A cup of tea & reflections on the Titanic

Every April 15, the news seems to mention the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, and this year I've been thinking about it even more. When a friend was sorting out her late mother's belongings recently, one of the items she passed along to me was this lovely old worn but still readable book, "Sinking of the Titanic," which I was surprised to see was actually published the same year as the tragedy, 1912.

So I sipped some tea and perused the pages of this melodramatic book that was "compiled from soul stirring stories told by eye witnesses of this terrible horror of the briny deep." Like many of you, I imagine, I've read books and seen movies about Titanic, including the 1997 one with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet that had all those great tea scenes. And with each passing year we hear new stories of mementos found, of more memories shared. If you're a Titanic buff as well, I thought you might enjoy some of the photos from this book.

Assam1860 tea, straight from the tea gardens!

About a year ago, I first learned of a new tea company, Assam1860, named after the year in which their tea bushes were first planted. They sent me some samples of their loose and bagged tea "fresh from our family's 150-year-old tea gardens in the Moran Circle of Assam." It was a nice, brisk black tea that I very much enjoyed. Their tea officially launched in November of 2015, and when they recently asked if they could send samples of the finalized tea package, I said sure.

I love that the box has graphics of a tea garden in India, which is perfect for this company!

When I opened the box, I was pleasantly surprised to find individually wrapped tea bags in attractively designed glassine type packages. I *love* the graphic of an Indian woman plucking tea leaves!

And I was also surprised that the square tea bag is a silken tea bag. Happily, the tea was the nice brisk black tea I recalled from a year ago, and I steeped mine on the low end (just three minutes) since I don't like a super strong tea. It had only slight astringency, so this is definitely going to be my go-to tea in the mornings for a while. While I had already known I enjoyed their tea, I have to say I'm impressed with the design of Assam1860's tea packaging, and if you'd like to learn more about the tea yourself, click here. For the first five people who leave a comment today, I'll send you a sample tea bag to try yourself. How's that?

Peach Oolong from Adagio Teas

I know from experience that tea certainly doesn't have to be colorful to taste good, but it's an extra delight to me when the tea is as pretty as it is tasty! This tea gets its color from apple pieces, marigold flowers and apricots.

The blend is Peach Oolong, one of the free samples I recently received from Adagio Teas, and as the name makes clear, it's blended with oolong tea and natural peach flavor as well. As soon as I opened the packet, I inhaled deeply and got a fine whiff of peachy goodness.

Now I've rarely met a peach tea I didn't like, but this Peach Oolong had a richness that I'm sure comes from the oolong tea leaves, and there was just enough of the slightly sweet peach flavor to let me know it was there without being overpowering. Definitely a fan of this sophisticated Peach Oolong, and if you're interested as well, click here.

A tale of two teacups

Last summer, I bought one of my favorite teacups of recent years at my local T.J. Maxx. It had roses on the teacup, handwriting and swirly graphics on the pretty blue saucer, and it was my gift to myself when I got hired to write a monthly tea column for The Coweta Shopper. Handwriting … teacup … it was the perfect treat to celebrate, right?

Then a few weeks ago, in a feat I probably couldn't duplicate if you paid me, I was getting up from my spot on the sofa one day when I jostled the table lamp next to it. The finial fell off and plopped right on the back edge of the teacup sitting there, chipping it, and I was heartbroken. I realize I could still have used the teacup, but there's no sense drinking out of something chipped when I have, oh, one or two other teacups around here I could choose from.

To my delight, I was at the HomeGoods store in Marietta on Saturday when I found the same cup and saucer in pink, and when I got home with it, I realized the cup is exactly the same as the one with the blue set, so now I have a favorite teacup and saucer back! Have you ever broken a teacup in a strange way like that, such as knocking a finial off a lamp? I'd love to think I wasn't alone in the klutz department!

