Upton's Heirloom Tea Flowers

Here you can see where I quickly tore into one of the sample packets in my Upton Tea order that arrived last week. One of the samples I was most looking forward to trying: the Organic Heirloom Tea Flowers shown here.


Here's how Upton describes this tea: "An unusual tisane made solely from organic Camellia sinensis flowers, which are carefully plucked from heirloom tea bushes in full bloom, and then sun-dried. Tests show the flowers to contain similar amounts of catechins and polyphenols as regular leaf tea, but with a significantly lower caffeine content. The flavor is surprisingly full, with notes of honey, caramel and citrus." My palate isn't refined enough to detect "notes" and requires more of a loud "symphony," so I have to say that while I wouldn't have used those words to describe the flavor, I do agree it had a very "full" taste, a richer, more pleasant flavor than I expected.


If you've never ordered from Upton (uptontea.com), you might be surprised the first time you order to see that they personalize labels (free of charge!) on each bag or tin of tea -- unless you ask them not to. How helpful is that? Instead of wondering how old a particular tea is, you have it right on the bag or tin. I ordered a full size bag of this delicious Green Rooibos Pear Cream when the sample I'd been slowly enjoying ran out. And I have to add another word of praise for Upton. Standard shipping is just - get this - $4. Four hardly-buys-a-gallon-of-gas-anymore dollars. My little order shipped from Massachusetts for less than it would have cost me to drive to the nearest tea shop and back. (Can you tell I appreciate the thrifty shipping?)


And while this is no Heirloom Tea Flower, I do think it's awfully pretty! (Can't claim credit, though. Previous owners had it growing when we bought the house, bless 'em!)

Feeling craft-tea?

I never have to go in a crafts store again. On Sunday, I was looking for a particular piece in my little crafts room and ended up looking through every single crafts container. Twice. That included two huge bins of fabric, about five crafts totes bearing assorted projects already in progress, and perhaps a dozen assorted containers of laces, ribbons, threads, fibers, buttons and trim. And going through all that "stuff" did two things for me: 1) It cured me of needing to go in any crafts stores for a while and 2) it showed me that I've actually been "into" the tea theme for longer than I realized. So I thought I'd share some of my crafty finds, including one of my most-used pieces, the teapot pincushion above.


An orphaned cream pitcher and a slightly chipped chintz mug are containers for pens and crochet hooks.


That pretty bowl I found last year but couldn't figure out what to do with? It holds buttons, including a green teacup button that will be the perfect accent on some tea-themed piece.


Several years ago, crafts magazines started showing various styles of letters covered in fabric, buttons, glitter, or otherwise embellished. I've not decorated these yet, but just know they will come in handy someday!


It's hard to see, but underneath the cards and hat, this rack with a crown on top was actually a new piece I bought to display Christmas cards last year. It occurred to me it would be good to use it throughout the year as well, so now it decorates the crafts room and holds favorite cards and memorabilia, including the crocheted teapot doilies that were a gift from my friend Kathy.



For about five years, I worked pretty steadily on a pink and green crazy quilt. Then one day, I'd had enough of that and just put it down. But I was so close to being done! Looking at the blocks this weekend reminded me of how lovely this would be if I would just finish it. The corset pattern is something I copied off a rubber stamp, then embellished with velvet threads, buttons and organza ruffles. I loved making it, but that perfect piece of lace next to it was just SO starkly white. I tea dyed it, and voila, the softness I desired.


One day last year, I actually went IN a convenience store to pay for gas (almost never happens anymore thanks to pay-at-the-pump), and I walked out with this bottle of Gold Peak green tea. I like the design of the bottle and decided to keep it. Maybe it'll hold paper flowers one day?


My inspiration board, an old dresser mirror with the "mirror" now made of cork, holds tidbits I mean to do something with. Finishing this needlepoint rose pillow suddenly appeals to me, and I just love finding all these teapot doily pieces.


And for carrying around all these crafty goodies? This tea-themed tote bag, once a gift from DH. I wish you all lived nearby, because we could all meet up in the crafts room and work on tea-themed crafts together!

