Atlanta’s full of Black legacies & landmarks.

It’s also home to my favorite place to indulge in a tradition that’s been almost entirely erased.

But it’s not exclusive to Atlanta.

It fits in a teacup.

So, how is tea Black History when the only drink more common is water? (And maybe Coca-Cola?)

It’s community. Comfort. Contemplation.

It’s all the things enslaved Black people were forbidden.

But today, the husband/wife duo at @justaddhoney are reclaiming all of that.

Their tea room, steps from the Eastern Beltline, is only 7 years old, but there’s centuries of subversion behind it.

I didn’t know that when I stepped in or out with my very first cup and bag.

MOST people don’t because like so many Black traditions, this one grew in secret.

All that remains of it are stories handed down by a few surviving families, a handful of objects, and the businesses born from its legacy.

Every February 15th, after the enslavers’ lavish Valentine’s events, Black Americans held their own tea parties.

But they weren’t allowed to gather en masse so invitations took clever shape.

While the ladies prepared to host, the men visited neighboring houses to “borrow a tea cup.”

One-by-one, guests arrived with their plantation china hand-me-downs for a simple pleasure nearly everyone else in the world freely enjoyed.

But even “freedom” didn’t mean moving freely.

Between southern slave patrols and Jim Crow laws, there was no safer place to meet, whether with white abolitionists or each other, than over an intimate cup of civilization.

And when the Black church became a pillar for the Civil Rights Movement, it wasn’t the only service turned strategy.

Segregated tea rooms transformed a practice once secret by necessity into a public revenue stream for Black women, America’s first working experts in the household arts.

Tea’s significantly shaped every corner of the world we live in.

But after today, I’m certain your next cup hits just a little differently, especially filled by people whose ancestors always tasted its power.

Black History’s served in all sorts of varieties at justaddhoney.net. 🖤

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