Thinking About Tea 1 Favorite 

We built a conversation space where members of the public were invited to enjoy a free cup of tea. We used a vertical garden which spelled out the word 'TEA' in easily available plants and herbs that can be used to make tea.
Visitors whose curiosity was piqued approached the table laden with fresh and dried herbs and plants - lemon balm, calendula, sticky-backs, to enjoy a cup of tea, make a teabag, consider the benefits of home-made teas, consider the global impact of the packaged black tea industry and put their daily actions in a local and global context with awareness of the SDGs which were illustrated around them.
Feeling and smelling the leaves, seeing them grow, making a tea/teabag and tasting a variety of flavours engaged young and old, local and visitor alike and created deep conversations around a culturally integral Irish routine, complete with evocative teapots and china cups.
Visitors said it empowered them to reconsider purchasing mass produced, environmentally and socially destructive black teas by making their own, by possibly foraging for or growing plants.
Using a 'tea take-aways' reflection space they noted how their physical experience of tasting and making teas engaged their heart in emotional conversations with artists. They considered how their actions might change as a result of their physical, emotional and informative experiences. The opportunity for interconnection allowed people to demonstrate the competences of global citizens - being empathic, reflective, self-aware, fair, thinking critically, being open-minded and taking action.
They were empowered.