An armchair visit to a "new" tea room

Twice in recent weeks I've come across the unexpected news of a beloved tea room's closing. First, I learned the Magnolia and Ivy Tea Room in Sandestin, Fla., where I enjoyed a pleasant "Beach Tea" last summer, has closed. Then today I got an e-mail informing me that Vintage Tea in Alpharetta, Ga. has closed. I was just there in the fall! And a tea room I read about a few years ago, the L.S. Ayres Tea Room in Indianapolis, Ind., is no longer operating as part of the Ayres department store, but thanks to the Indiana State Museum, plenty of the tea room's memories are preserved in the wonderful book "L.S. Ayres Tea Room Recipes & Recollections."

I ordered a copy of the book, now in its sixth printing, from the museum's online gift shop (www.in.gov/ism/) and have very much enjoyed reading about the L.S. Ayres store and its legendary tea room. The department store building was constructed in 1905, according to the book, and the fifth floor tea room was so successful it had to be enlarged. It opened in its new eighth floor location in 1929. Although the store closed in 1992, the Indiana State Museum -- in what I think was a rather brilliant move -- has recreated the tea room at the museum. If I'm ever in the area, you can bet I'll want to go experience how the Indiana "ladies who lunch" crowd once dined. (Plus, Steph of the stephcupoftea blog has said she'll join me if I'm ever in the neighborhood, since she lives not too far away. That alone would be a treat!)

This book is packed with recipes and adorable vintage photos, and there are also lots of entertaining tidbits about tea room life. Even the section dividers depict tea room memorabilia, such as silver serving pieces bearing the Ayres "A" symbol. I'm always sorry to see a tea room close, but how nice to see that this historic tea room lives on. If you're a fan of either old department stores or old tea rooms, I highly recommend this book!

The Tea Paparazzi

Tea topics are featured in so many magazines right now, I thought I'd share some of them in case any of you like to visit your local magazine source in time to stock up for weekend reading. First up: Diabetic Living. The Spring 2008 issue has a nice spread on diabetic teatime treats, including Citrus Angel Tea Cakes and the Chai and Earl Grey Custards shown here.

Country Living has a nice three-page spread on Majolica tea sets in the March issue. The one shown here, they say, is "one of only three known complete sets." I don't own any Majolica teawares, but I think I'd like to!

Is Vera Bradley "the thing" where you live as it is where I live? I love all those pretty Vera Bradley tote bags and accessories, and now Vera has a magazine. I got an e-mail saying issue #2 should be in my mailbox soon, but if you can find the premier issue (from Autumn 2007) at your local Vera boutique, there's a little piece on teacups which includes a peacock design cup and saucer that is part of Vera's new tableware line.

Food & Wine is not a magazine I've ever bought before (I'm a teetotaler, or should I say "tea-totaler"), but I'd read the March issue features tea, and indeed it does. This issue is a bonanza, with six pages devoted to tea. Very nice.

And last but not least, the new issue of Tea Time is out, and it's one I've been waiting for since it features Risa Provencio, The ParTea Planner (see link at right), one of the first tea bloggers I ever discovered. I have greatly enjoyed reading her blog over the past year, and she just seems like such a lovely person, the kind of gal who visits children with cancer and does face painting to cheer them up. She's often posted photos of the elaborate teas she's catered there in her bit of California, and I am always bowled over by the quality of her work. The seaside tea featured in Tea Time is just gorgeous. Even if you've seen the magazine article, you'll want to visit Risa's blog to see some fun behind-the-scenes photos.

So that's the magazine wrap-up for this week. Happy reading, y'all!

Southern Living & Yellow Peach Tea

When I became a newspaper lifestyle editor in my early twenties, one thing I quickly learned was that I had *better* read Southern Living magazine each month. Frankly, it wasn't even on my radar at the time, but I began to notice during interviews with women on any topic relating to hearth and home, it wasn't "Do you read Southern Living?" but "Have you seen that recipe for x in the new Southern Living?" It was simply assumed you would read it. Well, the recipes and articles were great, but I have always hated-hated-hated the design of this magazine. The name of the magazine was always in a bright yellow font, even at Christmas, and the very thick magazine was stapled, not perfect-bound like a book. (If this sounds picky, just imagine working with me on our own magazine each month!)

