Yes, in honor of this week’s theme of Tea the Beverage at Gracious Hospitality’s Blog-a-Thon, I threw this video together with my camera phone and 12-year old son in order to share with you my three favorite teas. It is far from professional, but I contribute it anyway. After all, the heart of blogging is to move away from the pretense and perfectionism of commercialism to hear from us average folk. So on that note, feel free to take a peek at the real deal; the video is only 3.5 minutes long.
The best-selling black tea that I mentioned, Snowflake, can be purchased through my aStore. So would you be interested in more video? What’s your preferred method of gathering info or feeling engaged with an author: through reading, listening, or watching? Leave a comment and let me know.
Stratford upon Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare
Poetry has been around much longer than afternoon tea in Western Civilization. But in the honor of the Bard’s birthday and April being National Poetry Month, I wanted to share with you one of my recent favorite finds that helps me celebrate Beauty. Simplicity. Classically. Besides, I wasn’t invited to Suri’s tea party, so I can’t blog about that. (Oh, to just have five minutes surrounded by $17,000 worth of flowers…).
Far from the expert, I experienced the richness of poetry, including Donne, Bradstreet, Herbert, and Shakespeare in the last few years out of the sheer necessity of needing to teach it. And my children memorize poems as part of their grammar curriculum. One is particularly despised and appreciated at The Wellspring with a love-hate relationship:
A Tragic Story by William Makepeace Thackeray
There liv’d a sage in days of yore
And he a handsome pigtail wore
But wonder’d much and sorrow’d more,
Because it hung behind him.
He mus’d upon this curious case,
And swore he’d change the pigtail’s place,
And have it hanging at his face
Not dangling there behind him
Says he, “The mystery I’ve found, –
I’ll turn me round,” –
He turn’d round,
But still it hung behind him.
Then round and round, and out and in,
All day the puzzled sage did spin;
In vain — it matter’d not a pin –
The pigtail hung behind him.>
And right and left, and round about,
And up and down, and in and out,
He turn’d, but still the pigtail stout
Hung steadily behind him.
And though his efforts never slack,
And though he twist, and twirl, and tack,
Alas, still faithful to his back,
The pigtail hangs behind him.
Now, the teacher of literature seeks to teach students of literature that to truly appreciate poetry, it needs to be read aloud. One must play with the words and let them roll on the tongue, savoring their flavors and combinations. And now I know how to help them believe me. Mental multivitamin recently turned me on to one of my absolutely favorite new resources, When Love Speaks.
It captured my interest immediately when it opened with the whispers of one of my favorite actors reading Shakespeare as if we were sitting in the drawing room drinking sherry with a small group after dinner. With the occasional melodic interpretation interspersed throughout, over fifty tracks based on Shakespeare’s sonnets are read by famous actors with all their talent inflecting their expression at just the correct time.
In the day where our local radio station still plays Air Supply on Saturday nights (and they wonder why they’re a dying medium?) and not all of us are into Mariah Carey’s “Touch My Body”, I’d like to think romantic couples somewhere might enjoy this instead. Truly, even if sharing sonnets with your significant other is not your sentiment, purchase this CD for yourself and listen to the writings of the greatest writer of the the English language. There’s nothing like hearing it read by Colonel Brandon (or Severus Snape, depending on your current literary bend) to turn one into a fan.
Are you a Shakespeare fan? Could you be? Remember, it was the ale-swigging peasants that crowded the theater floors willing to stand throughout his performances. He isn’t for highbrow intellectuals. Just like tea parties, sometimes Shakespeare’s given the bad rap of stuffiness.
You see, many of you are perfectly content with and competent putting together darling, theme-appropriate, and within budget crafty items for your parties. You don’t mind the time you spend scouring the dollar bins and hunching over your glue gun. A little ribbon, a gauzy bag, and voila’! You create magic.
HOWEVER. Out of sheer necessity, I have had to come up with different options for tea party favors. Here is a list of my three favorite choices.
Adagio Tea wedding favors for the large group tea party. These tea wedding favors are not for weddings alone! For less than two dollars you receive YOUR choice of looseleaf tea in a tin WITH a personalized label IN an organza bag of your color choice. I think that’s a bargain! There’s TWENTY-NINE different teas to choose from including blacks, whites, greens, oolongs, decafs, AND herbals. A minimum order of sixty is required and the more you buy the more the price goes down. Imagine the time you’ll save letting Adagio assemble your favors for you when you need a large amount. I think these would be especially helpful for the fund-raising tea or any tea party where you sell tickets and the favor cost is included in your budget.
Dover Thrift Paperbacks for the small group tea party. I’ve written often at Tea Party Girl how well literature and tea go together. And for just a couple of dollars each, you can purchase entire classics or anthologies in paperback, like this one by Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass: The Original 1855 Edition. Your local bookstore could order them for you so you can save on the shipping. The Jane Austen tea party is very popular right now (though you may want to think twice about inviting the history purist) and you can provide one of her novels to your guests as a simple and beautiful favor. You may want to take the time to design a book cover for them that ties more into your theme with the date of your event included for a special memento. That wouldn’t take too much creativity, would it?
