it. I started to catalogue my grandma’s tea knowledge with theteafile. I soon realized that grandmothers around the world have been doing the same, sharing their tea knowledge as recipes for comfort, healing or celebration. I’ve been hopping around the globe searching for tea traditions ever since.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
One of the biggest hurdles I’ve been facing is finding appropriate information. Depending on the region and cultural traditions, oral history may be favoured more than written accounts. That makes it a bit difficult to find a written recipe or history of food practices at times, let alone an English translation. It’s a bit difficult to go around asking seniors their recipes during a pandemic, so Google has been a dear friend. Especially when dealing with another culture’s identity and history, I am always trying to pay due diligence and respect when sharing a story.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I explore how different regions and people of the world approach tea. More than a hot drink, many (including myself) use tea as an integral part of traditional medicine. As the second most commonly consumed drink only behind water, it’s mesmerizing to see the different approaches to teas. The processes and sentimental value of tea making vary from afternoon tea in the garden to thick butter tea in the Himalayas. One plant from South-East Asia has shaped global trade and healing customs. Our contemporary definition of tea spans all aspects of life. To make my task more manageable, I delve into the tea practices region by region, my own way to circumnavigate the world. Since I started my journey during COVID-19, I haven’t been able to travel, but hopefully, soon I’ll get to physically map the world of tea.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
I’m learning how to pace myself. It’s hard to define success and to what extent I’ve achieved any but the internal drive to be satisfied with my work is what helps me to pace myself. Especially today, where the social media platforms we use to share our stories offer their own measurements of success, I think it is even more important now for each creator to have their own internal pace to follow and not become overwhelmed.
Contact Info:
- Email: theteafile@gmail.com
- Website: theteafile.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theteafile/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7UpW9cz7R30lI8hYiWVW4Q
