Pouring Possibili-Tea: Visions of a Regenerative Future

🌿 ✨ Join couchdate and Bagaan Chai Co. for a special afternoon exploring the deeper story of tea 🫖 : its cultural roots, global impact, and uncertain future.

Tea is more than a beverage; it is a global connector, a medium of conversation, and a practice that brings people together across cultures, geographies, and generations. We use tea as an entry point to explore something larger: how can we collectively envision and practice regenerative futures, and build more meaningful bridges between consumers in the Global North and producers in the Global South, challenging the extractive systems and corporate structures that often disconnect us from the people and places behind what we consume. Tea is a microcosm for understanding global systems of land and power—and how they can be reimagined.

This gathering brings together conversation, community, and craft to unpack:

🌍 The cultural significance of tea across the world ☕️ The environmental impacts of the tea industry and human rights abuses of corporate tea plantations🗺️ The realities of global supply chains, from tea to coffee, chocolate, cobalt, and more + how supply chains reveal the roots of the climate crisis 🌴 The promise and complexity of regenerative agriculture and Indigenous agroforestry 👩🏽‍🌾 The human stories—the labor, love, sacrifice, and life—behind every cup🍵 How tea can serve as a conversation starter to rethink our personal relationships with global structures🌷 Community-led solutions forward

Come join us to better understand what is poured into each cup and how to brew a better future 🌻 💫

What to Expect:

☕️ Limited-edition chai drinks by couchdate🌱 Tea tastings🎶 Music & vinyl-driven ambiance🤝 Community mingling🗣️ Tea panel + discussion🖼️ Exhibition on the history of tea

🌱 Bagaan Chai Co.

A farmer-to-consumer initiative rooted in six generations of tea farming in India. They produce single-origin, fresh, premium teas grown through ethical regenerative, agroforestry-based practices, prioritizing flavor, health, and quality while supporting equitable supply chains.

IG: https://www.instagram.com/bagaanchai/

🎧 couchdate

An Oakland-based cultural collective creating immersive moments for the past 7+ years with over 300+ events and 400+ artists featured. Their new Afro Indo Market in Temescal centers music + chai as a shared experience; diasporic storytelling across Africa, India, Black America, and SWANA; and thoughtful art, retail, and community space.

IG: https://www.instagram.com/couchdate/

Contact shreya.c@berkeley.edu with any questions.