Sugars by Sharon for wholesalers. I love, love, love these sugars. In fact, I am tempted to begin stocking these again just for Tea Party Girl readers because I like them SO much and know you would, too. If you have a wholesalers license and want to work with Sharon, do. She is extremely attentive and accommodating while running her cottage industry. She will prepare sugars for you in any color combination in practically any shape AND design you a personal label. You may find her sugars at your local tea room, but must be a wholesaler to order from her directly. Here’s a picture of the sugars I ordered back when I was Wellspring Tea to give you an idea. Aren’t they darling?
Please let me know in the comments which of these three suggestions appeals to you the most.
Or why Tea Party Girl knows more than the ‘O’ Magazine’s editors.
I continue to be amazed how often I hear people tell me brewing looseleaf tea is too much work. I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me in an age of microwave popcorn, baby carrots, and tubes of minced garlic. But just like most of our products grown from the earth, when we let technology take out the prep work, the quality diminishes.
And while The Tea Spot receives high marks for a fancy website and an ‘O’ recommendation, may I encourage my readers that you do NOT need an automatic teapot to brew your tea. First, it only holds 20-ounces, scarcely three cups of tea. This is barely enough for one serious tea drinker, much less two. Secondly, the only step in the tea-brewing process it claims to take care of for you is removing the tea leaves at the proper time. So in other words, for $69.95 you can own an expensive, fancy timer. Which, I might add, won’t even work for green tea despite their claims, as most green teas are recommended to be brewed for two minutes and the automatic tea pot is set at a three-minute minimum.
Now yes, the teapot will take the leaves out of the water for you if you happen to be brewing tea while making your bed, curling your hair, sweeping the front porch, or whatever other multi-tasking you find necessary during brewing time. But as many wise tea lovers have stated, if you are too busy to wait the few minutes for the tea to brew, life is too busy and you’re the one needing to slow down and drink tea the most!
Granted, learning to brew looseleaf tea takes a little time. You may make a couple mistakes and have to ask a few questions. But may I encourage you that it is worth it! If you have any skills at all in the kitchen (Do you use knives? Pour milk in your cereal bowl? Know which buttons to push on the microwave?) you can brew looseleaf tea. It will cost you less and I guarantee, please you more.
Won’t you give it a try? And instead of spending $69.95 on the automatic teapot, treat a friend and support your local tearoom. Even this amount of money can purchase one afternoon tea for the Palm Court at the Plaza Hotel in New York City; unfortunately, you will need to pass on the lobster, black truffle, caviar and a chocolate pot de creme.
Today I spent some time flipping through the Stash Tea catalog and found myself asking, “What would I recommend for my readers to purchase?” The catalog is only one example of a listing that includes some basic items the tea lover might want to have on hand. I offer these recommendations as a starting point for the tea drinker who wants to serve tea to themselves and others.
Tea Party Girl’s Everyday Teapots
The Teapot–Do you own a teapot? They don’t have to be expensive. In fact, I recommend purchasing a plain-colored pot and covering it with a decorative tea cozy for warmth. For everyday, I use two different teapots depending on how much tea I want to brew (one holds 42 ounces and one holds 24 ounces). They’re in colors I like that fit in my home, but were made with simple ceramic. I save the fancy one that came with my husband’s great-aunt’s china for the couple a year sit-down tea parties I host. DON’T confuse the teapot with the teakettle. I know a woman who thought they were one in the same and used the teapot to boil the water on her stove. She ruined grandmother’s teapot by burning out the bottom. The Teacup and Saucer–Start by finding one just for you. Then add another for offering a friend. Then add two more at a time to build up a collection that matches your hospitality. If you are beginning to enjoy drinking tea like the English, start small. The teacup and saucers do not have to match each other. I don’t even use a saucer with my favorite thin-lipped mug that I drink from throughout the day. However, when I serve tea to others or drink tea in the evening to wind down, my favorite cups and saucers are within easy reach.
Tea Party Girl’s Everyday Cups and Saucers. Can you guess which one says, “Made in China?”
The Sugar Bowl and Milk Pitcher–Many people, Americans and children especially, love to fill their tea with milk and sugar. While my goal is to teach people to try the tea first and refrain from pouring in the extras, I still offer the milk and sugar to my guests. Especially for tea drinking novices, they really enjoy pouring the milk from the little pitcher and using the tongs to add a lump or two. I think it helps people feel as if they’re experiencing the real thing. “No wonder our grandmothers did this everyday!” their eyes exclaim. Again, the sugar bowl and milk pitcher don’t have to match your other items. But it is ideal that they match each other. I tend to use my Mary Englebreit set when friends are over because it holds a larger quantity. I own a nicer set I inherited from my grandmother; but it’s fancier and once I chipped it, I held off from using it as often.
Tea Party Girl’s Milk and Sugar Sets
Speaking of chipped china, many people say use what you have everyday and if it breaks, it breaks! At least you had the pleasure of its use vs. keeping it stored away. I agree and disagree. Know what you own and its worth and make an informed decision. I have not been careful with some very nice things and regretted it, because I didn’t know what I was doing. Turn your tableware over. If it says “Made in China” it’s safe to chip, break, and throw in the dishwasher (though eat off of it at your own risk). But if it doesn’t, do a little research and learn where it came from and how much it would cost to replace. This is especially true for items that have been passed down to you. I wrecked some beautiful teacups of my husband’s grandmother because I had no idea what I’d been given and threw the dainty things in the dishwasher. AFTER they’d cracked, I looked up how much they cost to replace and found the price tags hovering around $100 per cup and saucer set. Ouch!
Any questions or thoughts? Which items do you already own? What do you want to invest in?
