Posts filed under 'Tea Party Reviews'
I apologize for my lack of posting yesterday. I was enjoying a short and very needed retreat with my daughter at Nana’s bed and breakfast. It certainly pays to have a tea educator in the family, as she brewed me many pots throughout our visit! The three generations enjoyed feasting on Babycakes, shopping in Paris, and having an urban tea experience together. I brought home two new UNFLAVORED black teas to try as well as a brand new Bodum Glass Kettle
. These purchases allow me to already fulfill two of the five New Year’s resolutions I wrote about on Tuesday. I came home to many chores but with no children. As a homeschooling mother, I know my priorities! I unpacked the kettle, brewed a 24-ounce pot of Mim Darjeeling, popped a leftover cinnamon pastry in the oven to warm, and sat down to write. The chores can wait.
In the meantime, let’s continue to consider how Teatime Magazine can spur us on to new tea experiences in 2008. Here’s the list and my response to the second half of their ten New Year’s tea resolutions.
Invite someone you care for to Afternoon Tea in your home. This resolution best explains the very goal I hold for the readers of Tea Party Girl. The simple gift of offering yourself, a friend, or others a pot of well-brewed tea with a little-touch-of-something will reward the partakers over and over again. It’s a simple grace anyone with a home can provide. Give the gift of afternoon tea to yourself first, and then offer it to a loved one.
Appreciate the aesthetics of tea. What does this mean exactly? It means slowing down and savoring the art of tea and NOT starting by dumping large quantities of sugar and milk in your cup. I can’t tell you how often I witness this. It’s like having your uncouth relative sit down to your well-made meal and dump salt all over it before even tasting it. Well-brewed tea has a unique bouquet, color, and flavor that is meant to be appreciated. At least take the time to experience the tea’s uniqueness first, and THEN add the milk and sugar if desired.
Try new teatime recipes. Yes. For the record, Tea Party Girl is looking for a food blogger who would like to contribute once a week to this blog focusing on teatime recipes. One of my regular readers, Mz Rita, asked why we don’t have a category of teatime recipes. There is a category called Tea Party Food and I try to add to it once per week. However, if you are interested in helping build this category here at TPG, be sure to contact me.
Learn to brew a perfect pot of tea. What IS a perfect pot of tea? It’s a pot that is piping hot, without bitterness, and has been steeped the appropriate length and strength. There is much to the art and science of brewing tea. It takes practice, and one size does not fit all. Be sure to see my article, “The Beginner’s Quick and Simple Guide to Brewing Looseleaf Tea” for more information.
Create your own personal daily tea escape. Hmmm. I take it back. I think this resolution best explains my hope for TPG’s readers. In a society filled with stimulation, I long for us to remember to stop, appreciate simple beauty, and make room for quiet. Because I truly believe it makes us better people for the sphere of influence we’ve been given.
Will you make room for the art of tea in YOUR life in 2008? How? Be sure to let us know in the comments below.
January 3rd, 2008
If you are a lover of afternoon tea and don’t yet subscribe to Teatime Magazine, do order it this year. Filled with beautiful photographs and inspiration, I find inspiration in each issue I receive. This month I especially enjoyed the interview with Paul Burrell, the royal butler for Queen Elizabeth and Princess Diana for a total of 21 years. I found the tea faux pas and etiquette “no-nos” he mentioned particularly interesting; reminding me how far good manners have fallen and renewing my commitment to practice and teach them. Teatime covers the tearooms, food, china, and table settings involved in the art of the afternoon tea party. As a particular lover of the table setting articles and photographs, this month’s issue offered great ideas for chair embellishments. Be sure to pick up a copy! And if you’re a reader inspired to try their incredible recipes, I want to hear from you!
In honor of the New Year and January being Hot Tea Month, I decided to springboard off their list of resolutions for the New Year, an article idea I also planned. Be sure to consider how you can make these resolutions your own that, as the article stated, “encourage of deepening the ties to our favorite afternoon tradition”.
- Invest in a proper tea set. Teatime’s definition of a proper tea set includes the ideal of a matching teapot, sugar bowl, milk jug or creamer, teacups and saucers, and desserts plates. They also suggest a serving tray and selection of linens. Few of us, not even Tea Party Girl, own all of the above. But it’s important to know what you love and start where you can. I gave a teapot to an acquaintance a few weeks ago who was brewing her tea a cup at a time. My main resolution is to help even more women find what they need for this ritual they’re learning to love and appreciate. Do you read TPG and not yet own a teapot?
- Add a few new teas to your repertoire. I absolutely need to do this. I am in a tea rut. I delegated Christmas morning’s tea to Mom. We drank a rich, full-bodied pu-erh. I tend to drink what I sell locally and my bestsellers are the flavored blacks. It’s time to fall in love again. Any suggestions?
- Patronize a tearoom. I visited our newest local tearoom, A Cup of Tea in Sacramento last Friday. Open only since October, they are working hard to fine-tune all the many details of serving afternoon tea. The best? Their gift shop offers lovely gifts that depart from the traditional Victorian choices, a refreshing change. Also, having previously owned a catering business, they served homemade, tasty food. The worst? The tea choices are limited and they don’t provide a way for the tea to stay hot once on the table. Hopefully, they’ll work that part out. Look for tearooms that understand tea the beverage and provide excellent service at home or during your travels this year. And for the record, I do recommend A Cup of Tea if you are in the Sacramento area.
- Purchase and use new accessories for Afternoon Tea. This year I plan to leave behind T-Sac Tea Filters for a permanent silver tea strainer. I just need to find the right one. I still recommend T-Sacs for the easiest way to brew looseleaf tea.