Fashion & the tea lover

Are any of you members of e-rewards.com? I don't even remember how I got invited to join, but by answering a few of their surveys every now and then, I have earned quite a few free magazine subscriptions. The titles are some good ones, too: Newsweek, Hallmark, Interview, This Old House, Smithsonian, and even the fashion magazine Harper's Bazaar, of which I am not, ahem, a typical reader. Though I have enjoyed reading the celebrity stories, I can hardly see myself ever wearing some of Harper's Bazaar's, well, rather bizarre fashions. But amazingly enough, I actually went out and bought an item I saw in the current issue. I'll let you guess which one it was.

Was it ... the Dior Haute Couture gown inspired by a Gustav Klimt painting? (I did think it was kinda neat they used Julianne Moore to recreate the painting.)

Was it ... the $1,095 jeweled sandals from Yves Saint Laurent? (I would actually like these if the heel was 2 inches or under.)

Or was it ... the Organix Reviving White Tea Grapeseed Shampoo shown in this ad?

I'm sure I don't have to tell you which one it was! But I do have to tell you that at the local Walgreens, the conditioner came with a rebate coupon so you can get a refund of the $6.99 purchase price. That will come in handy if you ever want to do any shopping in Harper's Bazaar! (And yes, I do like the shampoo and conditioner. The scent is great, and they left my hair feeling very soft and manageable.)

Tea Trivet Trivia

In my neck of the woods, we treasure hunters know that Spring has officially arrived when our mailboxes start seeing more of those little blue postcards from Collins and Wood, the well-known local appraisers who've long been known for staging estate sales. I've gotten several bargains at their sales over the years, so I was happy to see this blue postcard the other day.

I pulled up to the house Wednesday morning and didn't really pay attention to the exterior behind the sea of cars, so eager was I to find a parking place and get going. On a shelf outside the house, I found the wonderful handpainted tea trivet above, which will certainly go well with those violet dishes I got at the Carriage House a while back. I also found a nice quilting book, and only when I was leaving the house did it dawn on me: a friend of mine's mother used to live here before she moved to a retirement village, and I once wrote a newspaper feature about her quilts! I was so happy to realize she was the original owner of these great items.

Later, it occurred to me I have never mentioned my tea trivets, those lovely and quite utilitarian objects that keep teapots from scratching the dining or tea table while guests are using them at tea. If I don't have a teapot on some sort of elevated tray, I like to have it on a tea trivet (also known as a "tea tile"). I now have four, but only four, since I don't see these pieces at shops and sales very often. And now if you'll excuse me, my sweet husband has just loaned me some of his hard-earned cash so I can hit a multi-family yard sale on the way to work this morning. Maybe I'll find another tea trivet!

The Butterfly Effect

Those of you who read Southern Living, did you notice the cute little appetizer on page 14 of the April issue? It was an egg cup with Spicy Roasted Red Bell Pepper Pimiento Cheese served with a darling "butterfly" garnish, and the minute I saw it I was on a quest to find egg cups so I could serve something like this to guests at a tea party. I learned pretty quickly that the local antique malls don't have many egg cups, and the ones on eBay either didn't impress or were too expensive, so I was then on a quest to find some small glass dishes that would serve the same purpose. I came across eight of these small (2-1/2-inch tall) glass sherbet type dishes at a local thrift store for a song, so I was ready to try for The Butterfly Effect.

Southern Living used a gussied up pimiento cheese, but I decided leftover chicken salad (a large ice cream scoop full) would suffice. The crackers are Pepperidge Farm Golden Butter crackers, and I'm happy to report these are sturdy and you can break the butterfly right down the middle in one try.

Using kitchen shears, I cut two pieces of chives, each about 1-1/2 inches long, and used the tip of a sharp knife to gently stuff them down into the chicken salad. Now is this cute or what? Thank you, Southern Living, for the quick and easy idea!

Tea (things) and Taxes

Tea and taxes are inextricably linked in our great nation's history, and I can't help mentioning this fact today for two reasons. 1) I just got through spending a teeny-tiny little bit of my and DH's tax refund (really, darling, it was negligible!) on some tea-related treats. 2) Today is Tax Freedom Day. That, policy wonks tell us, means that today is the day on which, theoretically, the average American worker has worked enough to cover all of their federal, state and local taxes for the year. Yippee!


