Ten minute tea with Afternoon Tea. Spend ten minutes with Afternoon Tea. In the time it takes to boil one kettle, and let one cup of tea steep, we will have your daily art + music fix covered. Take your afternoon tea break with our Afternoon Tea curators.
Today’s tea + soundtrack + visuals curated by Connor Roff.
Combining the natural beauty of West Coast Canada with London, England’s urban forest, Connor Roff‘s luminous music embraces and showcases his dual nationality. He’s not afraid to explore the depths of both the light and the dark or combine genres such as alternative pop, folk, R&B, and even electronic. Connor‘s songs and melodies reflect and celebrate his yoga teaching practice and passionate advocacy for the LGBT+ community.
His song, “Somewhere Green,” is inspired by our disconnection with mother nature – especially in the western world with corporate capitalism, colonialism and greed. Connor and his producer James Turner worked on the song internationally across waters via video call and email. For one of the finishing touches, they added some sounds of birds recorded from their phones in Vancouver and London, UK.
Stream + share “Somewhere Green” now:
So much of this album and this song was inspired by nature. Not our separateness from it, but our belonging and connectedness to Mother Earth and all things around us. Society, crony capitalism and colonialism has tried to make us forget this, I don’t think intentionally, but from a wounded place. I believe it’s our work as humans to show up and reconnect with Mother Nature, starting with ourselves and how we show up daily. How we show up for each other and the world around us. Never underestimate the healing power of nature.
Tea: Chaga Mushroom and Cacao
Visual: A Guest House by Rumi (poem)
Music: A Reminder (Remix) by Trevor Hall and East Forest
I’m boiling some chaga mushroom tea on the hob and it takes a while for the dark colour to steep into the water, but there’s a patience and pondering that takes place while I wait. I’ve added some cacao, which instantly reminds me of my 200hr yoga teacher training program in South Goa, India.
This then leads down memory lane, listening to the song A Reminder (Remix) by Trevor Hall and East Forest during so many savasana experiences at the end of practices. So I put the song on and sit in my chair and instantly get reminded of a poem by Rumi called The Guest House. It’s generally about welcoming all emotions, thoughts and feelings, without casting any aside, and giving yourself permission to feel all of them. I remember reading this poem over a few times, while on my training. Swirls of emotions, nostalgia and joy fill my heart. How I want to go back to India…
Tea + Me 