Coming soon to a (tea) bookshelf near you …

I've said it before, but if I'm not editing a book or writing a book, I'm reading a book, and most days, I do a bit of all three activities. Occasionally, I go snooping on Amazon to see what new tea books are coming out in the months ahead so I can go ahead and add them to my Wish List! Among the ones I’m eager to read this fall is “Tea Sets and Tyranny: The Politics of Politeness in Early America” by Steven C. Bullock. “Politics” and “politeness” aren’t two words I would put in the same sentence today, so I’m very interested in a book that examines the role of social interactions that contributed to the coming of the American Revolution.

“A Catered Tea Party” by Isis Crawford is coming this August, and it looks like just the sort of cozy mystery I’d like. I haven’t read any of this author’s othered “Catered” mysteries, so if you have, please let me know what you think.

Now I’ve been a Cath Kidston fan for years, so when I saw she’s coming out with a teatime cookbook, I immediately placed it on my Amazon Wish List. This one comes out in September, and the preview on Amazon looks delightful!

Coming in October is "Prêt-à-Portea: High Fashion Cakes and Cookies" by The Berkeley. The cover alone makes me want this! Tea friend Nancy Reppert personally enjoyed this unique hotel tea in London last year, and you can read about it here. (I imagine this book will be on her Wish List if it isn’t already.)

Also coming in October is “World Atlas of Tea” by Krisi Smith, which “follows tea from the plantation to harvesting and processing to how to make the perfect cup. The book is illustrated throughout with beautiful color photographs taken in the field." I love the idea of a "World Atlas" of tea and can't wait to read this one.

So what's on your teatime reading list these days?

May giveaway: "Time for Tea" wall stickers!

I'm always searching for some interesting new tea item for each month's giveaway, but it's rare that I come across something I've never seen before. Recently, however, I found these self-adhesive and removable wall stickers at T.J. Maxx, and I decided they would be great for a giveaway! You could use them for a temporary decor for a tea party for yourself or little girls, or you could use them in your kitchen anytime, or if you've got a daughter or granddaughter with a tea-themed bedroom, these might be fun in there as well. I'd say you're limited only by your imagination!

I didn't want to open the package, but the back does give you some ideas for different ways you can use these. The stickers are from a company in the UK (next.co.uk), which is not really surprising considering the theme!

And here's a closeup to show a little more detail. If you'd like to win these wall stickers, just leave an "Enter me" to this post by 7 a.m. next Monday, May 23, and you'll be entered to win. (US and Canada residents only, please.) Good luck!

My Country, 'Tis of Tea — Maine

The rain in Spain falls Mainely … oh, wait. That's the wrong use of "Maine," isn't it? At any rate, this week I'm continuing my alphabetical exploration of tea in every state, and a number of notable items related to Maine caught my attention …

• Georgia peaches, Florida oranges, Idaho potatoes, and Maine … blueberries, right? I cannot even begin to think of Maine without thinking of blueberries and of my dear friend Ruth here in Newnan, who hails from Maine and is the first person I ever knew of in Georgia who had successfully grown blueberries. (The second was my dad, in whose garden I photographed the Georgia blueberries above.) Ruth says her Georgia blueberries are good, but she just looks wistful and sighs when she recalls the blueberries "on the island" where she grew up in Maine. Is it any wonder that blueberry is a perennial favorite flavor of tea lovers? Some of the blueberry teas I've enjoyed are, from top, Mrs. Patmore's Blueberry Scone Tea from Republic of Tea, Cape Shore Blueberry Tea, Inko's White Blueberry Tea, and Bar Harbor Tea Company's Blueberry Tea. (If you know of another blueberry tea I should try, please let me know!)

• Kennebunkport, Maine. I always think of that as the summer home of President George H. W. Bush, but in tearoom history, it was also once the home of the Old Grist Mill Tearoom. The restaurant opened in the forties and was owned by two generations of the Lombard Family, and it was an actual working grist mill that had been converted to a restaurant. The restaurant is no longer there because it burned down in 1994 "under suspicious circumstances." I'm thinking that would be an interesting plotline to explore in a mystery, don't you?