To celebrate, a little retail therapy is certainly in order, and I suggest a visit to one of downtown Newnan's newest gift shops, M. Cole Design on West Washington Street. This Napa Soap is my favorite find and is quite possibly the best-smelling soap I have ever found. It doesn't actually smell like green tea to me, though, but rather some light, heavenly, lily-of-the-valley-ish fragrance, like a just-picked garden flower. According to napasoap.com, "Whenever possible, we use local ingredients from the Napa Valley in an effort to share the beauty of this unique area. Our grapeseed oil and grapeseeds are a by-product of the wine industry. Our lavender and herbs come from a variety of gardens in the area. Our beeswax and honey is harvested in the heart of the Napa Valley, and we even use Napa Valley wine to make our Cabernet Soapignon and Soapignon Blanc bar soaps." I chose the Tea-no Grigio Soap because in addition to smelling absolutely divine, it contains green tea and green tea extract.

Another find was these Scentchips, a new fragrance product I'd read about but never tried. These are little scented wax chips, shaped like leaves and flowers, and you can use them as potpourri or in your tart burner. The clever thing about these little treats is that you can mix and match them to get a scent that's just what you're looking (smelling?) for. I was poking around in the bins of various scents when I saw one of the pre-packaged versions marked "Afternoon Tea," so naturally that's what I got. It's a combination of their Gardenia and Bergamot chips, and I'm just quite intrigued that bergamot - the citrus fruit that provides the bergamot flavoring in Earl Grey tea - has made it this far in the fragrance world. When I got home from work, I popped my tart burner in the freezer for a few minutes to loosen the old tart it contained so I could use some Scentchips. Soon my husband was asking about the wonderful scent. For those of you who don't live nearby, you can find out more about these chips at scentchipsusa.com.

Some wonderful handmade tea gifts!

The gift of needlework is one I have long enjoyed giving. I've made afghans and doilies, pillows and Bible covers, Christmas stockings and bookmarks, and it has been very rewarding to be able to give these gifts. I just love browsing through a shop for yarn, fabric and threads, and there's something very fulfilling about knowing your own hands used these simple things to make a gift for someone else.

And I've said all that to say this: Because I know how much work and care goes into a handmade gift, I am an especially happy recipient of handmade gifts, because I truly do treasure them. And so when a "mystery package" arrived at the office one day last week, I opened the package and tissue paper verrrrrry carefully. Dana in Atlanta had e-mailed that she was sending me something ("What? What? What?" I had immediately thought), and I knew it was going to be appreciated and welcomed no matter what, but then the package arrived and I opened it to find THESE!

She knit the tea shawl, which perfectly fits a personal size teapot, in llama wool, and I hope my photo allows you to tell something of the wonderfully soft texture of this piece. I wish you could touch it through the Internet! (And how did she guess that pink is my favorite color!) Along with the shawl came a crocheted tea collar, which is placed on the teapot spout to discourage dripping and stains. I am sooooo enjoying using these delightful pieces, and more than a little humbled by the kindness of the one who took time to stitch them for me. Makes me want to start crocheting and knitting and quilting some tea-themed gifts of my own!

Iced tea season arrives

We had gorgeous weather yesterday, and with temperatures here in Georgia in the mid-seventies this week, I'd say that the time for iced tea has definitely arrived. My favorite way to make iced tea is the refrigerator method, where you simply let the loose tea "swim around" in a pitcher in the refrigerator overnight.

This is a closeup of the fridge tea version of Teavana's Key Lime Rooibos, which the company describes as "a tropical blend of green Rooibos, papaya, mango, peach, citrus, rose and marigold flowers." I've made everything from plain black teas to flavored teas and green teas by this method, but I think the fruity/citrusy teas are my favorite.

Although this wasn't "Sun Tea," I still enjoy using this glass I found at World Market last year: "Fresh Brewed Iced Tea Sun Tea." And I realized the tea selection around here has gotten pretty boring lately, so I ordered some new varieties from Upton Tea over the weekend. Hopefully, soon I'll have some new teas - and refrigerator brewed teas - to share with you!

