Hallmark's Tea Time Ornaments by Tracy Larsen

In January, an old college friend sent me a picture of some new Hallmark ornaments that were being planned for 2016, this time with a tea theme. Then last week, tea friend Donna Z. alerted me to the arrival of the ornaments and thoughtfully sent me a coupon via email. Since I just happened to be by a Hallmark store at the mall on Saturday, I made my first tea-themed ornament purchase of 2016, and I was so happy!

These ornaments by Tracy Larsen are the first in a five-part series, and I can't wait to collect them all! Each year's design will feature a teacup and teapot. And I don't know if this will hold true for all of them, but I was surprised to learn these ornaments are porcelain and not plastic!

When I got home with my ornament "Dreambook" from Hallmark …

I realized that perhaps I shouldn't have been so hasty about picking up my Tea Time ornaments and running. Turns out, there's also a miniature fairy with a teapot …

And a full-size Mickey and Minnie in the famous spinning teacup! So if you're into tea-themed ornaments of any sort, Hallmark has something for us all this year, I'd say!

My Country, 'Tis of Tea — Nebraska

So are there any fun tea tidbits to know about the 37th state to be admitted to the Union?

Of course there are!

• An 1888 photo I found on the Library of Congress website made me smile. When researching each state, I always type in the name of the state and the word tea ("Nebraska tea," in other words), and this is the only photo that popped up in the digital photo archives at loc.gov. The summary for the photo read, "The little girl to the right holds a doll and is displaying her toy tea service." That appears to be true, but wow, what a glum bunch of folks! The photo is said to have been taken in either "east Custer County or East Rosevale, Garfield County, Nebraska." If you could write a caption for this photo, what would it say? I think mine would be something like, "Great. Another day of the Pony Express showing up with no package of lemon curd." Your turn.

• My interest in old department store tearooms continues, and another of the ones I've read about was the tearoom of the old Miller and Paine Department Store in Lincoln, Nebraska. The store was founded in 1880 and acquired by Dillard's in 1988. The dish above is one I found online several years ago, marked, "Made expressly for Miller & Paine, Inc., Lincoln, Nebr." The 5 x 7-inch oval dish looks like just the sort of thing I imagine might have brought out a cinnamon roll or two to the ladies who lunched there. Miller and Paine was known for its cinnamon rolls, and in fact, a restaurant called Runza purchased the rights to the recipe and sells them today! So I don't have the recipe (and oh, I would dearly love to have it), but at least you can go here to see what the cinnamon rolls look like — or to order some!

• Regional teas and tisanes are always a great source of interest, and this week I learned that in Nebraska, there is something called PurpleBerry tea that is a blend of white, green, and black loose leaf teas made with aronia berries, which are said to be packed with nutrients and antioxidants. You can check out the PurpleBerry Facebook page here to learn more. A fun find!

A great new green tea from Teavivre

Taking another break from fruity iced teas, I decided to try one of the new samples I recently received from Teavivre, their Nonpareil Te Gong Huang Shan Mao Feng Green Tea. 

As soon as I opened the package, I realized I was smelling a very fresh tea with an aroma that reminded me of boiled vegetables. And I loved being able to see the fine little hairs on the tea leaves!

Tea is so full of pleasures. You get to admire the dry leaf, then you get to admire how beautifully it's transformed by the mere addition of some boiling water. And in this case, I then got the pleasure of savoring the rich, thick quality of this green tea, a smooth tea with what I call a buttery taste. I can't believe I once thought I didn't care for green tea, because a good green tea (or any good tea, really) is one of life's great luxuries, and this may well be my favorite green tea of the year so far!

July tea column in The Coweta Shopper

Here is my latest tea column in The Coweta Shopper, this time on my ongoing fascination with Blue Willow. Those of you in Coweta will find this in your mailbox this month, and if you live outside Coweta and would like to read it, just click here!