• Finally, I have to mention a fact that I did not know until a few years ago, which is that the Boston Tea Party was actually just one of a number of early "tea party" protests in our country. Ten of them are featured in Joseph Cummins's intriguing "Ten Tea Parties" (which I noted was on sale for just $5.98 in the discount section of Barnes and Noble recently), and one of them was in York, Maine. If you're interested in all the juicy details, as I always am, you can also read about the "York, Maine Tea Party of 1774" in this article.

An early bloomer

One evening this week, I was walking to the mailbox in the evening when a spot of peachy color in the front yard caught my eye. What is that? It was my 'Tea Clipper' rose from David Austin English Roses, which doesn't usually bloom until around Memorial Day! I absolutely adore this beautiful, fragrant rose, a birthday gift from my friend Deberah years ago.

She also gave me a pale pink David Austin 'Wedgwood' rose, which will be blooming soon.

And this hosta obviously isn't a David Austin rose, but I'm still so happy my 'Tea and Crumpets' hosta has come back to life. The deer munched it to the ground last year, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be able to enjoy some of these garden treasures for a bit longer this year!

Bourbon Black Tea from Elmwood Inn Fine Teas

When I arrived home from a Kentucky Derby party Saturday night, I had the most wonderful and timely gift awaiting from my tea friend Linda in Kentucky, and it was …

This tin of Bourbon Black Tea from Elmwood Inn Fine Teas in Danville, Kentucky! I had been wanting to try this tea, even though I've never had a sip of bourbon that I'm aware of (unless chocolate-covered bourbon balls count). You'd think a boring, middle-aged teetotaler (or teatotaler?) wouldn't be interested in bourbon-flavored tea, but I was, and since the bourbon in mint juleps is synonymous with the Kentucky Derby, this tea is the perfect tea lover's tea to enjoy on race day!

I'm happy to report that I really, really like this tea and have been drinking it all week. (There's no alcohol, so don't worry that I'm turning into a lush!) It has a smoky edge and an almost sweet quality that I greatly enjoy, almost as if somebody finally got the recipe exactly right for that Lapsang Souchong tea I find so offensive. So I'm enjoying my new bourbon tea very much, and now I don't have to wait a whole 'nuther year to get in Kentucky Derby mode again!

Note: If I'm about to review a new tea, I try not to read about a tea's ingredients until I've tried it so that I won't be influenced by the description. Here's what I just learned about this tea from the Elmwood Inn Fine Teas website: "The immediate notes are caramel and vanilla. Lingering in the background is a subtle hint of char delivered by a tiny bit of Lapsang Souchong." So apparently I do like "a tiny bit" of Lapsang Souchong!

The most amazing teacup card ever. Seriously.

I am always grateful whenever anyone takes the time to send me a birthday card, especially since I am not the best about sending them myself! And when I received a birthday card in the mail from tea friend Mary Jane last week, I certainly had no idea of the cleverness contained within that envelope. It was something called a "Swing Card" from the Santoro Company in the UK!

And when I read her thoughtful greeting on the back and folded the card into position, these lovely teacups started sweetly swinging!

I can't even begin to imagine the paper engineering that it took to a) make such a card possible and b) make it so foolproof that the recipients couldn't manage to bungle it when setting up the card.

They even designed the perfect background images …

And the clever teaspoon "suspension" for the teacups …

And I wondered if it wasn't easier to make a teacup than to make a teacup card! Bravo, Santoro (a link to their Swing Cards is here), and thank you again, Mary Jane!

Finding new bottled teas at Whole Foods

While in Whole Foods last week, I had to check out the latest bottled teas to see if there were any new offerings. Indeed there were, and I came home with two: from Cascara Tea and Charleston Tea Plantation. The cool-looking design on the Cascara Tea bottle immediately caught my eye, and then I was even more curious when I saw the words "from dried coffee cherries."

"This is Cascara, a clean and fruity tea brewed from dried coffee cherries, sourced directly from the award-winning coffee farms of Aida Batlle in El Salvador." This tea is said to be an herbal tea made from the dried cherries of the coffee plant, and it has only 10 calories per bottle and no sugars, so that's a plus. Now I know that true tea comes from the camellia sinensis plant, but I was intrigued by the idea of a tea coming from coffee. So what did it taste like? Sadly, it tasted like black tea that is oversteeped and unsweetened with a tart, bitter finish. Not a fan.