Easy Tea Sandwich Spreads

Two of the tea sandwiches we had at Cari's birthday tea party yesterday are also two of the easiest tea sandwiches I've ever made, Egg-Olive Sandwiches and Cucumber Cream Sandwiches. (The Waldorf Chicken Salad Mini-Croissants on the bottom tier are easy and tasty as well, but I shared that recipe on Sept. 26, 2007.)

The thing I like about both these spreads is that they can be made ahead, which is something I very much like to do when hosting a tea. When I make the Cucumber Cream Sandwiches, always with white loaf bread, I like to cut out bread shapes with one of my teapot cookie cutters to make them a little more special. For the Egg-Olive Tea Sandwiches, I cut out wheat bread using a tiny (about 2 inches tall) old Tupperware cup. Women "of a certain age" will remember these pastel colored cups, which make perfect little circles for these sandwiches.


Cucumber Cream

4 ounces (half a large block) cream cheese
1/2 medium cucumber, peeled
1 teaspoon lemon pepper
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
Dash of garlic powder, if desired

Place all ingredients in food processor and pulse a few times, just 'til blended. (You don't want the cucumber completely liquified so that you can still enjoy some of the crunch.) This recipe makes enough spread for about 2-3 dozen small (1-1/2 to 2 inch) tea sandwiches.



Egg-Olive Spread

4 boiled eggs
4 ounces (half a large block) cream cheese
2 teaspoons mustard
20 green olives
1 teaspoon olive juice
1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper

Place all ingredients in food processor and pulse a few times, just 'til blended. If you like olives, you will love this spread! Cut out circles or other shapes in wheat bread, spread filling, then garnish with a slice of olive. Makes enough spread for 3 to 4 dozen small tea sandwiches.

Cari's Birthday Tea!

My sweet nieces Madison, Cari and Amelia are some of my favorite tea party playmates in the whole world, and since today is Cari's ninth birthday, I took the morning off and seven of us gals in my family gathered for a special birthday tea. We had a little teacup sign out front reading "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CARI!"

Because it was her big day, Cari's place setting had the Birthday Cake Teapot my thoughtful friend Stacie gave me recently just because she came across it and thought I'd like it. Isn't that a great teapot to use in honor of The Birthday Girl at tea parties? Cari got to request any tea she wanted, and I was very relieved when she said "Peach" since I had three different varieties on hand.


Cari had requested the Southern Living Coconut Cake I made last Thanksgiving, one of their "big white cakes" with lemon curd between the layers and a yummy cream cheese frosting. We also had Egg-Olive Tea Sandwiches, Cucumber Cream Sandwiches, Waldorf Chicken Salad Mini-croissants, Lemon Madeleines and Chocolate Covered Strawberries. The drink offerings included ice water (we're big ice water girls), iced Key Lime Rooibos, Peach Tea and Chocolate Mint Tea.

The birthday girl got lots of cool gifts, and from her Aunt Angela she got a new purse ...


... and from Uncle Alex, a Georgia Bulldog fan, she managed to get a much-treasured Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets glass.

"That's disgusting!" said Madison, age 12, a Texas Longhorns fan and someone who doesn't much care for the Yellow Jackets despite the coloring on her groovy outfit.

Amelia, who is nearly 3, didn't care about college rivalries. She just wanted to try on hats and high heels and dance to Barney songs! And that's enough for today, but tomorrow I'll share some of the recipes for those who like that sort of thing!

Grassroots Tea Zone Tonic

A few weeks ago when I wrote about one of my new tea cosmetic finds, a reader mentioned a particular tea soap she liked, and I knew this line of products was carried by the store Kohl's. Since we have one of these stores here in Newnan, I stopped by to look for the soap. While I didn't find that, what I DID find was this Grassroots Tea Zone face tonic with Sage, Mint and Green Tea. Since the Clinique toner I had been using was getting a little harsh, this $10 tonic seemed worth a try. After about two weeks of use, I'm happy to report that I love it! I noticed that in addition to green tea leaf extract, the tonic also lists maté extract as an ingredient.

