Skip to content

Sipping the Tea with Hank

2024-10-30 · announcement · John, Hank · 58:36 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Projects (also: Personal life, Health) · mode: Announcements · tags: self promotion, fundraising ask, civic or action cta, guest or collab

In an hour-long livestream from John's kitchen, John and Hank kick off Good Store's 2024 holiday season, launching its new undies, brewing and tasting Keats & Co. teas, reading out orders and stressing that all profit funds maternal health in Sierra Leone and TB care in Lesotho; at the end Hank says he is struggling and asks John to make a video with him.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Livestream opens; early voting in Indianapolis; the broken kettle

  • ★★ One brother, apparently John, says he stood in line 90 minutes to vote early in Indianapolis and wanted a sticker; Indiana doesn't make early voting easy. — 00:00:00 · Indianapolis

00:00:50 — Good Store holiday kickoff: new undies, why loose-leaf tea, where the money goes, puzzles with Karen Kavett

  • ★★★ Hank announces that Good Store now sells the brothers' new undies, soft and made of modal. — 00:00:50 · Good Store
  • ★★ Hank explains why Good Store sells loose-leaf tea: less waste, no tea-bag quality worries, more of the real leaf and higher quality, and it is cheaper, so they can charge less. — 00:01:44 · Good Store
  • ★★ Hank says tea bags often contain microplastics. — 00:01:44
  • ★★★ John says all money Good Store makes goes either to stronger maternal and infant care in Sierra Leone or to better tuberculosis care in Lesotho. — 00:02:27 · Good Store, Sierra Leone, maternal death, tuberculosis
  • ★★ John says Lesotho is currently the epicenter of the world's TB crisis. — 00:02:27 · tuberculosis
  • ★★ John says their friend Karen Kavett, a leading puzzle influencer and nerdfighter since 2008, helped Good Store launch puzzles. — 00:02:53 · Nerdfighteria, Good Store
  • ★★ John says none of the money ends up with Hank and him; all of it serves the world's poorest people facing the biggest health-care challenges. — 00:03:33 · Good Store
  • ★★ John says Good Store sells better versions of things people already need, and the money goes to Sierra Leone instead of to some billionaire. — 00:05:13 · Good Store, Sierra Leone

00:05:42 — Brewing and tasting the first teas while reading orders; Hank's curls; the oven mitt fire

  • ★★ Hank: Asked about his curls, Hank says they seem to be going; after he wore a hat recently, his straightened hair looked like pre-cancer Hank. — 00:07:46
  • ★★ Answering a viewer who asks them to punch tuberculosis in the face, John says that if there were a lot of tuberculosis in the US, it would be dealt with. — 00:09:35 · tuberculosis, United States
  • ★ Hank shows Good Store greeting cards, printed in Missoula down the street from his house. — 00:13:02 · Missoula, Montana, Good Store
  • ★★ Hank reports that John's oven mitt caught fire while making tea and John took it outside to put it out. (playful) — 00:17:25
  • ★★ Hank says milk takes the bitterness out of tea, while sugar balances it. — 00:18:03
  • ★★ Tasting the chai, John says he likes it better than coffee. — 00:18:03
  • ★ John shows a mug Sarah made with ginkgo leaves, because she knows he loves ginkgo trees. — 00:18:26 · Sarah Urist Green
  • ★★ John reminds viewers they still need to buy the coffee at Keats & Co., which he calls amazing. — 00:18:26 · Keats & Co.

00:23:42 — Potato ate a pair of earrings

  • ★★ John's family's dog Potato ate a pair of earrings; they searched his poop and found half of it, chewed up. — 00:23:42

00:24:11 — More orders and products: bath bundle, Keats & Co. coffee, undies, socks, the $8 million total, favorite teas