That's a long way of saying this: Southern Living, to which I have greatly warmed over the years, has undergone a redesign and it is GORGEOUS! The magazine is now perfect-bound, which means that the nasty stapled cover is a thing of the past. And the name on the cover is no longer yellow! I like yellow just fine, I just didn't want it to be that color all the time. So I'm very happy with my Southern Living magazine this month, which is fitting since I just got some new tea from their Southern Living at Home division. It's one of those home party companies (think Tupperware), but I ordered the tea from a co-worker whose aunt is a distributor. This is the Yellow Peach Tea, and it is so delicious!

Here's what's in the tea: "Apple bits, rooibos, raisins, rose blossom leaves, natural and artificial flavors, papaya bits, peach bits and sunflower blossoms." This stuff is like a garden party in a teacup, so if any of you southern gals see a Southern Living at Home catalog floating around your office, you may want to check it out. And just out of curiosity ... Southern Living remains *the* lifestyle magazine here in the South, but I'm wondering what the must-read REGIONAL magazines are elsewhere in the country. Any of you non-southern ladies care to comment?

Changing tastes in teapots

Isn't it funny how our tastes change over time? Years ago, you couldn't have paid me to take a brown teapot into my home. The other day, I would have gladly paid my mom for this sweet brown teapot, but she was redecorating and asked if I wanted this. Sure, I said. My living room will soon get new blue walls thanks to DH (he said last night he needs a new project so I should go ahead and pick out the paint -- yes!!!), and this teapot will match the new furniture and flooring we will then need to match the newly painted walls.

But I digress. I actually have only a couple of tea things on display in our living room, but I think this teapot could go great with the new blue and brown color scheme I have in mind. The teapot has no marks on the bottom, but it does have an interesting paint scheme. There is an almost iridescent sheen to the glaze on the body of the teapot. In addition to the metallic gold trim on the roses at top, there is what looks like an almost "puff paint" design that stands out when you view the sides of the teapot.

This piece actually resembles a couple of the teapots in a wonderful book I received for Christmas, "Antique Trader Teapots Price Guide" edited by Kyle Husfloen. The teapots similar to this one aren't especially valuable, but they do have a little age on them, so at least I got an idea for identification purposes. Some of the teapots in this book are just amazing, and I try to look at the book every now and then so I'll develop an "eye" for different teapot styles and makers. One of the things I most enjoy about collecting teawares is that there is always so much more to LEARN.

UPDATE: Happened to be looking on eBay and came across a new word tonight: Moriage. That's the type of decoration on this (probably Japanese) teapot. Who knew?

Meeting a new tea expert

Last week, my dear friend (and fellow tea enthusiast) Ruth called to let me know of an event going on at her church that she thought I'd be interested in. It seems one Martin Kushner, who has 55 years of experience in the tea business and is a past president of the Tea Association of the USA, would be speaking to some seniors at Newnan Presbyterian Church. Would I like to attend their tea party and hear him speak? You betcha! (That's my friend Ruth, above left, with luncheon organizer Ann, at right. Aren't they just having too much fun!)

Because we are "between" issues of the magazine and I'm not under deadline at the moment, this was perfect timing. I caught up with a few old friends I hadn't seen in a while, enjoyed a lunch of tea sandwiches, scones and sweets, and sampled several new teas. But I especially enjoyed talking with Marty. He obviously knows a great deal about tea, and he now travels around speaking about Tea and Health courtesy of Bigelow Tea. One of the funnier things he said was that, in his opinion, the Boston Tea Party's dumping of all those chests of tea into Boston Harbor was actually the invention of iced tea! I'd never thought of it that way. Marty had prepared several types of hot tea for us to try (I particularly enjoyed the Dragonwell) and sent us home with Bigelow samples and coupons.