While I was at Kohl's, I picked up their brochure about the entire Grassroots line of skin care products. These "naturally-sourced products" are custom blended from pure essential oils and don't contain animal ingredients, artificial colors or fragrances. Here, you can see the brochure page which includes "Feast Your Eyes" eye balm made with Green Tea.

After reading through the brochure, I found this line actually includes quite a few products made with tea. There is "Liquid Alarm Clock," a shower gel made with green tea and maté tea; "Your Cup of Tea," a bath infusion made with white tea; and "Time to Shine," a shampoo and conditioner made with maté herbal tea. There are also a few other hair styling products that include tea as an ingredient. If you don't have a Kohl's store to visit, you can find out more about these products at grassrootslife.com. Let us know if you try one of these and recommend it!

Getting a handle on teacup collecting

There is always more to learn about tea and teawares, as I learned from one of the two new (and free, might I add) books about cups and saucers I got the other day. Do
you have a great independent bookstore in your town? We do. It's called Scott's Bookstore, and it's on the Courthouse Square here in Newnan, Ga. Shop here and you get a little pink card where they write down the price every time you buy a book. After your 10th book, the average price is deducted from your next purchase. I fill up several of these a year and my inner thrifter LOVES going back in to get my free item. Last week, I headed to the sale table and came across these two books half-price, so I got them both for free and still had $4 credit on my card for next time. How cool is that? So now I'm the lucky owner of "Collectible Cups & Saucers" Books One and Two by Jim and Susan Harran.


I enjoyed seeing photos of all the cups and saucers, of course, but I must say I have never given much thought at all to the variety of handles on the cups, as shown on this chart in Book Two. Would you believe they list 15 different shapes for handles? Rather like one of those amateur birdwatchers in the forest, I've been having fun trying to identify how many of these "species" I may have, with names such as Broken Loop, French Loop, Ring, Kicked Loop, Serpent, Coiled, Kidney, Wishbone. Do you know the names of your cups' handle shapes? I certainly didn't, but I'm learning.

This is the Angular shape.

This is the Broken Loop shape. If you have one of the classic Old Country Roses cups and saucers, it has this shape of handle as well.

This is the French Loop shape.

This is the Loop shape handle. I have far more of these than any other type.

This is the Ring shape.

This is the Square/French shape. I hope you recognized some of the shapes from your own collection as well!

Supporting Operation Tea Time

Do you remember the scene in "Gone With the Wind" where, during the fundraising bazaar for the Confederacy, Rhett Butler is walking around collecting trinkets to benefit "The Cause" and Melanie Wilkes says "Here Captain Butler. Take my wedding ring. It may help my husband more OFF my finger." Remember Melanie's selfless action? Well, that's not me. I'm more like Scarlett, whose guilty conscience caused her to add her own wedding ring to the collection basket only after she saw Melanie do so. I have to confess I didn't exactly feel like selfless Melanie when I read on Tea Party Girl recently about Operation Tea Time, which is collecting teawares for a May 16 tea party to benefit wounded soldiers at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. "They'll get my teacups when they pry 'em out of my cold, dead fingers," I thought.

Well, not really. Actually, a few events conspired to make me decide to send a donation. First, I like Tea Party Girl, and since she recommended this project, I wanted to help. Next, a ministry I admire sent its new newsletter, and this one suggested that if we have a problem with greed (and I'm not necessarily saying I do, mind you), we should try giving something away to someone else. Even my teacups? Surely not!

But then I searched online and found this post (on page 3) showing a wounded soldier enjoying last year's tea. One look at that photo and I said yep, I want to be a part of that! Because I have been greatly blessed with tea things, I am sending these cups and saucers as my small little "thank you" to the soldiers. You can read more about this effort at operationteatime.org, and if you want to help, too, you can send your donation of cups and saucers, teapots, sugar bowls and/or creamers to: Operation Tea Time, P.O. Box 1355, Bronx, NY 10471. Deadline is May 5. I'm sure I'll even feel pretty good about giving away teawares once the post office pries them out of my hands ships them for me this morning!

