Teawares from the Diana exhibition

Getting to see the "Diana: A Celebration" exhibition was a wonderful treat, and tea lovers who visit can expect to find several lovely keepsakes available in the gift shop. My favorite, by far, was this pink and platinum teacup and saucer.

The lovely lady running the gift shop said I was her first customer and happily brought down a pretty pink box bearing the Althorp logo. She pulled out a beautiful teacup and saucer with a pearlized pink finish accented by bands and flourishes of platinum and with pretty pink roses on the center of both cup and saucer. The minute I held it, I was a goner.

Happily, the teacup is actually made in England, unlike so many of the teawares I come across these days!

To go in the teacup, of course, nothing would do but the Althorp English Breakfast Tea. I liked the tin with the old engraving of Diana's ancestral home Althorp, a design which was also reproduced on this tea towel. Most tea towels seem to feature a vertical design, but this one is horizontal. (I'm probably not going to use this tea towel to wipe up spaghetti sauce. At least not for a long while!)


The stringless teabags were packed into the tin, reminding me of the PG Tips tea I have enjoyed on occasion.

And how was it? Well, I don't know what I was thinking when I steeped that first cup of tea for five whole minutes. Have you ever heard that phrase about tea being so strong you could stand a spoon in it? Well, this tea was *that* strong. A little milk soon set things to right. Later, I resteeped the teabag for just two minutes and that was just about as strong as I like it! But stout tea or no stout tea, I certainly enjoyed my visit to the Diana exhibition and am glad I have fitting reminders of my visit. (For those who can't come to Atlanta, the exhibition shop is also available here.)