Twenty years ago, in Victoria magazine …

My old issues of Victoria magazine continue to bring me much pleasure, including this one, which, I realized, set me on a quest to find this very Wedgwood teacup and saucer bearing the handwriting of Josiah Wedgwood. I wouldn't obtain my teacup until almost 12 years after this issue of the magazine appeared, but at least now I know exactly how long I'd been searching for it! (Moral of the story: If you're looking for something, don't give up!)

The July 1996 issue contained so many goodies, I thought I'd take you down memory lane with me here. First of all, aqua blue glass canning jars are all the rage today, and you can find them lots of places, but I didn't realize Victoria featured one of the vintage versions (naturally) way back in 1996.

I feel as if I'm on a tea-spotting treasure hunt each time I look into one of these old issues of the magazine, and here, I found a teapot I don't recall seeing before, one the article said is by Walsh Trading Co.

But the teawares I loved most, clearly, were these teacups by Wedgwood, which from the get-go appealed to my writerly soul. I knew that it was a facsimile of Josiah Wedgwood's handwriting on them, but I did not know that ...



... the letter was originally penned by Wedgwood on Valentine's Day of 1774. So thank you, Victoria, for the lovely memories, and for inspiring the purchase of a teaware or two!

Tazo Chai Chocolate

After sorting some cards and letters over the weekend, I gathered up a nice stash of tea bags friends have included in recent months and started sampling.

One of the flavors new to me was this chocolate-flavored Tazo chai.

I've had Tazo teas plenty of times at Starbucks over the years, but I don't recall ever tasting a chocolate chai from Tazo before, and this one was great! It's a blend of black tea, cocoa, and chai spices, and it had such a sweet flavor that I would definitely consider this a dessert tea. After drinking so many fruity teas and iced teas lately, I found a cup of chocolatey black tea to be a delightfully tasty treat!

Happy Fourth of July!

My Country, 'Tis of Tea — Montana

Did you know that Montana women got the right to vote in 1914, six years before the country passed the Nineteenth Amendment? That's just one of the fun things I learned while researching tea-and-Montana this week…

• An article on the Montana.gov website says,"Montana’s pioneering legacy might conjure up images of a coffee pot always brewing to keep up with long days of hard work.  Sure, we love our coffee in Big Sky Country, but tea also has a warm spot in our hearts and regional history - and Riza Gilpin and Laurie Rennie are transforming custom-blended teas into a business success story in Big Timber, Montana.” In the article "Tumblewood Teas: Montana Success Story," Gilpin, one of the founders, notes her love of western history and shares that, when she began to research tea's legacy in the west, she found that "everyone had a great tea story, from sweet memories to stories about the treasured tea sets their families brought out to Montana when they came west generations ago." If you'd like to read more about these tea entrepreneurs in Montana, click here.

• "Butte, Montana. Tea Table at the Little Norway Knitting Club." That's the title of this 1942 image from the Library of Congress, part of the Farm Security Administration's Office of War Information Photograph Collection. According to some info I found at Montanawomen'shistory.org, Montana's ethnic women's groups gathered for a variety of reasons in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and they also provided "companionship in a strange new land, preserving and adapting ethnic traditions, and helping women become engaged citizens in their adopted home." And so the Little Norway Knitting Club gathered for tea. Look at the height of those cake slices on the left — yum! If I could time travel, I think I'd pop back there right now and say howdy. I bet they'd offer me some tea, don't you? 

• The most interesting tea-related news out of Montana, however, may well end up being the work of a Montana State University professor. MSU health and human development professor Selena Ahmed and other researchers in 2013 won a four-and-a-half-year, $931,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to study "how long-term changes in weather and shifting patterns of precipitation impact the quality of tea, farming communities and land-use strategies." Ahmed has said she is "particularly interested in learning how the health benefits of tea are changing and what management practices can best reduce risks associated with producing and distributing tea." Her research has the possibility of affecting how crops are grown not only in Montana but also around the world. Normally, a press release about a grant would make my eyes glaze over, but I read every word of this well-written one by Anne Cantrell. If you'd like to read the piece for yourself, click here.

The gift of a charming new tea mug!