A review: Adagio Teas' "personalitea teapot"

While I've enjoyed many Adagio teas over the years, I had never tried any of their teawares, and when recently offered the opportunity to choose some things for review, I selected this pretty pink teapot and infuser! The only other teapot I've tried with a built-in infuser was a glass teapot I picked up at an antique mall, and I didn't really like the way it worked. I was eager to see how this one would fare.

They call this 24-ounce, 5-1/2-inch-diameter model their "personalitea teapot," and I think it's a great description. This teapot reminds me of old-fashioned Fiestaware, and for some reason I am drawn to teapots where the lids sit down in the opening like this. (I don't see very many in this style, but I do like them.)

I was also pleased to note that the infuser is a very fine mesh infuser. The tea I sampled (which I'll review later in the week) was a fruity blend with lots of bits and pieces of things floating around in there. So how did the infuser teapot work?

As you can see here, only a few tiny particles remain in my teacup, so the mesh infuser performed quite well. I'm most happy to be able to recommend this particular teapot, especially since the $14 price makes it quite an affordable one. If you'd like to read more about this teapot, or see it in other colors, click here.

My Country, 'Tis of Tea — Indiana

Ever wonder why Indiana is known as the Hoosier State? Well, you’ll have to keep wondering, because apparently the exact origin of the term “hoosier” has been lost to time. According to the Indiana Historical Society, "No one seems to know how the word ‘Hoosier' came to be. Some people think it was meant to mock Indiana as a rough, backwoods and backwards place. Others think that early settlers used the term with pride to describe themselves as a hearty, courageous group.” I was amused to learn that one legend—which is false, alas—is that the question “Who’s your (relative)?” was shortened to just “Hoosier.” Ha! So while we may never know what Hoosier really means, I can tell you that Indiana has a few teatime connections that are indeed known!

• Certainly one of the most legendary tearooms ever to operate in Indiana was the tearoom at L.S. Ayres department store in Indianapolis. The tearoom was in business from 1905-1990, and when it closed, the tearoom reopened at the Indiana State Museum. The tearoom appears in this photo as it looked around the time of its opening (photo courtesy of the Indiana Historical Society). Now I pass right through downtown Indianapolis on my way to see my stepdaughter and her family in Wisconsin each year, but I’d never been able to time things just right to pay a visit to the recreated L.S. Ayres tearoom. I've apparently waited too late, as now it's available only to groups of 15 or more by reservation, and I can't think of a good reason to get 14 friends to go to Indianapolis with me! Fortunately, a cookbook of the tearoom’s famous recipes was published, with copies still available regularly on eBay, and I have made and enjoyed the famous Chicken Velvet Soup. 

• Many tea lovers like old glassware, and plenty of it hails from Indiana. Ever heard of Indiana Glass Company of Dunkirk, Indiana? The company traces its beginnings to 1897 and produced a glassware pattern called Avocado, considered by some to be the first real pattern of Depression glass. You may also have heard of Cracked Ice, Pyramid, Horseshoe, Pineapple and Floral, Old English, and Sandwich patterns. My favorite Indiana Glass pattern, though, is without a doubt the Art Deco Tea Room pattern, the teacup and saucer of which are shown here. If you’d like to learn more about Indiana Glass, there are lots of articles online, and I found this website most helpful with its extensive history and listings.

• Finally, I learned that like most states, Indiana has an active tea community and is regularly hosting teas at lovely and often historic venues around the state. If any Hoosiers happen to be reading, I came across a notice about a May 7 Mother’s Day Tea in Indianapolis, an event sponsored by the Hoosier Chapter of the Victorian Society of America. Now doesn’t that sound like fun? The tea will be held from 1-3 p.m. that Saturday at the James Whitcomb Riley Museum Home in Indianapolis. Speaker Doreen Squire Ficara will speak on the Authentic English Tea, will display her own English silver tea pieces, and some lucky guest will win a piece of English silver. Email HoosierVSA@gmail.com for more information.