Here are some of the loose teas he had on display. I always like it when I see people picking up loose tea and smelling it, because I think that's a surefire way to learn more -- and get hooked. And as a bonus, Jimmie, below, had brought some of her teapots to share with the group and very kindly allowed me to handle some of them, including the vintage Hall teapot she's showing here. This group of savvy seniors asked lots of questions, and I spent a very entertaining two hours with them. A fun way to kick off the work week, eh?

A new "tea shop mystery" from Laura Childs

I'll never forget the fun of first discovering Laura Childs' "tea shop mystery" books. I was standing in Scott's Bookstore waiting to interview an author who was there for a book signing. He had a long line of folks waiting for autographs, so I wandered the bookstore checking out the latest reads. But the line was longgggg. After I'd memorized the bestseller racks, I eventually turned to the shelves of paperback mysteries, a section of the bookstore I rarely visited. That's when I spotted "Death by Darjeeling." A mystery centered around a tea shop? Count me in!

That first book came out in 2001, and I have been happily reading the series ever since. I've even re-read a few of the early ones, and that's saying something. Despite the fact these are murder mysteries, they are what I call good clean reading, and I always learn a few things about tea in the process. The main character is Theodosia Browning, owner of Charleston's Indigo Tea Shop. She is a charming entrepreneur who always seems to find herself at the center of the civic and cultural life in Charleston.

The latest book, "The Silver Needle Murder," centers around the Charleston Film Festival, and Theodosia's tea shop is catering a number of affairs in conjunction with the event. On opening night, a famous director is murdered onstage at the festival, and as usual, there are lots of suspects. (Also as usual, I spotted the killer in the first few chapters, but then I don't read these books for the mystery, I read them for the tea.) And who cares who really killed the director? What I really care about is getting hold of some Silver Needle Tea: "Picked in early spring," writes Childs, "its dried leaves resembled white pine needles. Brewing yielded a pale yellow tea with a delicious buttery almond flavor." Looks like I'll be paying a visit to my own "Indigo Tea Shop" pretty soon!

The Tea Roses

Yesterday I checked the backyard rose bushes, which are leafing out nicely and promise to be full of blooms before too long. I still don't know if I should have left those rose hips on the bushes from last year, but I read somewhere that the birds enjoy munching on them in winter, so on they stayed. Today, however, I'm enjoying some Rose Hips Tea from the fine folks at Upton Tea, largely because I'm hoping the Vitamin C-packed brew will help me ward off the flu bug that seems to have bitten so many around me.

To learn a little more about the roses I so love, I've been reading "The English Roses" by David Austin. It's just a gorgeous, gorgeous book, but despite the fact its author is one of the preeminent rosarians in the world, the information is quite clear and easy to understand. For instance, I wanted to know why tea roses are called tea roses, and how they are distinct from other roses. Here's what Austin has to say:

"While the Hybrid Perpetuals were in vogue in late Victorian times, another group of roses appeared alongside them. These were the Tea Roses, which hold a position somewhere between the Old and the Modern Roses. They were a development of the China Roses, some of which have in their make-up an element of Rosa gigantea, which is a very large-flowered species with long, pointed buds. These qualities were passed on to the Tea Roses, which have a delicate beauty, often with the Hybrid Tea type of bud and soft colours and slender, twiggy growth. They also have what is known as a 'tea' scent, similar to the aroma from a newly opened packet of China tea." A tea rose is depicted on this tea mug, and when I start searching for new roses to plant this spring, I'll be sure to see if they smell like "a newly opened packet of China tea."

The Celebration Cup & Saucer

Back on November 30, I wrote about my "Tea of the Writers" blend tea and Wedgwood mug with handwriting on it. As a writer, I particularly liked the design on the Wedgwood Bicentenary Celebration mug, which featured a facsimile of the handwriting of company forebear Josiah Wedgwood. But I knew that somewhere out there existed the cup and saucer with this same design.

