The Learning Tea on The Meaning of Tea Blog

May 19, 2010 by teawalker

Our hat goes off to Gongfu Girl, who turned the spotlight on The Learning Tea and its work in helping young girls in Darjeeling receive an education. Katrell Christie, of Dr. Bombay’s Underwater Tea Party, responded to the plight of young women in the Darjeeling region.

According to the article and The Learning Tea’s site, young girls must leave local orphanages when they are 16. After that, an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 girls in the area are trafficked into brothels or servitude each year. Of course not all of these girls are orphans, but a lack of education leaves them with few options for supporting themselves.

Here comes the plan. Actually it’s a multi-pronged approach.

- The sale of darjeeling tea. A purchase is very clear. The package says: “I am 10 pairs of shoes in Darjeeling India.”

“The Champagne of Tea” for Education — Gongfu Girl

Posted by Cinnabar on Wednesday, May 19th, 2010.

The Learning Tea is an innovative project started by Katrell Christie, owner of Dr. Bombay’s Underwater Tea Party, a tea house in Atlanta. Driven by a passionate desire to help the young people she encountered during her 2009 trip to Darjeeling, India, she started the tea company as a way to fund educational opportunities and supplies for these children, living under conditions of extreme poverty and vulnerability.

Filmmakers Phoebe Brown and Charlene Fisk of Unblinking Eye Films became supporters of the project and are now in the planning and funding stages of a film about it, featuring Christie and one of the young women beneficiaries, now making her way from the Buddhist orphanage where she grew up to university, thanks to the support of the project.

The goals of The Learning Tea are quite ambitious, but appear to be within the grasp of its founder. In addition to supporting the project through purchasing the teas directly, interested persons can support the film project through Kickstarter. An excerpt of the film’s description:

In the summer of 2009 Katrell went to India looking for tea. What she found in Darjeeling is the darker side of the region: a hub for trafficking girls into forced labor and child prostitution. Non-Governmental Organizations in the area estimate that between 7-10,000 girls are tracked annually to Indian brothels from Nepal which borders Darjeeling. Girls—some as young as 6 and 7— are frequently forced into prostitution. Not wanting to be consumer profiteer, Katrell came up with a plan: The Learning Tea.

Through the sale of Darjeeling tea from a Fair Trade tea plantation Katrell hopes to create a sustainable system that supports jobs in the community and funds higher education for girls. The question is—can this simple plan work?

Unblinking Eye Films–producer Phoebe Brown– will document Katrell’s return to India and introduce you to the young woman Katrell is sponsoring from orphanage to university. These girls—many of Nepalese origin—age out of a Buddhist run orphanage at 16 and face the grim realities for young women lacking opportunity and education: a life of forced prostitution, hard labor or servitude–too often under brutal conditions. The sexual enslavement of women is one of the most pressing issues of our time and the world’s eyes need to be opened to the possibility and importance of change.

Atlanta Rollergirl tea party catalyst for change in India — examiner.com Atlanta

April 27, by Tina Ranieri

Atlanta Rollergirl L.O.R.D (Lady of Retired Derby) Takillya Sunrise, also known as Katrell Christie, is changing lives in India, one tea party at a time. After travelling to India in 2009, Katrell returned to the States with a new mission to help the girls of the Darjeeling Orphanage through education.

She started The Learning Tea, a project to raise money to support the Darjeeling school and orphanage through the sale of the flavorful Darjeeling Green and Black teas she handpicked through hundreds of varieties, and by selling photo prints of her journey. 100% of the profits will benefit several projects for these children. Visit and learn all the details and help better the lives of these precious girls. And grab yourself some tea at our next bout. The Learning Tea will have a booth in the courtyard at Yaraab Shrine Center.

The Project: The Learning Tea started as a personal project of Dr. Bombay’s coffee shop owner Katrell Christie after one of her trips to India, in July 2009.
Photography: In order to document her journey, Christie took magnificent pictures, capturing the soul of the Indian people.
The Tea: Taste the most unique leaves from India and help children in Darjeeling have a better future. Shop

For these Darjeeling children living in poverty, education is simply the only method of rising beyond their situation, which in most cases is dire.