Last Saturday, I returned home from a day of shopping with my aunt but with nothing to show for my efforts save a few toiletries from Dollar Tree and a great new book — which it turned out I already owned. Sigh. (Yet another reason I really ought to catalog my books and have a list on my iPhone or something, but who has time for that?) So when I arrived back home and found THIS in my mail from tea friend Michele, I was extra delighted!

I really thought I'd seen just about every design of tea mug in existence, but this is one I'd not seen before, and I love it! I also love that it was "Printed and Decorated in Scotland," since I'm told my ancestors came to this country from Scotland and Ireland.

I'd never heard of McLaggan Smith Mugs or Samantha Morris before, but isn't this backstamp just delightful? Yet another reason I truly love my new tea mug!

The suffragettes who burned down a tea house

I usually stick to more lighthearted subjects on this blog, so when I discovered something rather shocking on the Library of Congress website a few weeks ago, I decided at first that I wouldn't mention it here. But the images kept popping back into my head, and I thought good grief, we're all grown-ups here, and it's not like I'm posting images of dead bodies or anything, so here goes. I was looking up vintage images of tea gardens for another project when I came across this photo labeled "TEA HOUSE, KEW GARDEN, BURNED BY SUFFRAGETTES." While I've never been to Kew Gardens in London, I've certainly heard of the gardens, and I'd certainly never heard of this attack!

Here's another image of the scene. Are you as surprised as I was to learn that some early suffragettes in the UK were violent? From a little online research, I learned that one day in 1913, the orchid house at Kew was attacked, and then, 12 days later, the tea pavilion was burned down. Two women, Olive Wharry and Lillian Lenton, were caught fleeing the scene and were sentenced to 18 months in prison. According to a blog post on kew.org, "Kew holds no records about the women themselves, or their reasons for targeting Kew, but hints to their motive can be found in the Old Bailey court proceedings, during which Wharry said that she believed the pavilion belonged to the government."

I don't know why, but I am fascinated by this story. The website for History Today magazine in the UK had an article last year titled "The Weaker Sex? Violence and the Suffragette Movement." I am, of course, appalled at the tactics these women took, but then I read in the article about another militant suffragette whose “anger at the treatment of women on the stage, an industry where she was expected to trade sex in return for leading roles and allow patrons of the music halls to assault her in cabs and hotels without complaint, led her to become a bomber, an arsonist and a public campaigner for the suffragette movement.” The behaviors she opposed make me angry too, but burning down buildings wasn't any way to solve the problem. I'm going to have to do a bit of research to find out what the non-violent suffragettes in the UK were doing at the time. And I find it interesting that History Today said historians would balk at calling those women "terrorists" but instead would say they were engaged in "political extremism." Reminds me of a language debate that rages on today in this country.

Go here, by the way, if you would like to see an image of the tea house before the suffragettes burned it down. And please, do let me know if any of you were aware of this bit of history. Maybe I was asleep in history class that day?

Hibiscus Orange Tea from the Dole Plantation

My friend Susan is a generous soul, and the tea I blogged about yesterday isn't the only one she brought back for me from Hawaii. My goodie bag also contained this Hibiscus Orange herbal infusion from the Dole Plantation in Hawaii!

I love it when an ingredients list is short and to the point!

The tea bag looked pretty much like regular tea bags, and the tea itself was a yummy, quite juicy and citrusy tea. I enjoyed it hot, but I think I should probably try it iced as well. It had not occurred to me that Dole made teas (but hey, why not?), so I was delighted to discover they have an online shop where they sell them! If you'd like to try some of this tea, or another Dole blend, check out their website here.

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The gift of tea from Hawaii!

Last week I was at a Newnan-Coweta Chamber luncheon when my friend Susan handed me a bag of teas she'd brought back for me from her recent Hawaiian vacation. Out of curiosity, I first opened this pretty box of teas from the hotel where she stayed, the Ali'i Tower, which definitely gets my vote for "Best Amenity" since they provide "exotic teas" for their guests. Susan said that when she found these in their room, she told her husband, "Don't open that! I'm taking that back to Angela!" Now that's a true friend, isn't it!