I had been looking for this cup and saucer pretty much since it came out in 1995 and I saw a picture of it in Victoria magazine. I found other mugs, coin dishes, a trinket box, but no cup and saucer. Until last week, when I got an eBay alert informing me that a seller had - at long last - listed the cup and saucer! So guess what arrived at my house yesterday!

It must be said that tea simply tastes better out of a pretty cup and saucer, and the new tea I had last night (from an unusual source; I must tell you about it) just tasted so wonderful in this set. Also, I just have a feeling my writing will get a boost from having a "writerly" teacup to sip from as I'm working. I told my husband I was so happy with this cup and saucer and the other chintz ones I found recently, I am "done" and will probably never have to buy another cup and saucer. He got a nice chuckle out of that, but we'll see!

London weather & a London Cuppa

When I got home from work yesterday it was all gray and rainy. What tea to have? I wanted a strong cup of tea in my sunny looking teacup, so I reached for this tin of The London Cuppa. I received it as a gift a few years ago, and it's just the oddest tea I've ever had.

I'd seen this tea with the cute graphics for sale at T.J. Maxx but never bought any for myself, so I was happy to receive it that Christmas. When I opened the tin, I thought, "Well for Pete's sake. Somebody messed up and put coffee grounds in here!" But always the brave tea adventurer, I went ahead and put some in a tea filter. And to my great surprise, it made a nice strong cup of tea!

The tin says that this tea "has been blended to account for the London water to give it a robust, deep, rich flavour, which is ideal to enjoy all day, every day." The website listed, thelondoncuppa.com, is not working for me this morning, so I don't know if this company is still in business or not. I did, however, find London Cuppa tea listed on some British tea seller sites. But go easy on the amounts; I used a scant four teaspoons in my 6-cup Mrs. Tea tea maker, and it was still quite strong and required a bit of cream. If any of you have tried this tea, I'd love to hear what you thought of it!

A few caddy comments

Now here's a category of tea collectible I have yet to discuss: the tea caddy. This blue one is my latest find, a vintage silverplate piece from England with a cobalt blue insert. The insert is some sort of plastic, not glass, which I actually like since that means I cannot break this!


It came with a matching spoon that hangs on the side, which will make this perfect for storing and measuring loose tea. I was also pleased the original hang tag was on the piece. The more "vintage" aspects, the better I like it. And although the tarnish shows in the photo, I polished this up afterward and now it gleams. Call me odd, but I LOVE to polish silver!


This got me to thinking about some of my other tea caddies, so I thought I'd show some of them. This aluminum one was probably part of a canister set, but I found it in an antique shop one day for just $3 and brought it home. It does have some spots, though, so I suppose I should look into how to safely clean vintage aluminum (soap and water didn't do the trick).


This ceramic tea caddy is a new piece that was a Christmas gift from my parents a few years back. It was part of the Songbird Garden collection, which was popular in gift stores at the time. Pretty, huh?


This is another piece I use as a tea caddy, but I know it was part of a vintage canister set because I have the set! My mom found this whole set (which I actually use for storing flour, sugar, coffee and tea) for 25¢ at an estate sale. As I've said before, my mom is amazing!


This wooden tea caddy is a piece I bought on eBay years ago. It's not exactly in mint condition and the lid doesn't fit tightly at all, so I don't store tea in it, but I like the look.


While my collection is more like "The Cheapskate's Guide to Tea Caddies," this little book, "Tea Caddies" by Noel Riley, shows you what tea caddies are going to look like in heaven. Inlaid wood, the finest gold and silver fittings, antique apple- and pear-shaped tea caddies and more. My caddies are nothing like these jewels, but it's fun to know these are "out there." So there you go. Those are all my caddy comments for today!

Everything's coming up roses

Every once in a while I get to enjoy a full day of Saturday shopping with my mother, and this past weekend it was a most fruitful day. My husband thinks *I* am a good shopper, but I am a rank amateur compared to my mom, whose latest great yard sale find was a full set of vintage white wicker furniture in excellent condition for $5! We usually head to her old hometown of Marietta, and we try to hit as many T.J. Maxx, Marshall's, HomeGoods and Ross stores as we can fit in.

