The Tea Party
That Ran Out of Tea
A fictional coffee party featuring two real coffees from Little Waves in Durham, North Carolina.
An empty pot
Original fictional illustrationThe first sign that something was wrong was the absence of an argument.
Alice arrived beneath the chestnut tree to find the Hatter staring into an empty teapot. The March Hare stared at the Hatter. The Dormouse slept inside a sugar bowl, which seemed to Alice an improvement upon his usual arrangements.
“Well?” said the Hatter.
“Well what?” asked Alice.
“Precisely,” said the Hare. “We’ve been asking that for twenty minutes.”
“There is no tea,” the Hatter announced.
Alice waited.
“In the pot?”
“In the pot, in the cupboard, or anywhere that can be reached without standing up.”
An empty pot
Original fictional illustration“Have you tried standing up?”
The Hatter looked offended.
“It’s a party.”
At that moment, the White Rabbit hurried through the hedge carrying a parcel almost as large as himself.
“I’m late!”
“You generally are,” said Alice.
“Yes, but today I’ve brought a reason.”
He placed the parcel on the table. Inside were two bags of coffee.
The Hatter leaned forward.
“Tea with ambitions?”
“Coffee,” said Alice.
“How wonderfully abrupt.”
A reason to be late
Original fictional illustrationThe first bag read Little Waves Coffee Roasters.
“Little waves of what?” asked the Hare.
“Coffee, presumably,” said the Hatter.
“They’re in Durham, North Carolina,” Alice said, reading the note tucked beside the bags.
The Hatter fetched an atlas and opened it upside down.
“An excellent place. Very near the bottom.”
“You’ve got the map the wrong way round.”
A reason to be late
Original fictional illustration“That explains the journey.”
Alice examined the bags. One was Bella Vista Mayan Harvest, from Chiapas, Mexico. The other was Río Dulce Gesha, from Colombia.
“We shall need two cups,” she said.
The Hare counted the cups on the table.
There were thirty-seven.
“A serious shortage,” he agreed.
Borrowing a moment
Original fictional illustrationThe Hatter produced a kettle, a little scale, and a contraption Alice initially mistook for a hat stand.
“It’s a pour-over,” he explained.
“What does it pour over?”
“Usually the table, if the Hare is helping.”
Alice set a filter in the brewer while the Rabbit wound his watch.
“How long will this take?”
“How long have you got?” asked the Hatter.
“None!”
Borrowing a moment
Original fictional illustration“Then we shall have to borrow some.”
For once, they followed a recipe.
The Hatter weighed the coffee. Alice poured the water. The Hare was appointed Keeper of the Spoon, a position with no duties whatsoever, which he performed admirably.
When the water first met the grounds, the coffee rose and released a small, fragrant breath.
“It’s waking up,” whispered Alice.
The Dormouse opened one eye.
“Tell it to keep its voice down.”
A cupboard is acceptable
Original fictional illustrationThey began with Bella Vista Mayan Harvest.
Alice read Little Waves’ tasting notes aloud.
“Cinnamon sugar, apple cider, milk chocolate.”
The Hare peered into his cup.
“I haven’t got any chocolate.”
“They’re descriptions,” Alice explained. “Things the coffee might remind you of.”
“Ah,” said the Hatter. “Like when someone reminds you of a cupboard.”
“Nobody has ever reminded me of a cupboard.”
“You haven’t met my uncle.”
Alice lifted her cup and took a small sip.
“Well?” said the Rabbit.
A cupboard is acceptable
Original fictional illustration“I’m deciding.”
“Can’t you decide faster?”
“I could,” she said, “but then I might miss something.”
This was such an unusual answer that even the Rabbit stopped winding his watch.
The Hatter slid a notebook toward her.
On the first page he had written:
COFFEE FIELD NOTES
Beneath it:
What does it remind you of?
And beneath that, in smaller writing:
A cupboard is an acceptable answer.
Correct for liking
Original fictional illustrationFor the Río Dulce Gesha, they rinsed their cups and began again.
The Hare objected to this.
“I only just made mine dirty.”
Alice read the second set of notes.
“Candied lemon, papaya, dried mango, white florals.”
The Hatter looked toward the flower bed.
“Do the flowers know?”
“They aren’t actually in the bag.”
“That is probably for the best. The daisies are dreadful travelers.”
The Cat appeared on the branch above them, beginning with its grin and ending, somewhat reluctantly, with its tail.
“You’ve changed the party,” it observed.
Correct for liking
Original fictional illustration“We ran out of tea,” said Alice.
“A useful sort of disaster.”
The Hatter offered it a cup.
The Cat sniffed, considered, and settled along the branch.
“Two coffees from the same roaster,” Alice said, “and two quite different things to look for.”
“Then which is the correct one?” asked the Hare.
“Correct for what?”
“For liking.”
Alice thought about this.
“I suppose that depends on who’s drinking it.”
The Hare looked relieved.
He had been preparing to disagree with everyone.
One more moment
Original fictional illustrationThe Rabbit checked his watch, then checked his cup, then set the watch facedown.
Alice noticed.
“Aren’t you late?”
“Terribly.”
“Shouldn’t you go?”
“In a moment.”
The Hatter studied him with interest.
“What a remarkable improvement in a rabbit.”
“Coffee?” suggested the Hare.
“Perhaps,” said Alice. “Or perhaps he’s enjoying himself.”
They sat beneath the chestnut tree while the light moved slowly across the table.
Nobody announced a winner.
One more moment
Original fictional illustrationAlice made a few notes. The Hatter made several more, although most concerned a new hat with somewhere to keep a filter. The Hare drew a spoon.
Above them, the Cat began to disappear.
“Before you go,” Alice called, “it’s your turn to wash up.”
The grin lingered.
“How curious.”
And then that disappeared too.
The Hatter lifted the empty teapot and examined it once more.
“Shall we have tea tomorrow?”
“Perhaps,” said Alice. “But there are an awful lot of places we haven’t had coffee from yet.”
The Rabbit reached for the atlas.
This time, he turned it the right way up.
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About the fiction & real coffee sources
A fictional party. Two real coffees.
This is an original fictional story inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland. Little Waves Coffee Roasters is a real independent roaster in Durham, North Carolina. The party, dialogue and characters’ experiences are invented. Mad Hatter has not personally tasted these coffees, and the story does not imply Little Waves’ sponsorship or endorsement.
The origins and tasting notes were checked against Little Waves’ own product pages on October 22, 2026. Coffee availability may change.
Bella Vista Mayan Harvest: official details ↗
Río Dulce Gesha: official details ↗
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