Darjeeling is world famous for its beautiful tea gardens and flavorful teas, but it harbors a darker side as the region’s hub for forced labor and sex exploitation, as well as child trafficking and child labor. Without education, young girls are forced into prostitution in the area, or even transported to work in brothels in other regions of India when they leave orphanages at 16 or 17, with no viable alternatives in the area without a university education.

Dr. Bombay’s Underwater Tea Party

Tea, Coffee, Books, Pastries, Desserts, Ice Cream, Sandwiches & Free Wifi
1645 McLendon Ave NE
Atlanta, GA 30307
Ph: 404.474.1402

Darjeeling Elementary School (The students in this Elementary School all received new shoes thanks to the Learning Tea. In July they will have their floor repaired and a toilet installed.)

Katrell Christie’s The Learning Tea — Teaography

Posted by: sarahbesky 

Fantastic and thoughtful project by Atlanta tea shop owner, Katrell Christie.

Quoted from the website:

The Learning Tea lets Atlanta reach out to India one cup at a time

While it’s not uncommon for people to find a new perspective while traveling, Candler Park resident and Dr. Bombay’s Underwater Tea Party shop owner Katrell Christie found herself in India during Summer 2009 with a growing new purpose and a strong determination to help better the lives of the children she’d met while spending time at both a Darjeeling orphanage and a elementary school, one of the oldest schools in Darjeeling.

For these Darjeeling children living in poverty, education is simply the only method of rising beyond their situation, which in most cases is dire.

Darjeeling is world famous for its beautiful tea gardens and flavorful teas, but it harbors a darker side as the region’s hub for forced labor and sex exploitation, as well as child trafficking and child labor. Without education, young girls are forced into prostitution in the area, or even transported to work in brothels in other regions of India when they leave orphanages at 16 or 17, with no viable alternatives in the area without a university education.

It’s also equally important for young boys in poverty to receive a good education. The area surrounding Darjeeling is known for being open to insurgents, drug traffickers, or terrorists. Recruitment begins early with the poor, young boys whose families are lured by the promise of education, food, and shelter, but in reality the education simply involves brainwashing and the creation of a future generation of terrorists and drug peddlers.

Accepting any of these futures for these children was simply not an alternative in Christie’s eyes, and The Learning Tea was born as a result. It didn’t take long for her to develop a two-fold plan to raise money to support the school and orphanage through the sale of the flavorful Darjeeling Green and Black teas she had handpicked through hundreds of varieties, and by selling photo prints of her journey.

100% of the profits from The Learning Tea will fund several projects for these children.

For 2010, Christie has pledged to buy uniforms and put a working toilet in at elementary school. The school needs drastic help in terms of basic hygiene, as well as food and clothing for the students. They rarely receive a lunch and there is currently no bathroom facility or running water available there.

The students are so thankful and pleased to receive an education there that they continue to attend during monsoon season, despite the fact that their classroom has dirt floors that flood and require them to sit atop their desks.

She also has committed herself in 2010 to fully funding the education of three orphan girls a year at a nearby Darjeeling university; for $500, each girl can receive one year of university education, empowering them towards a much brighter future than the alternative available for the women that have left the orphanage before them. No girl from the orphanage has previously ever had the opportunity to attend higher education.

It takes so little financially to make a huge difference in the life of these children. The Learning Tea is simply a catalyst for change, one cup at a time shaping their lives towards a much brighter future!

The Learning Tea on iReport

Katrell Christie is a thoroughly modern do-gooder. She was an Atlanta Rollergirl–skate name: Tekillah Sunrise– and she runs a funky teashop in Atlanta that sells 50 cent books for a cause. She’s a woman who loves life and who believes in community.

In the summer of 2009 Katrell went to India looking for tea. What she found in Darjeeling is the darker side of the region: a hub for trafficking girls into forced labor and child prostitution. Non-Governmental Organizations in the area estimate that between 7-10,000 girls are tracked annually to Indian brothels from Nepal which borders Darjeeling. Girls—some as young as 6 and 7— are frequently forced into prostitution. Not wanting to be consumer profiteer, Katrell came up with a plan: The Learning Tea.