  • ★★ John shows the new Keats & Co. coffee design: formerly the Awesome Coffee Club, renamed because its money supports TB care; its dark roast is lighter than Starbucks's. — 00:29:11 · Keats & Co., Awesome Coffee Club, tuberculosis
  • ★★ Hank saw Pearl Jam in concert recently; a band member is from Jon Tester's small hometown and did an event for Tester. — 00:32:06
  • ★★ John says their coffee is expensive because it focuses on farmers' health and well-being, which he prefers though he'd rather it be cheaper. — 00:33:37
  • ★★ Hank says the undies cost $15 but probably aren't guaranteed by Christmas, since they may not reach the warehouse until about December 1. (hedged) — 00:34:24
  • ★★ Hank says the undies' modal fabric is super soft and more sustainable than cotton. — 00:34:55
  • ★★ Hank says Good Store had an EU warehouse for a while but it was very expensive; they hope to return, and customers can now pay customs at checkout. — 00:35:18 · Good Store
  • ★★★ John says Good Store has donated over $8 million to support stronger maternal health and tuberculosis care. — 00:36:58 · Good Store, maternal death, tuberculosis
  • ★★ John says Newman's Own, Good Store's 'rivals', has donated hundreds of millions of dollars, so Good Store has a ways to go. (playful, hedged) — 00:37:28 · Good Store
  • ★★ John says Hank did the tea taste testing and he did the coffee, with company-wide coffee taste tests at Complexly and DFTBA. — 00:40:10 · Complexly, DFTBA Records
  • ★★ John says America has a lot of bad, artificially flavored tea, so a first good tea is a game changer. — 00:40:59
  • ★★ Hank: Reading orders, Hank tells buyers, such as Emily in Philadelphia, that everybody has to vote if they are able. — 00:42:10
  • ★ Hank says sugar balances tea's tannins, which tea has just as wine does. — 00:44:12
  • ★★ John says he feels he is having a blinding-light spiritual awakening about tea. (playful) — 00:45:02
  • ★★ Hank says Good Store has too many socks, so a mystery 12-pack of high-quality American socks costs $5 a pair. — 00:46:07 · Good Store
  • ★★ John says he saw the film Wolf on 13 consecutive Wednesdays at Birmingham's dollar movie theater in 1995 with his buddy Todd. — 00:47:05
  • ★★ John names the seasonal Autumn Bold his favorite tea, his favorite herbal ever, and the Evensong chai his favorite year-round tea. — 00:49:05
  • ★★ Hank says his favorite herbal is Autumn Bold, and every morning he drinks the breakfast blend or the Earl Grey. — 00:49:58

00:53:31 — Doug, a childhood friend's dad who was funny without being mean

  • ★★ John says Doug, a childhood best friend's dad, taught him it is possible to be funny without being mean, which is hard and important. — 00:53:59

00:54:41 — Holiday soap bundles without plastic

  • ★★ Hank says Good Store's holiday soap bundles, like all its soap products, involve no plastic. — 00:54:41 · Good Store

00:55:32 — Hank says he is freaking out and asks John to make a video with him tomorrow; therapy; sign-off

  • ★★★ Hank says he is freaking out about stuff and needs John's help; he is not in therapy or taking medication right now. — 00:55:32
  • ★★ John notes that CBT is proven effective for anxiety. — 00:56:15
  • ★★ John says finding the right therapist is hard and a big step, but therapy can be very effective. — 00:57:22
  • ★★ Hank says he wants tomorrow's video titled something like 'the world is driving me insane': it feels good to admit the tension of the moment. — 00:57:22
  • ★★ Hank says he has been ignoring the tension of the moment on Vlogbrothers because he doesn't know what to do or say about it, and he is sad. — 00:57:47 · Vlogbrothers

Humor (significant)

  • John lists the rich people whose stores Good Store replaces, ending with an actor as Macy's owner. — 00:13:24

    “william h macy the owner of macy's”

  • Suggesting sock bundles as stocking stuffers. — 00:13:53

    “Stuff your stockings with stockings.”

  • After John's oven mitt catches fire off camera, Hank regrets the lost footage. — 00:17:25

    “Well, because that would have been great cinema.”

  • Hank says tea has more variety than coffee; John, who sells coffee, makes him compare with something they don't sell. — 00:22:09

    “There's so much more variety to tea than Diet Mountain Dew.”

  • Hank describes seeing Pearl Jam's singer in concert. — 00:31:42

    “You know who he sounded just like? Who? Eddie Vedder.”

  • After the $8 million total, John compares Good Store to Newman's Own. — 00:37:28

    “So we've got a ways to go until we get full Newman's Own-y.”

  • The Google assistant keeps waking up during the stream and offers help. — 00:39:18

    “Your favorite low-fat recipes.”

  • John lists therapy and medication as proven strategies for Hank's anxiety. — 00:56:15

    “cbt has proven effective for anxiety unlike making a video with your brother”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Awesome Undies · Good Store · Keats & Co. · tea

Also: People: Eddie Vedder · Jack Nicholson · Jeff Bezos · Jon Tester · William H. Macy

Projects: Awesome Coffee Club · Awesome Socks Club · Complexly · DFTBA Records · SciShow

Works: Garden Party Soap · Hank's Cancer Socks · Wolf (film)

Organizations: Celestial Seasonings · Newman's Own · Starbucks

Groups: Pearl Jam

Concepts: anxiety disorder · Cognitive behavioral therapy · early voting · jigsaw puzzle · maternal death · Microplastics · psychotherapy · tuberculosis

Places: Birmingham, Alabama · Indianapolis · Lesotho · Missoula, Montana · Philadelphia · Sierra Leone

animal: Potato (animal)

Only in the description or credits: Karen Kavett · Katherine Green · Sarah Urist Green

Also centred on tea: Some New Things… · Caffeine is Very… · Sorry, Hank, but Coffee Is Just Better

← Previous: If Hank and John Were God for 15 Minutes · Next → Working Through a Crisis with My Brother