Nothing is particularly new under the sun, and that’s why it’s no secret that fashion and expression seem to recycle itself every couple of decades. Lagos is the melting pot of some of the new, some of the old, and some of the in-between.
The concept for our June edition for the vintage theme focuses on the duality of retro fashion. Each piece was selected to give you a refresher course on color palettes that fit the era of the 80s to the 90s and how to incorporate it into your every day ( or night) ensemble.
Golden Joy
Dark Sepia
While fabric reinvents itself, modern fashion embraces the human body openly, with no limitations as never before. The fluidity of gender identity, expectations, and what we thought we knew and have set standards for shows itself as something that can be broken down and rebuilt again, especially as bodies continue to explore and create fittings for themselves through revisitation of the past and reinvention of the future.
It looks that are timeless can transcend the appropriate occasion in the right weather. Brunch or Ladies Night out?
We begin to use fashion to start conversations that question traditional gender norms, hyper-femininity, or masculinity as the case may be. Style, expressed as such, helps us reimagine an alternative (less) gendered universe where a body can be diverse and limitless.
This style book was curated with Retro Addicts IG: @retro_addicts
Photographer IG: @g3gallaries in Lagos, NG
Models IG: @tamara.doubrah and @raufuabiola in Lagos, NG
That Green Tea has the reserved rights of the content ( images and written statements) published on this website.
The #EatDrinkFestival Abuja edition is the second event that That Green Tea experienced in a more official capacity thanks to the EDL team. The first coverage, #EatDrinkLagos can be found here
James Beard once said that food is our common ground, a universal experience (for everyone because we all eat) and this was brought to life at the Eat Drink Festival held in Abuja for the first time after being hosted in Lagos for the past five years. The event which saw the coming together of food vendors, mixologists, chefs, food enthusiasts, and bloggers had something for everyone who came to Harrow Park with an empty stomach and a full appetite.
#EatDrinkAbuja
Most vendors familiar with the Abuja festival spirit would say that “Abuja people come out late,” which they did. But few hours into the festival, crowds were gathering, holding conversations, and dancing to the music while the vendors were doing their very best, from setting up their stand to organizing their wares in the most eye-catching manner to make sure that everything went on smoothly in their stall. An interesting concept which most of them employed was the switching up of things with their menus.
Press pass gang ( gang gang )
While Waffle Stop stuck to something simple to give people an easier going and fun experience, Jaka’s Grill who has been playing out the dare of owning a food business for the past five month, used the opportunity to up his game by launching a full menu with new and exotic additions like extra delicious burgers which are so cute you could eat them whole.
We love a good flat lay. We love a food flat lay even better
For lovers of a sweet tooth, Buttercream Abuja brought their best sellers and most popular indulgence; my favorite was the banana bread which literary breaks down into several pieces of joy as you chew. Legal Tender Cocktails lived up to its name, a lawyer owned business, it gave us the sunny side up of things with drinks like a Beauty & The Beet, Mojito, Glow Up which were100% non alcoholicand geared towards freshness, a healthy lifestyle, and tremendous benefits for your skin all at very affordable prices.
The interesting about the festival for me, apart from the cook-off, Chef Punshak’s demo, karaoke, and virtual reality pods was the cashless policy of the event.
Thanks to the introduction of wristbands, where all your monies are stored up, vendors and customers were saved the stress of exchanging of currencies, standing in queues and worst of all, looking for change! (We know how stressful that can be).
How far can your love of food take you? The answer is very far because it was surprising to see that some vendors such as Korede Spaghetti, Ette’s Barbeque came all the way from Lagos and boy, did they leave their mark. Korede, a photographer and dancer who when forced with the dilemma of having to choose between three passions, chose the stove, gave the attendees, spicy hot spaghetti and his special; Korede ponmo ( for you non-Nigerians, this is cow skin. Yes. Cow skin. Keep it pushing) sauce which came with a side of fresh fries.
Ette’s Barbeque would give the feel of home with roasted items such as plantain popularly known as Boli and yam in extra spicy sauce.
Everyone can say that they had fun in the event, mainly because there was something for everyone who showed up. If you wanted alcohol, there was the Crazy People’s Cocktails or Entrees Cocktails that came in pineapple or extreme colorful mixtures. If you wished for sugar and more sweetness, Ice Pops which sold out by the way and Yougurberry was your go-to stall.
Of course, there is no Nigerian event without the signature Jollof rice, which thanks to Corperate Jollof, wore a tie and pretty good shoes with its original taste and flavor. Pow, a PanAsian restaurant gave us a feel of what it meant to have intercontinental dishes such as Pow special fried rice which contained eggs and Szechuan chicken, which was spicy.
Not only did the festival allow people to network, but it also created the perfect ambiance for friends, loved ones, and families who needed a place to unwind and chill. Most attendees testified that they didn’t expect the festival to be so all out and they look forward to the next one, I know I do.
All images were captured with permission by Shade Olaoye for the blog and are therefore the property of That Green Tea.