- Embrace a new tea experience. As Tea Party Girl, I am definitely a fan of the English tea traditions. However, tea traditions have evolved in almost every culture. In my own backyard, a Japanese tearoom opened in 2007 on a local campus. Which culture’s tea ritual would you like to experience this year?
January 1st, 2008
Yesterday, James Norwood Pratt taught me to call tea the most affordable luxury. You may not be able to purchase much from Beverly Hills, but the boutique tea importer, The Art of Tea, provides organic, specialty teas “while ensuring the employees and the teas are treated with great respect.” I’m glad to hear it!
Art of Tea contacted me and asked which particular teas I would enjoy sampling. I asked for dessert teas. They are my best-sellers locally and truthfully, what this party girl consistently reaches for first. Finding dessert teas “treated with great respect” can be difficult (some dessert tea providers merely spray on artificial flavors) and I wondered what might come.
To my delight, I received four rooibos-based dessert teas with names like Caramelized Pear and Pumpkin Pie. As I type, I’m sipping their Velvet Tea, a chocolate-mint and vanilla-based tea. These teas complement our first rainy days here in Northern California. Truly, there is no way I would rather drink my daily fluids than with a liter of dessert rooibos tea. There’s no sugar or caffeine in any of them and it costs me just a little over a dollar to fill my one-liter carafe.
The key to rooibos is brewing it long enough with boiling water to fully release the flavor. Rooibos tea is difficult to make too strong. It’s easy, however, to make it weak. The first Art of Tea sample I tried was the Caramelized Pear (wouldn’t you?) but I only brewed it for five minutes. The family taste-testers agreed it was a little weak. The Pumpkin Pie sample, however, (my personal favorite) I brewed for a full seven minutes. A fuller flavor resulted.
Art of Tea also provides the beautiful blooming teas, one of the latest (at least to America) tea trends. My children don’t drink the tea, but love the experience of watching the hand-tied tea leaves unfold. Wouldn’t yours?
The Art of Tea sells their dessert rooibos teas for $3.50/ounce. That’s around .75/4-cup pot. Yes, Mr. Pratt, tea, even in Beverly Hills, truly is an affordable luxury.
Enjoy browsing their website, as I did and discover The Art of Tea. They offer tea sommelier training, great tea ware (including a travel tea press I may choose to acquire), and a tea-of-the month club.
Have you ever tried a blooming tea? Is it a regular choice for tea drinking? I’d love for you to share your experience in the comments. Myself, I enjoy serving them with meals as they add a wonderful display to the table.
September 20th, 2007
Since discovering my love for tea, like many new hobbyists, I set out to learn who else loved tea. My exploring led me to discover tea houses, events, retailers, and publications. This included the publication, The Tea House Times.
The Tea House Times and its proprietor, Lady Gayle stood out to me for two reasons. First, if you visit the website and sign-up for the e-newsletter, it is sent consistently. Information often includes tea-related interviews, events, and tour announcements. Wherever one might expect Victorian tea-related information to be found, The Tea House Times shows up. They understand that a viable business model includes strong marketing.
Committed to networking with lovers and owners of Victorian tearooms, Lady Gayle and The Tea House Times also stood out to me because of the business’ use of the Internet. The Internet landscape changes rapidly; its advantages to business constantly evolving. The Tea House Times promotes itself and others through link exchanges, using a blog updated a couple times of month, and announcing tea-related events throughout the nation.
So when I asked Lady Gayle for a complimentary copy of their first cookbook compliation for review, The Tea House Times Best Afternoon Tea Recipes, Vol. 1, she sent me one right away. Having witnessed her work to gather favorite Afternoon Tea recipes, I looked forward to seeing the result. For a number of months, the e-newsletter allowed anyone interested to submit up to three recipes to the cookbook. Again, an advantage to Tea House Times and for those who wanted to take advantage of a publicity opportunity.
A simple spiral-bound format, the book opens with five one-page articles covering the basic and helpful information tea-drinkers need, i.e. about storage, the difference between Afternoon/Low tea and High Tea, Tea and Health facts, etc. The chapters are organized by the usual courses an afternoon tea takes: soups, salads, finger sandwices and bite size treats, scones, and sweets. The last two chapters cover miscellaneous recipes (like a Key Lime Curd by The Main Street Mill Historic Tea Room I look forward to trying) and an Afternoon Tea for Children. The book scatters tea quotes throughout as well, courtesy of Lady Dawnya of Tea Radio.
I found the chapter on Afternoon Tea for Children the most helpful, especially the section on Fast Fancy Finger Food from Victoria’s Traveling Tea Party. I knew my six-year old daughter would find herself in pastel heaven if I provided the suggestions for dipping, sprinkling, and sparkling marshmallows, graham crackers, and pretzels, for example. I found the information on storage, make-ahead options, etc. helpful.
Many tearooms I visit provide their own spiral-bound cookbooks. I like this one better because
- It brings the perspectives of a number of tea business owners and lovers instead of only one (and some of the recipes are remarkedly easy, chosen by hard-working tearoom owners, no doubt).
- It’s written with vision for networking. Each entry connects the reader with the recipe-submitter, including a website where applicable and plenty of information about Tea House Times. Again, Lady Gayle’s goals seem to include helping others while promoting her business, too.
On the downside, I find the Tea House Times website very cluttered and difficult to sort out the info I’m interested in. And you all remember how I feel about clutter! For example, I can’t send you to a specific link to purchase the cookbook, just their gift shoppe and encourage you to scroll. But I recommend this collection (if you can find it on the site!) for easy tea-related food options. Interested?
P.S. I receive no commission if you purchase this book, just my freebie ;-).
September 11th, 2007