Through the sale of Darjeeling tea from a Fair Trade tea plantation Katrell hopes to create a sustainable system that supports jobs in the community and funds higher education for the girls in a local orphanage.

Katrell’s will return to India in July to make plans for the young woman she is sponsoring from orphanage to university. These girls—many of Nepalese origin—age out of a Buddhist run orphanage at 16 and face the grim realities for young women lacking opportunity and education: a life of forced prostitution, hard labor or servitude–too often under brutal conditions. The sexual enslavement of women is one of the most pressing issues of our time and the world’s eyes need to be opened to the possibility and importance of change.

The Learning Tea on Metromix

Candler Park resident Katrell Christie is many things to many people. She’s a retired Atlanta Rollergirl, longtime girlfriend to local radio DJ and Metalsome Inc. host English Nick Parsons and owner of Dr. Bombay’s Underwater Tea Party, a traditional tea and coffee cafe in Candler Park. Now she can add humanitarian and photographer to the list thanks to the Learning Tea, a project she started after spending two months in India last summer.

When a local Rotary Club approached her last year about going to India to help women start small businesses, Christie decided to plan her own service project while she was there. And even after the Rotary Club’s funding fell through, she still went through with her trip, which would become a life-changing experience for her and those she encountered there.

“When I found out I was going to India, I started thinking about what I could do for my own service projects over there,” says Christie. “I thought if I’m already getting a ticket to India, I might as well do something where I can give back to that community. I did a lot of research and decided to go to Darjeeling. About two months before I was supposed to go, the funding fell out from underneath the Rotarians because of the recession. But I already had the trip planned and had made reservations, invested my own money into it and had done a lot of research on tea regions, so I knew I wanted to go over there, purchase tea, bring it back and fund some sort of education program.”

After finding an English-speaking guide in Darjeeling, Christie was heartbroken by the depravity many of the villagers endured each day. She visited an all-girls orphanage and a derelict elementary school and immediately knew where here energy would be directed with the Learning Tea. She brought back 50 pounds of Darjeeling’s finest tea and took photographs of the people, landscapes and spiritual images she encountered along the way. With the tea already on sale in her shop, Christie is officially launching the program with “A Journey Through India,” a photography art walk opening Nov. 7 at Dr. Bombay’s, the Moog Gallery and Kashi Atlanta yoga.

“There are 56 girls in that orphanage and they are the lowest of the low class,” she says. “When they turn 16 they get kicked out and most likely go into the sex trade, drug trafficking or get killed. Three girls will graduate from that orphanage next year and I promised those girls I would put them through college with money from selling the tea and from this photography show. These are the first three girls from that orphanage that will go to university. It’s unheard of for a woman to go to college in India, especially from a remote village.”

In addition to sending the girls to college, she will also buy new uniforms for the elementary school children and have a working toilet installed in the school, which currently doesn’t even have running water.

“While I was there, I bought new shoes for all 32 kids at that school and it cost less than $30,” says Christie. “The following year two more girls will graduate from the orphanage, so this is an ongoing project for me. It only costs $500 a year for a girl to go to the university, so I can find ways to get these girls in college every year. And it will change this village to have educated women.”

A novice photographer with a background in art restoration, Christie is pricing each professionally framed image at $75 or less in hopes that the subject matter alone will be motivation for collectors to purchase an affordable piece of photography.

“They’re pictures of interesting things that I don’t think people know exist, especially Americans,” she says. “I went to 14 different cities in two months, so I have pictures of everything from the tops of the Himalayas to the desert in South India to the beaches in Goa to people at Buddhist temples. I hope this will create a wave of awareness and education for these women. It pulled my heartstrings to go over there and see this. I had no idea people lived in this kind of poverty.”

Tea Shop Raises Money For Education — Atlanta INtown

By Jenn Ballentine

Katrell Christie, owner of Dr. Bombay’s Underwater Tea Party in Candler Park, sells her tea not for a profit, but for a cause. Christie sells over 65 different kinds of green and black tea, with all the proceeds going directly to educating orphaned girls and underprivileged children in Darjeeling, India.