Happily, the next day I opened this absolutely delicious 16-ounce bottle of Charleston Tea Plantation's Green Tea with Mango. Mmm, mmm, mmm. It's just 70 calories per 8-ounce serving, and I felt like I was sipping pure mango. A lot of mango-flavored drinks taste like peaches, which I also love, but this one was definitely the real deal with the mango flavor. Ah. I’ll definitely be buying more of this tea when I see it in the store again!

A decorative discovery on Derby Day

Saturday evening marked my second year to attend the Hats and Hooves Derby Affair fundraiser for our local Communities In Schools program, a dropout prevention program that has been highly successful at keeping students in school and graduating on time. CIS holds just one major fundraiser each year, and Hats and Hooves is it. I know some people are most excited about watching the actual race on big-screen TVs, but I go to see all the pretty hats and decor, and the food is always delicious. In the small photo at upper right, you can see the "tea station," which I visited frequently to mix my own Arnold Palmers using the lemonade and sweet tea!

This year, my friend Susan, who loves to entertain, was there as well, and we happened to enter the room at the local museum where Hats and Hooves is held as the dessert table was being set up. Susan noticed that the display stand was actually two three-tiered servers with glass shelves placed across them, and I immediately said, "I'm getting pictures of this for my blog." If you look at the second photo above, you'll see the stands are just those simple stands like many of us already own. So if you've got two of these and can get three glass shelves cut to fit, you're good to go with a great new way to create additional serving space!

This is a photo of Susan and me from the evening. It was so fun to have my friend there!

And this is a photo of my husband, Alex, and me. He got lots of nice compliments on his new pink jacket. He says it is "shrimp" colored, but everyone else says "pink." 

And here are some of my other friends in their hats and fascinators, including, clockwise from left, the lady who made the evening possible, our CIS Executive Director (and my friend) Gina, as well as friends Carrie, Lynn, Candace, and Angela. Did you do anything special on Derby Day this year?

My Country, 'Tis of Tea — Louisiana

Louisiana is a state I love for many reasons, just two of which are that my husband was born there and I spent part of my honeymoon there! So are there any important tea-ish facts to know about Louisiana? Of course there are!

• Years ago, a friend gave me this vintage, unopened tin of Luzianne Tea for Christmas. I haven't thought of good old Luzianne in a while, and I must confess to feeling a bit dimwitted when I Googled "Louisiana tea" and noticed that images of Luzianne tea products kept popping up. "Why is all this Luzianne stuff showing when I'm searching for … oh … Louisiana." Duh. According to Luzianne.com, "Luzianne began life in 1902, when William B. Reily, who owned a wholesale grocery business, moved from Monroe, Louisiana to New Orleans. In New Orleans, he changed his emphasis to coffee and tea. By 1932, the Luzianne brand was established throughout the Southeast, as was its reputation for selling the region’s finest coffee and tea. Today, Luzianne is still revered as the gold standard of Southern refreshment." So Luzianne has headquarters in New Orleans, and if you visit the Luzianne website, it includes Hurricane Preparedness Information for its employees, quite appropriate, as we all know. So now I'll always think Luzianne = Luzianna.

• Lots of great books and movies have been set in New Orleans, and as a result of reading and viewing them, I often associate the city with its voodoo culture, which is said to be based on African folk traditions. Frankly, that stuff creeps me out, but I was intrigued when I found a photo of this "Bottom of the Cup Tea Room" on the New York Public Library's Digital Collections site. Does it surprise you that a storefront was advertising "Psychic Readings" in 1941 when the photo was taken? I guess it did me. But hey, even the psychics were encouraging everyone to join the American Legion, so there's that! The only other things I know about this photo are that it was sponsored by the Farm Security Administration and that it was photographed by Marion Post Wolcott.

• This screen grab is from the New Orleans Advocate, which last June published this article about the tea-growing efforts of Dr. Bill Luer of New Orleans. I was especially interested to learn he grows tea plants in pots and uses wine corks for better absorption. I also have made a note of the different varieties Dr. Luer is growing, and I'd particularly love to have a Louisiana tea plant for my own garden!