Twinings Strawberry & Raspberry Tea

My quest for new fruity teas continues, and I recently purchased a new one I absolutely love. I found it by accident one day during some browsing on Amazon. (Amazon Prime memberships are both a blessing and a curse, aren't they? Two-day shipping? I'm so there!) Anyway, I saw this Strawberry & Raspberry Tea from Twinings for $6 a box and said yes, please.

Only after I placed my order did I realize it wouldn't be here in two days, because I was ordering it from elsewhere, and I had a good guess where elsewhere was when I saw that the delivery method was Royal Mail! When the package arrived, much quicker than expected, I was surprised to open the box and find tea bags that looked like this, since I thought all Twinings teas were individually wrapped. I *prefer* that they be individually wrapped, but oh well. The good news is, this tea is terrific, with a distinct strawberry taste I very much enjoy! I've been drinking it both hot and iced for the past week. In fact, I experimented by dropping a tea bag into a glass, filling it with ice, adding cold water, and seeing what happened. I had a fruity glass of iced tea in just about fifteen minutes!

So the taste is a winner in the fruity tea category, and of course I have to love anything that's labeled "By Appointment to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II." Have any of you tried this tea? I'm wondering if it's available at grocers here in the US and I just haven't run across it yet.

My April tea column in The Coweta Shopper

For those of you who don't live in my neck of the woods, here is a link to my latest Coweta Shopper column. This time the topic is tea sandwiches, and I hope you enjoy it!

Will Torrent's "Afternoon Tea at Home"

Having pretty much run out of bookshelf space at my house, I've taken to getting more books in eBook version and reading them on my Kindle. But recently I found myself lusting over a new book I saw on my friend Linda's blog, so I used some leftover Amazon gift card credits to purchase the lovely "Afternoon Tea at Home" by Will Torrent.

Torrent is a pastry chef in London, and as I've learned on trips there, the Brits take their pastries very, very seriously. I go into my little grocery store bakery now and just sigh. Croissants. Doughnuts. Crullers. The usual. Not in this book! How can you not look at one of these "Fruited Scones" from The Ritz London and not want to immediately slather one or two in clotted cream and go to town? (I do hope photographer Matt Russell is happy with himself for all the calories that will be consumed across the globe thanks to his utterly gorgeous images!)

This book is brimming with fun and fresh flavors for new teatime treats. Chocolate and Espresso "Curd." Passionfruit Meringue Tarts. Rhubarb and Custard Macarons. Coffee and Caramel Éclairs. And check out these Earl Grey and Lemon Teapots, cookies (or "biscuits," as they say) embossed with a design from a textured silicone rolling mat. (I can tell I'll be looking for one of these soon.) Sometimes, all the inspiration I need to get in a teatime mood can be found in a charming new tea cookbook!

Adagio's Cherry Green Tea

A lot of companies offer to send bloggers tea samples in hopes of a review, and I almost always say yes and hope I'll like whatever I'm sent. I often do, so this hasn't been a problem, but I recently received an even more unusual offer: Adagio Teas wanted to know if I'd be willing to accept an account credit to choose and review whatever I liked. Um, yes, please! I've long enjoyed Adagio's tea, and I was quite happy to be able to sample some new things, especially since I could choose them myself!

When my nice big box of goodies arrived last week, the first thing I chose to sample was this Cherry Green tea.

I don't know about you, but when spring gets here, my palate turns to lighter everything: lighter meals, lighter teas, and lately I've been hankering to try new fruity teas. This green tea is flavored with ripe cherries, and while I've had cherry-flavored teas before, I've found some of them skimp on the cherry flavor. This one was terrific, with just the right blend of green tea and cherry flavors, neither overpowering the other. I happen to think the loose tea is just plain pretty too! I like to make green tea myself so I can be sure it's not bitter (and this one wasn't). That combined with the rich taste of the cherries made this tea a winner, and I can't wait to try more of the new goodies from Adagio Teas! (Click here if you'd like to try the Cherry Green Tea for yourself.)