All vendors mentioned are welcome to post this on their respective media channels.
For any enquires and collaborations, email us at contact@thatgreentea.com
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I looked at my bank account, and it glared right back at me with disgust.
I felt this on a spiritual level. The who, what, where and why I had decided to make an investment with little to zero capital turned me into an overnight lawyer and personal finance broker. I was going to see this through the end. Every little free resource I could get my hands on, I latched onto it like a cat hanging on to dear life from drowning ( Disclaimer: I do not participate nor condone the drowning of cats, and neither should you, what kind of monster are you?)
But it was worth it. EVERY. SINGLE. PENNY.
And this is just the beginning. The way we consume information is continuously changing, and there are so many outlets that can cater to the type of target audience you want your message to get across. That being said, this was a learning experience for me without any experience in managing people independently. Here are five things I’ve learned about having interns:
Eat, Live and Breathe Organization Skills
Google is your friend. I had to become an overnight established content writer and editor. I mean I did do my posts and uploaded them when I felt like it. But when you watch someone else do it, and you use it as an opportunity to see if * cricket sounding bank account* your money was going to bring results, then you had to keep everyone on a schedule, and that meant assigning tasks to people.
Calendars, due dates, meetings ( especially since everyone worked remotely on different continents) was something I lost sleep too. I would ask myself if I was wasting my time, but something just felt so right about it. I had my expectations and having a set plan made it a lot easier.
The Fountain of Talent
It all comes down to perspective and the ability to give opportunities to people to show their best selves. ( Have you been on twitter? Especially Black Twitter ( and the various niches of them)?? Legends I tell you).
I think one thing I appreciated was that everyone was confident in what they brought to the table. Except for the rare occasions where things didn’t necessarily seem feasible to do at the time, the thought process of starting and executing a plan was remarkable, and it did generate the results we were hoping for; Exposure.
Connectedness
There are two types of employers ( business majors chill, this is from experience, I don’t need you hounding me). Those that see their employees as tools to generate results and those that look at their employees as people who are comfortable and happy to create. I strive for the latter. I strive to understand the humanness of the people that work with me. Some would say you can’t apply this model in real life ( I’m not quoting books because that’s free publicity and I’m not getting paid for it so meh).
I took time in my day to check up on them to make sure they’re okay. Letting them know that we can be friends and a team trying to achieve something helps in holistic development. I’m no one’s therapist but when you can afford to be emphatic and listen to the things they’re not saying, allows you to grow into a decent person, and that’s what the world needs.
Believing in Your Sauce
Raw sauce ( Big {man} Shaq couldn’t have said it any better). I had days I wanted to cave in and cry the doubt into oblivion. Sometimes it worked. I mean the crying out part. Y’all should try it sometime. A good cry will give you clarity. TRUST ME.
But I had to an extent believe I was the shit. I am still coming to terms with that. That you can walk into a situation, say your mind, get a yay or nay, and keep it pushing until you get steered into the right direction to see things happen. I have 2½ part-time jobs and considering the blog is my brainchild, I would get so exhausted about everything ( as if college isn’t its problem)
A Bright Future
To be honest, I thought I was going to fail. I didn’t think that I would have a committed team. A team that worked on a level of trust that didn’t require me to micromanage or be there physically so that they were aware of my awesomeness (nervous laugh).
I kept looking at the things I had written down and thought maybe they wouldn’t be able to project the vision I had planned out. Life is funny. Not only did they do better than I expected but considering the limited resources I had on deck, we accomplished everything in the time frame that was initially planned.
I am so proud of them. And I’m sure they haven’t realized it yet, but they are now premium assets to wherever their future takes them. Not because they interned for some not-so-big-shot blog, but because they acted on their courage, went through a process and delivered. And that’s something you can’t teach in a classroom.
That Green Tea Blog will be celebrating it’s official 2 year anniversary in March and would like to thank everyone that supported us along the way.
We will also be conducting a Season 2 intern cycle. We can’t wait to see your applications!
The city is known for social events like a horse race, commonly known as Hawa; often organized to celebrate things like a sister’s wedding, a brother’s walimah, a friend’s graduation, etc. The most spectacular and grand Hawa however, occurs only during Sallah celebrations. The whole city meets to watch, and the King is usually part of the horse riders; not racing, but making a royal appearance. But another social event Minna is known for is Car drifting stunts.
Car drifting is the process of overly accelerating a car around a stage, causing it to release a cloud of exhaust fumes in its trail. This is done for fun and competitions and is becoming increasingly popular amongst youths of Minna, the capital city of Niger State.
Wikipedia defines car drifting as,
“A driving technique where the driver intentionally oversteers, with loss of traction in the rear wheels or all tires, while maintaining control and driving the car through the entirety of a corner. Car drifting occurs when the rear slip angle is greater than the front slip angle, to such an extent that often the front wheels are pointing in the opposite direction to the turn (e.g., the car is turning left, wheels are pointed right or vice versa, also known as a reverse lock or counter-steering)”
Car drifting stunts first started in Japan in 1970, by a man named Kunimitsu Takahashi. He was first a motorcyclist and then a driver. He would go on to win major awards for car drifting competitions.