Teacup fairy gardens

Have you gotten into the whole fairy garden craze? I've dabbled a time or two but never done anything serious, but then one evening I saw an image on Pinterest that inspired me to create a Teacup Fairy Garden board, and ever since, I've been thinking of creating a fairy garden in one of my own oversized teacups or planters. A few days later, I happened to pick up this issue of Vintage Gardens magazine at Kroger.

And what did I find inside but this feature on "Furniture for Fairies," and it includes directions for how to craft a teapot for the fairies!

It's even got directions for making the fairy's teacup. So if you're into fairy gardens as well, I thought you might want to pick up a copy of this magazine!

My May teatime column in The Coweta Shopper

For those who don't live locally but would like to read it, here is a link to my new column in The Coweta Shopper, and it's my 500-word attempt to answer a simple question I get asked a lot — and I'll bet many of you do as well!

Happy Birthday to … me!

I know you're all too polite to ask, so I'll just go ahead and tell you: I'm 52 today! This birthday is going to be a bit different because it also happens to be the day of our Chamber's 31st Annual Golf Classic, and since I do some PR for them (and, to be honest, since it's a lot of fun!), I'll be on the golf course most of the day today. Happily, my birthday celebrations started early this week thanks to surprise gifts from several tea-loving friends, including my pen pal, Sandy. Isn't this stitched and hand-embroidered piece lovely? I was so thrilled when I opened my package from her and saw it!

And since I love-love-love handmade things, I was also pleased to find a hand-crocheted dishcloth and sewn and knitted tea bag cozies, as well as decorative flowers I can use for projects of my own!

The package seemed endless, as I also unwrapped a beautiful new bib-style apron with a garden theme, as well as some garden goodies for decorating. I'm pretty sure I know what I'm going to do with these, and it has to do with tea, so stay tuned!

And finally, Sandy remembered my dream of having a cottage at the beach and sent these lovely supplies to help me prepare. Don't you just love receiving such thoughtful gifts from tea-loving friends? I am so blessed to have Sandy as one of mine!

A fun freebie from Celestial Seasonings

After hearing from several sources that Walmart was selling Celestial Seasonings tea with free Celestial Seasonings lip balms inside, I had to make a stop and see if one of the local Walmart stores had them, and the answer was yes! (I was in Bremen, FYI, and not Newnan.) 

When I opened the box of tea, all I could see was the usual paper-wrapped stack of tea bags. "Hey, where's the lip balm?" I thought.

And as the little tea particles on the lip balm attest, it was right there in with the tea bags! That was a bit of a surprise. I'm happy to report that the Raspberry Zinger lip balm tastes just as good as the Raspberry Zinger tea, which I am drinking iced these days. I also got a box of the Peppermint flavor with a Peppermint lip balm inside. I've seen reports that other varieties of this tea have lip balms inside as well, so if you're near a Walmart, you may want to stop by. I think these $2.22 boxes of tea were my favorite finds of the week!

Cranberry-Pecan Tea Bread #2

Late Saturday afternoon, it dawned on me that I was supposed to bake something for my Sunday School class breakfast the next day. I quickly remembered that I'd been wanting to try a variation on the Cranberry Bread recipe I make at Christmas. That one uses fresh cranberries, which I don't usually have on hand in the spring. It also called for shortening, which I didn't have, and orange zest, and I didn't have an orange either. So I experimented with what I had on hand, and I'm happy to report I was quite pleased with what I'm now calling Cranberry-Pecan Tea Bread #2, the tea bread I will make when fresh cranberries aren't readily available.

Cranberry-Pecan Tea Bread #2

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons orange flavoring
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons boiling water
1 egg, well beaten
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup dried cranberries

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In separate large bowl, combine orange flavoring, butter, boiling water, and egg and mix well, making sure butter melts completely in the boiling water. Add dry ingredients to the liquid ones and blend just until combined. Add pecans and cranberries and mix well. Pour into 9 x 5 x 3-inch pan prepared with cooking spray (or use a parchment liner). Allow batter to stand for 20 minutes before baking. Bake at 350 degrees for 60-70 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. 

(The link to the original recipe is here if anyone would like it.)