Founded after one of Christie’s tea-finding trips to India in July 2009, the Learning Tea Project currently funds one year of a university education for three orphan girls at a cost of $500 per year per girl. These girls, many of whom would otherwise be forced to turn to a life of prostitution, are receiving valuable knowledge and tools to enable them to rise beyond their situation. Of the 56 girls in the orphanage, these three are the first to have the opportunity to achieve higher education.

The Learning Tea Project also supports a small elementary school in Darjeeling. After seeing the appalling conditions under which these children were being educated, Christie decided to dedicate some of her profits to this school. For just $30, Christie was able to purchase shoes for all the children, who previously had none. In 2010, Christie has pledged to purchase new uniforms for the children, help install a working toilet in the school and, most importantly, support the teacher’s salary.

Each box of tea Christie sells at Dr. Bombay’s is labeled with a saying such as “I am new shoes in Darjeeling.” This, said Christie, is so people know what they are supporting. In addition to purchasing shoes and other items for the children, Christie purchases her tea, which she handpicked and selected after careful research, from Darjeeling and helps support many of the children’s parents, who work as porters or tea pickers. In this way, Christie said, “it comes full circle.”

Inspired by Greg Mortenson’s book Three Cups of Tea, Christie’s goal is to build a school in India. In the meantime, Christie plans to travel back to India next summer with three volunteers. Through this small project, Christie hopes to make a difference in these children’s lives. “Anybody can do something to help someone’s future. It doesn’t take a million dollars,” she said.

Dr. Bombay’s supports other social causes as well. Stocked with over 5,000 books, Dr. Bombay’s sells these used books donated by neighborhood residents and others for 50 cents each. All proceeds from book sales go directly to Noah’s Ark, an animal rehabilitation center in Locust Grove, Ga.

Christie feels strongly about giving back to her community and offering others an opportunity to do so. “This is a neighborhood place. I love that people in this community care about projects like these.”

While Christie did not start Dr. Bombay’s with the intention of supporting social causes such as girls’ education and animal welfare, she felt she could do good through it. “I just needed an outlet and a space to work from,” she said.

Former employee Mandy Sewell loved working with Christie and still continues to support her. “When she went to the orphanage and got to know the kids, it really struck a chord with her. She came up with a really cool way to help them through the tea. It’s a great cause – the money goes so much farther there,” said Sewell.

In addition to selling tea, Dr. Bombay’s sells an assortment of baked goods made daily from scratch including vegan, organic and gluten-free options. High tea is available every day from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Tea for two is $25 and includes a pot of tea, assorted cookies or mini cupcakes, scones, and finger sandwiches. Dr. Bombay’s also offers a Mommy and Me Tea on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to noon. For more information about Dr. Bombay’s, visit www.drbombays.com or the shop at 1645 McLendon Ave.

Candler Park teashop owner gives back to Darjeeling with the Learning Tea — Access Atlanta

By Jonathan Williams

For the AJC

When Candler Park resident and business owner Katrell Christie ventured to India last summer, she never knew what an impact it would have on her life.

The retired Atlanta Rollergirl spent two months traveling across the Indian countryside last July-September in search of tea to bring back to her teashop, Dr. Bombay’s Underwater Tea Party. But commerce was only part of her mission, and she planned on using her profits to give back to the Indian community. While the resilience of the lower castes was touching, she was particularly moved after visiting an elementary school lacking such basic amenities as running water and an all-girls orphanage where most graduates end up in the sex trade.

She documented her trip with photos and, upon returning to Atlanta, decided to focus her efforts on Darjeeling, a natural fit since that region is a vital part of the world’s tea production. With goals of helping the elementary school and orphanage graduates, the Learning Tea began to take root.

She brewed up a multifaceted launch last November with an art show at Dr. Bombay’s and neighboring businesses featuring her framed photos. From Buddhist statues to downtrodden villagers, the photos give Atlantans a glimpse into the wonders and woes she witnessed. With the tea and the photography, all profits go directly toward her cause.

“It’s really hard for people to understand what the conditions are like over there without seeing it,” Christie says. “There’s 54 girls in that orphanage. There are three girls graduating this year and when I go back this summer I will get them enrolled in a university there. These will be the first three girls from that village and that orphanage from their caste to get an education instead of going into prostitution. The next year, I’ll have two more girls coming up, so this is an ongoing project.”

