TEA HAS BEEN a constant in Waris Ahluwalia’s life since before he could even make his own cup. “If you grow up in an Indian family, tea is in our lives. Tea was drunk every day by my parents, multiple times a day. Tea was served when a guest arrived. Tea was served before the guest left. Tea was served at celebratory moments. Tea was served at solemn moments, and in moments of grief,” he remembers. Yet his own appreciation for it didn’t come until much later. “My palette wasn’t there, but when I found the subtlety of green tea and the subtlety of oolong, which is my favorite kind of tea, I fell in love.” Ahluwalia — an actor, model, jewelry designer, and frequent Wes Anderson collaborator — has been referred to as an “It boy,” a mover and shaker, and even a muse. Over the years, he has written for the Paris Review, designed a line of sunglasses, and opened a pop-up restaurant and a chain of boutiques. His devotion to sartorial sophistication, often in the form of a well-tailored suit, has earned him a reputation as a modern-day dandy. Despite this multifaceted career path, Ahluwalia has worked to stay grounded. Tea, in particular, has remained his daily reminder to slow down and live with intention.

In 2019, Ahluwalia debuted House of Waris Botanicals, a company that celebrates living thoughtfully and building community through tea. The company operates a brick-and-mortar shop near the High Line in New York's Chelsea neighborhood and sells signature blends online, like Turmeric Honeybush and Ginseng Lemongrass. Here, Ahluwalia shares a cup with us, letting us in on the power of tea, his own rituals, and how to start our own.

The key to the perfect cup is your mindset.

“We commoditize things here. You can walk into a deli. You can grab a tea in a paper cup and then just be out and go on with your day. It’s not understanding what the truest sense of it is — tea is so much more than the actual ingredient. The power of tea is in its ritual.” Rather than talk on the tools needed to make a cup of tea, Ahluwalia thinks of tea as a tool in itself. “Tea represents a multilayered opportunity for your health, for your well-being, for your day-to-day schedule. What tea does for people around the world is it gives them a chance to pause.”

A morning, midday, and nighttime ritual.

Ahluwalia starts his mornings off with water and a pot of tea. “I boil the water. I grab a mug that feels like the mood of that day and then I get my tea. I put either a tea bag or loose tea into the cup and then wait for the water to boil. And in that moment, from when I start the water boiling to when I finish the tea, there is no phone involved in my journey. That is my space. That is my moment that is not to be interrupted, that I’m not giving up to email, to text, to random dance videos. I’m seeking ownership of that time. And whatever else the rest of the day holds or however the rest of the day is crazy, I have that ability.” It’s a ritual he repeats throughout the day. “I have tea at midday to sort of rebalance my day, and then at the end of the day to ease out and leave the day behind,” he explains.

A way to connect.

“When you talk to psychologists and you talk about stress, the first thing they ask you about is your community. What are your relationships? Who’s around you? That is one of the biggest relievers. We are social beasts. You need your community, which is why these last two years have been even more difficult, because we’ve been separated from our community.” Ahluwalia says that tea can also be a way to build community. “When someone says, ‘Hey, let’s meet for a coffee,’ what are they saying? ‘Let's meet quickly, I’ve got five minutes for you.’ When someone says, ‘Let’s have tea together,’ inherently we understand what those words mean in a social setting. If you’re having tea with someone, they’re saying let’s sit down and actually have tea. It’ll brew. It’ll steep. We'll chat. We’ll catch up.”

A sustainably sourced cup.

“When we think about rituals or our home as consumers, we’re past the point where we’re only thinking about what happens in our homes. We have to think about the whole supply chain. We are no longer at liberty to go, ‘I don’t care how it got here, it’s in my house.’ That is no longer an option for us.” For Ahluwalia, taking care of yourself also means taking care of the planet. “That’s what the first step in any ritual should be — just choosing better. Everyone’s obsessed with the self-care thing, and you cannot talk about self-care unless you talk about the care of the planet and the other beings that exist within it. Self-care Sundays cannot be taken seriously if you’re still harming the planet. When we talk about rituals, that’s what we’re talking about.”