Spring tea trolley

It was time to give the tea trolley a new look, so this weekend, inspired by all the beautiful blossoms in nature, I pulled out some chintz and rose pieces and went for a frilly floral look! I suppose I will never tire of admiring the queen of flowers.

Here's what the finished trolley looks like.

My Royal Winton Welbeck teapot almost always comes out in spring.

And I also love this pink rose teapot and sugar bowl that my late mother found for me. (Still looking for the creamer, cheap!)

My vintage topper was lovingly embroidered, probably years ago, by someone who liked tea, since she (I'm assuming it was a she) embroidered a teapot …

And teacups!

My dainty little rose figurine belonged to the mother of my friend Ann, who passed it along to me a few weeks ago.

And my $10 Mary Engelbreit teacup stand remains one of my best antique mall finds ever. I love the fact that few of these things actually match, yet they all play well together!

My Country, 'Tis of Tea — Illinois

This week's focus is on Illinois, a state I appreciate for some very tea-significant reasons!

• When I hear of Chicago, Illinois, I always, always associate it with some of the most legendary tearooms in American department store history, the tearooms of Marshall Field and Company. I wrote a book about such tearooms in 2011 (and may write a second one, actually, because I’ve learned of quite a few more). After the book was published, I continued to acquire vintage postcards showing images of old tearooms. My favorite is this old postcard showing “a portion of the ‘Narcissus’ Room, Marshall Field & Company Tea Rooms.” (If you look at the black and white header up top, a portion of this image is what I chose to represent American tearooms.) I even have a demitasse cup and saucer and a nappy that came from these tearooms, which are treasured pieces from my department store tearoom collection! If you are someone who likes to shop and appreciates good customer service (a rarity today, I find), the thing to remember about founder Marshall Field is this: he is the merchant who famously said, when he overheard one of his clerks arguing with a customer, “Give the lady what she wants!” Amen.

• Have any of you read “The Devil in the White City,” Erik Larson’s novel-like nonfiction book about the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, Illinois? My husband actually got me interested in this fascinating tale that shares the creation of the magnificent 1893 World’s Fair alongside the horrific story of a serial killer who was operating in the same time and place. (Side note: I did not know until this week that Leonardo DiCaprio bought the film rights to this book, which is to be produced by Paramount Pictures and directed by Martin Scorsese. Interesting.) The fair was nicknamed the “White City” because of all the white stucco-sided buildings. I was also intrigued to learn of all the drama that went into the appearance of the fair’s star attraction, the Ferris Wheel, which at the time was considered America’s answer to the Eiffel Tower. If you aren’t too creeped out at the thought of reading about a serial killer, you’ll enjoy all the history, and you will not be surprised to learn that Ceylon Tea had a pavilion at the fair, as shown in this photo courtesy of the Library of Congress. And from that same World’s Fair, here is a photo of the Japanese tea garden. (Thank you, New York Public Library Digital Collections!)

• President Barack Obama came to us after serving as a senator from Illinois, and the president who is revered for leading the country during the Civil War also came to us from Illinois. Although he was born in Kentucky, our 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, was a lawyer in Illinois before he was elected to the Illinois Legislature, the U.S. House of Representatives, and then, in 1860, to the presidency. Many books have been written about President Lincoln and his presidency, but as a tea lover, I’ll admit to also having an interest in a much more frivolous aspect of his presidency, the china and silver he and Mary Todd Lincoln used. I highly recommend Beulah Munshower Sommer and Pearl Dexter’s fine book “Tea With Presidential Families,” above, which even provides a glimpse, below, of a Gorham silver tea and coffee service that was presented to Mrs. Lincoln as First Lady. Click here if you'd like to see some of the presidential china they used during their time in the White House (and read the parts about the purchase of it if you're so inclined; Mrs. Lincoln apparently enjoyed buying the china!). In ways both large and small, tea helps tell the story of our country.