Christie’s photography remains displayed at her shop and her latest show, “The Learning Tea: A Journey Through India,” is on display at the Genema Gallery in Buckhead through May 30, with an opening reception on April 9. As word about the Learning Tea has gotten out, it has branched across Atlanta.

With the assistance of Dollina Kharwanlang, a graduate student in women’s studies at Georgia State University whose mother was an Indian orphan, Christie has hosted private tea parties that allow her to raise funds and inform small groups about her cause. And Breadstock VI, an annual music festival hosted by Emory’s Bread Coffeehouse on April 16, will benefit the Learning Tea this year.

When Christie returns to India this July, she will be accompanied by local filmmakers Phoebe Brown and Charlene Fisk, who will be documenting her efforts to better the lives of the teenage orphans.

“I can’t save the world, but I can save three girls who will create an example for other women, and hopefully come back and mentor the girls that are in the orphanage now,” Christie says. “They resent getting older because they know that means they are out the door and on the streets.

“India is pretty crazy, but I love it. It’s very magical,” she continues. “I want the Indian community to know my heart is in this. I definitely want them to know I have their best interests in mind.”

And with the American dollar going such a long way in India, Christie would like to expand her efforts to other areas as well.

“I don’t want to lose the personal connection with this, but I would love to start this project in a couple of other places in India,” she says.

Dr. Bombay’s Underwater Tea Party

1645 McLendon Ave., Atlanta, Ga. 30307. 404-474-1402. www.drbombays.com,www.theleraningtea.com

Just What The Doctor Ordered — Creative Loafing Atlanta

By Cliff Bostock

I’m sure you’ve had those moments when, holding something of value that doesn’t belong to you, the thought flashes through your mind, “I could easily steal this.”

Such was the case at Dr. Bombay’s Underwater Tea Party (1645 McLendon Ave., 404-474-1402) one recent afternoon. The shop, which looks like the perfect setting for the Mad Hatter’s tea party, is so crammed with books and bric-a-brac that, entering the small restroom, I bumped into the wall and caused three or four books to fall from a shelf. I caught one in my hands on its way to the toilet.

It was an eerie synchronicity – a book whose subject was the very topic of something I’m writing about elsewhere. I carried the book out of the restroom to my table, wrestling with my conscience. But I looked around at the tables full of the young and the earnest, digging into cupcakes and sipping Darjeelings and oolongs, while pounding out class assignments on their MacBooks. I reminded myself that the owner, Katrell Christie, heads a project called the Learning Tea to help finance charitable projects for poor children living in Darjeeling. I put the book down. Later, I learned I could have bought it for next to nothing.

This little shop a few doors from the original Flying Biscuit is a real delight. It’s a couple of years old, but I’d never visited before. I should probably warn you not to even bother to go on a Sunday, especially during the shop’s daily high tea (3:30-5:30 p.m.) when two people can sample a lot of the baked goods, plus finger sandwiches, for $25. I did finally get a seat by visiting for lunch early in the week.

I was informed during that visit that the lunch menu, posted on a board, was no longer available. The only routinely available sandwiches now are egg salad and a three-cheese panino. I ordered the latter, with a cup of almost decadently rich pumpkin bisque – thick, creamy and mercifully free of the sweet spices that people usually overuse to mask the real taste of the pumpkin. The sandwich, though, was just a few notches above grilled cheese.

“I know I’m overeating,” I said to the woman behind the cash register, “but I’d also like a orange-lavender cupcake and a toasted almond scone.” In fact, I only got through the cupcake and saved the scone for later. I was not terribly enthusiastic about the cupcake. The taste of lavender was way too subtle for me, the cupcake itself was on the dry side and the icing – topped with one of those chewy candy orange slices – was tooth-achingly sweet and well on the way to crisp. The scone was much better.

I chose a green Darjeeling tea for my lunch. I don’t know if it’s a placebo effect or something in the tea, but I find most tea calming. In fact, I drink hot tea every night before bed. My grandfather was a violinist and a Brit, and I do vaguely remember him having tea most afternoons. But calling afternoon tea “high tea” is a specifically American practice. In the U.K., high tea is served in the early evening and substitutes for dinner, or used to, anyway.