The end aim of car drifting is usually to produce exhaust fumes from the burning of car tires.
Keiichi Tsuchiya, another Japanese, known as the “Drift King” came into history upon encountering Tahakashi’s drifting techniques. Sometime in the late 90s, particularly in 1996, Drifting began to gain more popularity outside of Japan, in places like California.
Drift League presents Tokyo Wedding Party
On 10th February 2019, Minna car drifters converged at 3-Arm Zone to have Drifting stunts in celebration of a sister of one of their top members who recently got married. They called it Tokyo-Wedding Party from the Drift-league. Before this, they had made a flyer and shared it across social media, inviting people to come to to to to watch.
The bride was in attendance with two of her friends to witness the fun celebration. Her hands and feet had henna, and her face was heavily made up. She wore a black hijab.
At 4:30 pm, the stage was still mostly empty and exuded a serene, peaceful atmosphere, even though the event had scheduled for 4:00 pm.
Soon, drifters and spectators started to arrive in trickles. Some of them had customized t-shirts. Most casually dressed in t-shirts and jeans.
When the first car arrived, it did so with a grand announcement; tires were screeching hard against the cemented inter-locked ground as people cheered.
In about an hour, the arena was full of drifters and watchers alike. And so the fun began. As spectacular as the view often was, it sometimes left fear in the mouth of watchers especially first-time viewers. But not for the young men standing around the arena and cheering loudly as each car began its show.
In about an hour, the arena was full of drifters and watchers alike. And so the fun began. As spectacular as the view often was, it sometimes left fear in the mouth of watchers especially first-time viewers. But not for the young men standing around the arena and cheering loudly as each car began its show.
A small car first drove into the arena and began to accelerate round and round in a way that made eyes dizzy. And then it drove off the cemented road into a corner filled with sand. Once there, the driver began to press hard on the accelerator, while at the same time steering the wheel in a direction opposite the direction the tires were headed. This sent the tires rolling hard against the sand in one direction and then breathing loads of sand in, and leaving clouds of dust erupting into the air. Once this was achieved, the car veered back onto the road and accelerated hard, leading the tires into burning smoke out in spirals and spirals of fumes that drove the crowd into cheers.
Several cars did this in turns, each trying to outdo the one before it, producing more and more smoke.
As night drew closer, the bride and her two friends, who had been mere viewers before now, were invited into one of the cars whose turn it was to drift. They went in. Once the car started, they began to scream in what could have been terror, or excitement, or both. But the driver did not stop. He drifted until the tires burned and there were thick clouds of smoke. By the time he finished, and the three women alighted from the car, they each clutched their chests in obvious terror and tried to gain their breaths back. The crowd cheered.
Towards the end of the show, word went round that there was to be a Hawa on the 24th of February, in honor of a member’s brother who had recently done his Qur’anic graduation.
There is a fabric that binds the youths of this city together, and it is called brotherhood.
This article is a collaboration between Writer, Hauwa Shaffii Nuhu, and Photographer Victor Adewale.
This project is part of a final assignment to conclude my time at That Green Tea. I am available for any future literary collaborations as needed. Follow me on social media on IG: @waasishafii and Twitter: @waasishafii
All images are the original work of Victor Adewale on IG: @victoradewale_ and Twitter: @victoradewale_
We talk about finding beauty in the mundane, but also about whether or not we can afford to write about the little things while a fire rages in our backyard, burning things like gender equality, religious tolerance, and peace.
There has been the age-long argument on whether as writers, we can afford to listen to the voice of the heart when it is not speaking about the political. But then again, what is political? I’ve been thinking about these cages, and I’ve decided the little things are just as worthy of writing.
belief
the fierce resistance of the sky
when the sun begins to sink
forcing it to spill,
i believe in the kindness of truth to call that beauty.
the width of my sister’s smile
and the tenor of my best friend’s laughter
the love song that exists between rain and a window
and the tender spot that is midnight
the dirge of silence, truth.
the weakness in my chest when i begin to miss the people i love.
scars and their lineage
the assent of a family of laughter taking off by the same sheet of time
the curse that soaks my country like a towel would blood
the glint in my brother’s eye when he wants to prank.
i believe in the curl of hair
the anguished cry of a half buried hurt.
the slight smirk of nature over greenery kissing harmattan
i believe in hands.
in the fabric of friendship.
Hauwa Shaffii Nuhu is a final year law student at Bayero University, Kano. A poet and essayist, her work has appeared online and in print on platforms such as Ake Review, The Bitter Oleander, Afridiaspora, Brittle Paper, The Kalahari Review, Selves, and elsewhere.
She is a 2018 fellow at the Ebedi Writers International Residency and interning here on That Green Tea blog.
All images sourced from Canva are free. Any copyrighted image will be rightfully mentioned. We don’t have litigation money so we keep it simple. 🙂
That Green Tea 