Nazanin Yousefnejad is so awesome! She makes really cool tea handmade crafts, and comes up with some awesome recipes. I’ve been admiring her enamel pins for a long time, so when she had a flash sale, I finally ordered some! Awhile back, I stumbled upon her Instagram account for Tea Thoughts, which is both the name of her blog and her awesome Etsy shop. I wanted to know more about her — how she got started in blogging, in addition to creating wearables, stationary and art with a common theme of tea, so today I’m bringing you a Q&A with her!
Q: Tell me about Tea Thoughts. How did you get started with it and how long have you been into art in general?
A: I started the Tea Thoughts blog back in December of 2015 and it was because I needed an outlet. I wasn’t getting the creative outlet from work and needed a way to express myself and to do what I love, create. I was able to write for fun with my blog and create things for my shop. My mom has always been a creative soul and since I was a child she’s encouraged me to create. I think what set me on my path was a paper clip jewelry kit I got for my birthday when I was 12!
Q: What is your creation process like?
A: For blog posts, it involves first lots of thinking and researching into the ingredients. I like to think about dishes that I enjoy and how I can take the tea I have and incorporate them. If I’m trying to just start from scratch I’ll pair flavors that I think go well or research what goes well together.
For crafts, I’m not really sure what my creative process is! Sometimes I’ll just be sitting and thinking about things and get an idea in my head for a pun, or a drawing or a design and then I just give it a try! One thing in common for my creation processes is that they are very involved, I like to throw myself into a project and not be interrupted!
Q: Why is tea the theme of most of your pieces? What does tea mean to you?
A: Tea is a huge part of my life and always has been since I was a child. To me, tea symbolizes not only the joy that I get from drinking it but togetherness and love. I always remember the adults sitting with their tea and discussing everything! I decided to use the theme of tea because I’m passionate about it but also because I want to share my love for
it with others. In the US, tea is not as popular as coffee and I think a huge reason is that some people see tea as difficult or complex. I want to share my love for tea with whoever wants to hear it so that I can show that tea is not some hard to reach idea but something wonderful that you’ll fall in love with if you let it into your life!
Q: What is your favorite kind of tea?
A: My favorite tea is ceylon, my everyday blend is a ceylon tea with bergamot extract. It’s dark and lovely. This is the type of tea I grew up drinking and as much as I explore I always come back to my beloved ceylon.
Q: How do you come up with your tea puns?
A: Sometimes they just pop into my head and then I bounce them off others to see if they make sense. Other times it’s a much more involved process where I try to think of popular phrases and how I can fit the different tea names into them!
Q: What are your favorite things to make? Bestsellers?
A: Although I love to do digital design and paint I LOVE to crochet and it is such a stress reliever. Last year for the holiday I made Tea/Coffee cup ornaments and they take a long time to make but I love making them. I’m not sure if I have a “best seller” yet, I think people purchase a range of items from my shop 🙂
Q: What do you hope people take from your works?
A: I want people to see tea as something fun and something that they can easily incorporate into their lived. I want them to see that tea is for everybody!
lifesacupoftea.com 
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