A Vintage Tea Video!

Our thoughtful Tea With Friends reader Dana in Atlanta has shared a link to a wonderful 1946 video about arranging the tea table. Boy, does that type of film take me back to the educational filmstrips of elementary school. I remember the sound of that scratchy film projector ... even the jumps in the tape were just delightful. Enjoy! (And thanks for sharing, Dana. Love it!)

Go here to watch.

A fine straining solution

Do you love rooibos like I do? I don't think I've ever tried a rooibos I didn't like, and this one is Key Lime rooibos from Teavana. The only thing I *don't* like about rooibos is that the tea is too fine to be captured by most of the tea strainers I own. Sure, you can use a paper tea filter, but sometimes I just really want to see and sip the filtered tea. I've tried making it in a tea press, and that just resulted in a royal mess.

So I was particularly happy last weekend to find this mesh-style tea strainer and drip catcher at T.J. Maxx for just $4.99. It even has a design of the tea leaf on the handles of both pieces. I've got a similar mesh-style tea strainer with a teapot at the end of the handle, but the thing is several years old and is looking a little ragged for wear.

I'd love to hear what you use when making rooibos tea. Paper filter? Strainer? Tea press? And do you use different types of strainers for different types of tea? Any advice would be most welcome!

A New Tea Time Bracelet

Some weeks ago, I heard from an old friend "back home," Angie, who kindly wrote to tell me she had come across a new piece of jewelry she thought I would like. It was the "Tea Time" bracelet from Premier Designs jewelry, and she'd seen it in a catalog and wanted to pass along the info.

The name Premier Designs rang a bell, and I had a vague memory of going to a Premier Designs party at a friend's home once, but that had been years ago. Then I did a search on eBay, and there indeed was the bracelet, but the seller said in no uncertain terms that hers was a "smoking" home and that both she and her pets shed, and if we didn't like that, we shouldn't bid on her auction. "Well, allrighty then!" I thought, and I didn't! A couple of weeks went by and I got an e-mail from a co-worker. Her daughter was selling Premier Designs jewelry, she said, and there would be a brief jewelry showing in our break room at lunch that Friday. Perfect! And of course you know what I ordered!

This was a bit expensive for costume jewelry ($36), but I have to say I am very impressed with the quality of this piece AND the fact it comes with a lifetime guarantee, so I'm actually glad I didn't end up buying this cheaper on eBay. I like the antiqued look of the charms, the nice weight of the charms, and the fact some of the links have a rope-like finish. Bracelets are my favorite pieces of jewelry, and this one even comes with a teeny little spoon on the toggle clasp. It's the perfect thing to wear to teatime! (Thanks for the tip, Angie!)

The Art of the Tea Tin

A friend at work recently visited our local Chinese grocery to pick up something for a child's school project. Hearing her talk about the visit reminded me of when I discovered this place a while back, thrilled to find that in addition to bubble tea, they also carried many tasty and inexpensive teas in colorful boxes and tins. My favorite find was this 4 ounce tin of Jasmine Tea. It's delicious tea, it was just $1.85 (wouldn't these be great tea party favors?), and I even like the tin.

That set me to thinking about some of my other favorite tea tins. This one, from Whittard of Chelsea, once held Earl Grey Tea and is probably my favorite tea tin of all.

This pretty green tin is from Fortnum and Mason in London. Their new tea tins are lovely as well, but I'm partial to this older design in "Fortnum and Mason green," which I realized is as iconic over there as "Tiffany blue" is here.

And chocolate rose tea is in this blue MarieBelle Tea tin, whose design I like as well. I've seen empty tea tins used as flower containers and makeup brush holders, but I seem like to mine best on display above the kitchen cabinets where I can see them frequently. How do you use your old tea tins?

Pairing tea with food

First, let us note that Teresa got it right in her comment yesterday, and oolong is the tea sometimes referred to as "blue tea" because of the tint of the dried leaf. Add that to white tea, green tea, black tea, red tea (or rooibos) and yellow tea (dried similar to green tea, but with a slower drying time), and you can see we have a veritable rainbow of teas from which to choose! And speaking of choosing tea, I have a most interesting new book some of you may want to check out for its information on choosing which tea to pair with various foods.

