👩🏻💻 About tanjennts
👩🏻💻 About tanjennts
tanjennts is the creative outlet of writer & photographer Jenn Chen
Quick links:
As a newsletter that is powered by chips and inspired by coffee, you can expect the unexpected. Substack tells me that I need to have a special one-liner and a niche for people to subscribe to this, but to be quite honest, I don't do well with advice meant for the masses.
But if you need one, here's the one-liner:
Exploring the tangents that coffee creates: essays and stories in culture, freelancing, food, and more.
tanjennts is not [only] about coffee. Coffee is the catalyst and thread that underpins the stories I explore. I don't like being pigeonholed, so I've purposefully made tanjennts to be all-encompassing of my interests, whether in words or photos form, or both.
Be warned: This is a personal newsletter. I get into cultural identity, mental health, politics, the -isms, and more. I'll sometimes drop a well-placed f-bomb.
Even more about tanjennts
There are currently three sections. The general tanjennts homepage is a compilation of articles in all the sections, plus any that didn't fit within the categories. You can manage your section subscriptions through your account.
In Focus: Conversations and interviews with creatives in or adjacent to the coffee industry.
Photo Essays: Photography essays that are sometimes accompanied by words. 🔏 For now, it's paid subscribers only, but this one about new year dumplings is unlocked for everyone to read.
Creative Sparks: A 12-week creative prompt challenge that began in January 2023
Free subscribers receive two emails a month on Wednesdays. Each email includes the following:
Notes from Jenn: A short list of things that have happened recently.
The tanjennt: An essay or feature, including articles, personal reflections, interviews, and short-form journalism. Some example topics include:
Culture
Freelancing & writing
Cultural identity
Food
Mental health
Interesting reads: Articles I’ve read recently that I’ve enjoyed. These run the gamut of topics.
Plant update: A plant feature from my container garden!
Favorite pieces
To get a sense of what I like to write about and photograph, here are some of my favorites:
What others say
Here are some snippets of what others have to say about my newsletter:
Enjoy the newsletter. Always surprised and delighted to find something I really want to click on.
I always forward your emails to people. Your content is rich, educational, relevant and inspiring. Thank you.
Yours is one of the very few newsletters that I want to receive in my primary gmail inbox. I’m always learning and intrigued about the topics you choose. Thank you for raising the important issues and thank you for consistently sharing high quality information!
The tanjennts reader:
is a specialty coffee professional, writer, freelancer, or creative person
enjoys coffee and/or the stories it inspires
trusts me to explore the various tangents that my interests take me
Free & paid plans — "Why should I pay?"
Paid members sustain the work that goes into my free newsletter. It is just me, spending several hours working on each issue. Creative work takes time, energy, and mind space.
If you have the monetary means to do so and you’ve benefitted from my work, please consider the paid plan.
Individual: $5/month or $50/year
Group/Company (minimum of 4 seats, annual): 10% off the above pricing (learn more about group subscriptions)
If you cannot afford a subscription and/or you’re a student and would benefit from my paid articles, email me for a comp at thejennchen@substack.com. I also accept tips or one-time donations here.
Free
Twice a month with an occasional extra post
One original feature or essay, plus other items as described above
Paid
Everything in the free plan plus—
Two additional posts a month (at least four total per month). Each is a singular piece, such as bonus content to an existing interview or photo essay. For some of these, I may unlock them after 60 days for free subscribers to peruse.
A behind-the-scenes look at the freelance life, mental health ruminations, and sneak peeks at what I'm working on.
A non-exhaustive list of things I pay for that help me with this newsletter:
Grammarly for copyedits
Canva for designs and photos
Temi for AI transcription
ClickUp to organize all my projects and thoughts
Bear for notetaking
Dreamhost for hosting my website and this subdomain