Still, afternoon tea, high tea, and the more formal Japanese tea ceremony, all value essentially the same two things – the social and the aesthetic. In some traditions, like Zen, the tea is also a means of practicing mindfulness: full presence in the moment.

All the pastries and breads at Dr. Bombay’s are baked on the premises. Don’t let my whining about the cupcake keep you away. The vibe is magical. You get home baking, a full heart, good books, pleasant staff and exotic teas. And if that doesn’t interest you, you can have coffee.

Culinary Character: Zen Tea, Dr. Bombay’s, Cafe 101 — Atlanta Magazine

Our avowed coffee drinker finds her cup of tea

Christiane Lauterbach
11/1/2009

I didn’t grow up drinking tea. As a child, I had a big bowl of café au lait with plenty of sugar every morning, eventually graduating to espresso as a teenager. Until I was in my twenties, the closest I ever came to tea was soothing tisanes made with chamomile or linden blossoms when I had an upset stomach and couldn’t get to sleep. Tea was something the English did, and we, the French, would have none of it.

One summer, broke and between steady jobs, I worked in a small hotel in the mountains of Corsica, where I was something less than a waitress but more than a chambermaid. In the kitchen’s massive fireplace, there was a nail on which tea bags were hung to dry for reuse in case a customer was crazy enough to order this outlandish beverage. When I moved to Atlanta, I found that iced tea made my teeth hurt and gave me the jitters. And as a restaurant reviewer, I firmly believe that anyone who pays $3.50 for a tea bag dumped by a waiter in a cup of lukewarm water is the biggest fool.

Yet, thanks mostly to ethnic restaurants and a few inspiring shops, I have discovered my inner tea drinker. Moroccan mint tea, strong coppery Persian tea sipped through cubes of sugar, black Russian tea mixed with jam, Indian chai boiled with milk—I love them all and order them whenever I can. But the teas I truly worship and can’t live without come mostly from Japan and China.

Connie Miller of Zen Tea in Chamblee imparts extraordinary knowledge without a hint of geekiness. Official tastings are held every Friday, but Miller can’t help herself: She is like a Cheers barmaid with a hint of meditative enlightenment, shaking leaves into a canister lid, encouraging you to admire and smell the delicacy of a white organic pai mu tan (her favorite) or the brightness of matcha green tea powder mixed with green tea leaves and pearls of toasted rice. Before you know it, you will have five or six cups in front of you, perhaps alongside an iced green tea latte or a tea spritzer in a stemmed glass.

Miller brews her teas using two Japanese hot-water dispensers kept at constant temperatures and a little digital timer. Like her, I believe that infusing tea leaves too long or using too much heat results in the kind of bitterness people refer to when they say they don’t like tea.

In a totally different, less technical genre, Dr. Bombay’s in Candler Park offers more than forty teas and, every afternoon, a very British high tea with cream, jam, scones, cookies, cupcakes, and tea sandwiches. Katrell Christie, the shop’s co-owner, recently spent a month and a half in India meeting with fair-trade tea growers, pickers, and importers, as well as setting up charities to support a destitute school near Darjeeling and fund a college education for orphan girls at risk of entering the sex trade. Christie came back from her journey with a new perspective on life—and a duffel bag full of Darjeeling tea.

As for me, I am still learning new tastes every day. I follow in the footsteps of my friend Tze Fong Li, who knows to ask for premium teas in the Chinese restaurants he frequents (Cafe 101, for example, has an especially fine high-mountain Taiwanese tea from Jiangsu’s lake region and some exceptional oolongs).

Because of everything I’ve learned, I have one word for our fancy hotels who present an ornate wooden box of tea bags as if it were something special: Don’t.

Vital Statistics
Zen Tea 5356 Peachtree Road, Chamblee, 678-547-0877, ezentea.com
Dr. Bombay’s Under-water Tea Party 1645 McLendon Avenue, 404-474-1402,drbombays.com
Cafe 101 5412 Buford Highway, Doraville, 770-458-8883, cafe101atlanta.com