It's called "What to Drink with What you Eat: The Definitive Guide to Pairing Food with Wine, Beer, Spirits, Coffee, Tea - Even Water - Based on Expert Advice from America's Best Sommeliers" by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page. Since I care only about the tea, I was a little concerned about whether the book would be useful enough to add to my tea library, and it very much is. For one thing, I learned the author's three rules for pairing foods: 1) Think Regionally: If it grows together, it goes together. 2) Come to your Senses: Let your five senses guide your choices. 3) Balance Flavors: Tickle your tongue in more ways than one.

One concise chart in the book gives some very general but very helpful direction on pairing the right tea with the right food based on the food's volume. Here's what the authors recommend: Green tea - Pair with fish, shellfish, vegetables. Oolong tea - Pork, poultry, veal. Black tea - beef, game, lamb. And the six teas they say should be in the well-stocked tea cupboard? A breakfast blend or black tea, Assam, oolong, Chinese green, Japanese Sencha green, herbal. And pages 268-272 are entirely devoted to lists of teas and their suggested food pairings, so as you can see, I have found this to be a very useful book.

Singing the blues

The big news at my house this weekend was that while I was away shopping with my mother on Saturday, my sweet husband was busy painting the living room and dining room that pretty blue color I've been wanting for so long. (Although I volunteered to hang around and supervise, he was strangely insistent that I carry on with my usual plans.) And he did a great job! For anyone who's in the market for a nice blue, I am thrilled to report that Lowe's Seaside Retreat collection has a great color called Porch Swing, and the walls look exactly like the paint chip. Cool!

We kept the tan color above the white chair rail, so the blue appears only on the bottom half of the walls. Here, we like how it brings out the blue tinting on this antique photo of DH's Uncle Roy.

On the hearth, I had to replace the earth toned flowers and teapot I'd had sitting on the Exhibition Tea Chest. This blue and brown set was something I received as a gift a year or two ago and had waiting for the new paint scheme. I'm definitely in the market for other blue tea accessories, so I'm sure I'll be "singing the blues" with my decor for many days to come.

And finally, with all the talk about color this weekend, I thought I'd end on a little trivia note: Which tea is sometimes known as "blue tea"? If you don't know, I'll have the answer for you tomorrow!

Twinings Tea Memorabilia

During my recent interview with Tea Party Girl, I mentioned some Parker pens with the Twinings logo that I found on eBay several years ago. Candyce has asked to see a picture, so here you go! I like the fact the pens were made in the colors of the Darjeeling, English Breakfast and Camomile flavors of tea.

And here is the book I found on eBay about the same time, "Twinings: Two Hundred and Fifty Years of Tea and Coffee 1706-1956." This book by Stephen Twining was published in 1956 to commemorate the company's 250th anniversary.

And this oversized teacup (minus its saucer, but oh well) was a flea market find, not an eBay find, purchased for $3 back when the wonderful old Lakewood Flea Market in Atlanta was still going strong. On this side, a likeness of founder Thomas Twining (and his curly perm), and on the back ...

... a drawing of the Twinings Shop at The Strand in London. I've been there, and it's incredible to think that the entrance is the same one tea lovers have been passing through to participate in the tea trade since 1706. If you're a collector, it's always fun to search out pieces related to one of the big names in the world of tea, and Twinings is certainly that.

Grocery store brand Earl Grey tea

A few weeks ago, I saw something new sitting there among the teas at my local Publix: boxes of Publix brand flavored teas. This was intriguing to me. Now I'm quite loyal to "my" grocery store, and I often buy their store brands of everything from flour to aluminum foil to frozen veggies. But flavored tea? I left them on the shelf that day, though, because the name brand teas were actually cheaper, and out of (tightwad) principle I refuse to ever pay more for a store brand than a name brand. That's just wrong.