I was expecting simply some regular tea bags, but that's not at all what I found inside. The rich scent that greeted me when I removed the box's plastic wrapper was my first clue that these weren't ordinary tea bags, and I was also quite intrigued by the packaging. This looks like little rosebuds peeking out, doesn't it?

It was, it turns out, 10 elegant individually wrapped silken tea bags, and I absolutely adore the packaging! The Sunrise Energize blend says it is "packed in Sri Lanka with pure Ceylon tea and imported ingredients." I guessed, accurately, that Sunrise Energize would be some sort of black tea, and it tasted like a rich, minty black tea, which I greatly enjoyed. Seascape Dreams sounded like a bedtime brew, and indeed it appeared to be a chamomile or other herbal blend, perfect for bedtime sipping. Wouldn't it be great if all hotels gave their guests elegant morning-and-evening teas? I could get used to this!

"A Scone to Die For" by H.Y. Hanna - Oxford Tearoom Mystery - Book 1

If you are a reader of e-books, do you subscribe to BookBub? That's a service that notifies you of free and discounted deals on e-books in your favorite genres. It was through BookBub that I learned of the delightful cozy mystery "A Scone to Die For," first in the Oxford Tearoom Mystery series by H.Y. Hanna.

Twenty-nine-year-old Gemma Rose, an Oxford grad, had been climbing the corporate ladder in Australia when she realized she wasn't enjoying life and decided to move back home to England to create a new life for herself. There, she sinks her savings into the Little Stables Tearoom in the Cotswolds village of Meadowford-on-Smythe. Assisted by her talented baker, Fletcher, and her dear friend Cassie, Gemma seems to be making a go of it, earning favor with the locals as well as the many tourists who pop by.

One day, a group of American tourists visit the tearoom, and one American guest nearly drives her to distraction with his rudeness. He snaps his fingers to call for attention, is loud and obnoxious, and even makes a grab for Cassie before leaving the tearoom. The rude American—and Gemma is quick to note he is the exception and not the rule—is found the next morning sitting outside the tearoom, dead. Naturally, Gemma finds herself right in the middle of the search for the man's murderer, an investigation that is further complicated for her when one of the detectives turns out to be an old flame.

Like the best cozies, this one kept me guessing who the killer was, with plenty of red herrings thrown in to keep things interesting. Hanna is particularly adept at crafting likable characters and a strong sense of place. I learned some new things about Oxford, and I could practically taste the Chelsea buns as, under the tutelage of Fletcher, she "kneaded the sticky dough and then spread it out and sprinkled the cinnamon, raisins, currants, and rich muscovado sugar across the surface."

While I've visited several English tearooms, I've yet to visit the Cotswalds. Until I can get there, I'm quite happy to have discovered a charming new cozy mystery series that will allow me to take tea in the Cotswalds at my leisure. If you decide to read the book for yourself, I'd love to hear what you think!

My Country, 'Tis of Tea — Missouri

When I think of Missouri, I think of Silver Dollar City in Branson, a town I visited on vacation many years ago. So Missouri has an Ozark town that's famous for its many country music performers, but what else?

• One historic event I associate with Missouri is its hosting of the St. Louis World's Fair back in 1904. When I looked on the Library of Congress website, I found this image with the description: "Japan in America — pretty maids in garden before a Japanese tea-house, World's Fair, St. Louis, U.S.A." Did you know that these "world's fair" events are still going on? I thought they were a thing of the past until I looked here and saw that this year's is in Turkey. Who knew?

• When I wrote about my vintage tearoom postcards a couple of years ago, one of the ones I shared was this one from the McDonald Tea Room in Gallatin, Missouri. I had often seen black-and-white postcards of the tea room but never a color one. If you look at the unusual ceiling, you may realize that this tearoom actually began life as a hardware store! This very week, I came across an article about a newer Missouri tearoom in an intriguing space, and it is here. Cheers to Missouri for thinking outside the box with its tearooms!