Last week, I was ready for a cup of afternoon tea at the office and reached for a sample of Bigelow's Earl Grey I had received from a friend. I like Earl Grey and go through times of drinking it all the time, then getting tired of it for a while, then drinking it again. This was one of the dry spells for my Earl Grey habit, and that cup of tea struck me as sooooo good! So when I spotted the Publix brand teas on sale at the store that evening, I decided to try the Earl Grey.

Although I like the taste of Earl Grey, I absolutely love the fragrance of Earl Grey. That bergamot flavoring has such a distinct, unique fragrance, quite unlike any other tea. As soon as I opened the box, that wonderful scent wafted up - a good sign. And it made a very nice cup of tea as well. If the Bigelow Earl Grey tea bag was a 5, this was a 4.5. (And I am going to feel really stupid if I find out one day that Bigelow is one of those companies that repackages its product, putting a different label on this tea for the grocery store.) Of course loose tea would always be my preference, but for teabag tea for the office, I'm quite happy with the Publix Earl Grey.

My interview with "Tea Party Girl"

Back in February, I wrote a post about finally finding my "Holy Grail" of teacups on eBay. It was the Wedgwood Bicentary Celebration teacup and saucer featuring a facsimile of the handwriting of potter Josiah Wedgwood. To my utter surprise, fellow tea blogger Jenny Wells had read this post and wanted to interview me about my eBay tea finds for a podcast on her blog, Tea Party Girl.

Well of course I said yes! And just as with the other times I've agreed to "speak" instead of "write" about a topic, I immediately began to think "Oh my, what have I done?" Speaking to the local civic group is one thing, but being interviewed by a tea expert in California was quite another! I needn't have worried, though. Jenny made this so easy and was such a gracious host, I was instantly at ease.

And if you haven't visited her blog before, you are in for a treat! Jenny provides a wealth of information to help tea newbies (and oldies, for that matter) learn all the basics of teatime. I think her site has a lovely header (the graphic up top), and her information is very well-organized. She's also made it super easy to listen to our interview: just click the arrow on the post on her blog, adjust the volume on your computer, and you're off! Jenny also was kind enough to share the audio file with me, and I'll be approaching my more tech-savvy co-workers to help me figure out how to post it on THIS blog, so look for it in a link at right. I've already heard from two kind ladies who listened to the podcast and enjoyed it, which was just great. Thanks again, Jenny, for the fun opportunity!

Canada Dry Sparkling Green Tea Ginger Ale

A pretty package can often turn my head. And so as I was headed down the grocery store aisle for some diet Cokes, I saw this new product from Canada Dry, Sparkling Green Tea Ginger Ale. Now THAT sounded interesting ...

The two-liter bottle had a coupon attached and was just 99 cents, so I got one of those, but I also wanted to try this immediately, so I got a 20-ounce bottle as well. I took the 20-ounce drink to the office with me, and when I took a sip I had two thoughts: A) This stuff is good. B) This stuff is SWEET! I was sipping away when I suddenly realized I had assumed this was sugar-free, but because of all the sweetness it probably wasn't. That's when I looked for the first time at the nutrition label and realized that if I drank this whole bottle, it would be the sugar equivalent of drinking a couple of Snickers bars!

Now I like sugar. Sugar and I are old, old friends. But like a lot of people today, I'm trying to limit my sugar intake. And silly me, I see the words "ANTIOXIDANTS" and "GREEN TEA" on the (very lovely, by the way) label and think, well, antioxidants and green tea. You know, "healthy drink." Guess it might limit sales if they labeled this "Green Tea Ginger Ale Sugar Syrup." Now most of the time I don't even have as much as a single sugar cube in my tea. Can you imagine having a cup of tea with SIX sugar cubes in it? That's the equivalent of one serving from this 20-ounce bottle, which contains 2-1/2 servings of the drink and a whopping 60 grams of sugar. Chug the whole thing, as I imagine many (most?) will do, and you've consumed the equivalent of 15 Domino sugar cubes. So now I have a few questions for Canada Dry. What were they THINKING? The trend is toward lighter/healthier, not sweeter/more unhealthy. And second, why on earth didn't they make this a diet drink? Sorry for the rant, my friends, but I'm learning the hard way that we have to be on guard for folks who are trying to piggyback on the healthy reputation of our old friend tea.