• I have made a lot of recipes from old tearoom cookbooks over the years, and one of my all-time favorites (and one of the easiest!) comes from a tearoom in Missouri. It's this Quick 'n Easy Pecan Penuche (pronounced "pə-ˈnü-chē") from Barb's Country Tea Room and Yankee Peddlers in Osage Beach, Missouri (recipe is here). I may have to make some more of this fudge-like treat soon, because just thinking about it has me drooling!

Sherry R. wins a copy of "Dainty Dining"!

The winner of the "Dainty Dining" book giveaway is Sherry R. in Pennsylvania, who says she loves anything tea-related and is happy to add this book to her collection! If you'll send me your snail mail address via the email button at right, I'll get this headed your way. Congrats!

We're still commenting on Constant Comment

This must be my week to celebrate fun tea bag packaging! This Constant Comment tea bag was tucked into my latest letter from Sandy, my tea pen pal in New York, and I was tickled to realize that the image on the front is from one of the original jars of spiced black tea that Ruth Bigelow marketed. The story goes that one shopkeeper told Ruth he'd been allowing customers to actually smell the tea, and he said, "One whiff and they were sold." Ruth began including an extra "Open and Whiff" jar of tea with each case, and the rest is history!

I love that Bigelow has recalled this important bit of their tea history on their packaging, and I also love that Sandy was kind enough to share some with me!

More teas from a tea friend in Canada

Recently I shared about that amazing "goldfish tea" I had received from tea friend Margie in Canada, and this week I got around to finally opening and trying three tea bags she sent me that were so pretty, I simply had to enjoy looking at them for a while! From Basilur, they included White Magic, a truly milky-tasting "milk oolong green tea" (a variety I'd not heard of); Strawberry & Kiwi, which tasted like a juicy piece of fruit-flavored candy; and the Exotic blend, which was a fruity, richly sweet tea. I enjoyed them all!

And yet I have to say, is this White Magic tea bag packet with roses not the prettiest thing ever? Basilur tea is from Sri Lanka but can be purchased on Amazon. I'm glad this tea is so delicious, because I think this tea bag packet is just the loveliest one I have ever received and I'd hate for it to surround a tea that wasn't worthy of such packaging! Have any of you tried Basilur tea? If so, got any more flavors to recommend? I loved the ones from Margie!

Some interesting news for Darjeeling lovers …

This is a screen grab from the NPR website yesterday. I was interested in the news that the last of India's Darjeeling tea auctions is going digital, but as I read on in this article, I came across a few other things that concerned me as a fan of Darjeeling tea.

According to the article, "there are new challenges on the horizon. Later this year, the Protected Geographical Indication for Darjeeling Tea kicks in. Like Scotch whisky or Parmigiano cheese, only 100 percent Darjeeling tea, grown in Darjeeling, will be called as such. As of now, about 88 million pounds of tea are sold as Darjeeling per year, five times what the Darjeeling tea estates actually produce. The new law will protect the Darjeeling name, but it's going to drive up prices by driving down supply, according to Jeff Koehler, author of 'Darjeeling - The Colorful History and Precarious Fate of the World's Greatest Tea.'"

I don't normally share a lot of "tea news" articles on this blog, but this one struck me as something important for tea lovers to be aware of. If Darjeeling prices are going up and supply is going down, well, I think I may need to stock up on Darjeeling!

Olay Fresh Effects "Bead Me Up" Exfoliating Cleanser

The Ingles Market in Bremen has been the source of some fun finds lately, including this new Olay Fresh Effects "Bead Me Up" Exfoliating Cleanser.

When I saw that this product contained "Essence of Honeysuckle & White Tea," I knew I'd have to give it a try.

Did it really have camellia sinensis as an ingredient? Yes, it did.

And as another famous cosmetics commercial used to say, "A little dab'll do ya." A nickel-sized squirt (enlarged here to show the exfoliating "beads") lathers up nicely and left my skin feeling clean and smooth, so I expect that my $7 tube of exfoliating cleanser will last me quite a while. I'm in love with the light floral fragrance, which is just heavenly, and the exfoliating beads were very, very gentle, which makes me happy because I can use this product regularly. Have any of you tried this cleanser yet?