This weekend, the great find for me was new teawares. First, I've long been in love with chintz china, and I could hardly leave a super cheap clearance mug, could I? What better way to celebrate the soon-coming Spring than with new designs of colorful roses. I also like the unusual swirly handle on this piece. It was worth $2 to find out if this would be awkward to hold. (Reader, it is not.)

And this inexpensive seafoam green chintz cup and saucer was a pattern and colorway I haven't seen before. I used it for my Sunday afternoon sipping as I spent a few quiet hours doing the final proofreading on the March/April issue of the magazine. Now, to clean out a little more space in my tea cabinet ...

The book "Tea Gardens"

It's a rainy, thunderstormy morning here in Georgia, but like many I'm grateful to see the rain here in our parched state. When I saw it puddling on the deck last night, I began to get hopeful about that small plot of land in the backyard where I'm hoping to tend a few plants this Spring. Toward that end, my evening reading (also read during the duller parts of the presidential debate) was "Tea Gardens: Places to Make and Take Tea" by Ann Lovejoy.

This 1998 book seems to have been ahead of the curve on the nation's love affair with tea, discussing as it does not just the how-to's of taking tea but the why-to's, such as relaxing and winding down with a cup of tea and a stroll through the garden.

The author discusses five different styles of tea garden: the English Tea Garden, the Japanese Tea Garden, the Herbal Tea Garden, the Cottage Tea Garden and the Container Tea Garden. You may, like me, decide you'd really like to incorporate elements from several of these styles into your "dream" tea garden. The book didn't give as much information on the individual plants as I had hoped, but it was a good starter book for anyone thinking of trying to grow a tea garden.

A "growing" passion for tea

I should probably warn you that I am getting into "gardening mode," and with Spring not far away, it's a good time to start thinking about growing my own herbs, especially those that can be used in cooking and for making tea.

These pots aren't that deep so the plants in them are probably more for inspiration than anything else at this point, but I've got some mint, lavender and lemon verbena in them at the moment. And aren't these teacup and teapot pots the cutest things you've ever seen? They're from England and were a birthday gift from a green thumbed friend a few years back, one of the most perfect gifts ever.

Are any of you gardeners? Do you grow your own herbs for tea? If so, what do you recommend? Inquiring gardener minds want to know!

An idea from the Celestial Seasonings Cookbook

Recently, I was looking for tea books online at my usual sources (eBay, half.com) and came across this "Celestial Seasonings Cookbook - Cooking With Tea." The book tells a bit of the company's history, and the recipes are some of the most unique ones I've seen yet for foods cooked with tea: Mandarin Orange Spice Meatballs, Cranberry Cove Beef Roast, Apricot Ginger Salmon, Harvest Spice Tea Cake, and dozens more recipes with yummy sounding titles.

But one sentence in the book really captured my imagination. The author was talking about preparing carrots for her kids one night and deciding to toss in a couple of Mandarin Orange Spice teabags, greatly enhancing the flavor of the carrots. She began to do this with other foods as well, and "Celestial Seasonings teas became the spice rack I didn't know I had."

Now THAT appeals to me! I don't necessarily mean CS teas in particular, because to be honest I don't have that many of their teas, but I do like the idea of treating my teas as a "spice rack." Sometimes, one fresh new idea can make the price of a book worthwhile. This was one of those times.

The NASCAR Tea Party

Wait! Don't leave! Hear me out! I know, I know, "What is she THINKING?" and all that. I have a good explanation if you'll just bear with me. You see, since the first NASCAR race of the season was Sunday (and isn't it pitiful that I even know NASCAR is supposed to be in all caps?), I was prompted to go pull out some old photos from the NASCAR Tea Party I created for some guy friends (most of them co-workers) several years ago. They had been making fun of my love of tea parties, as I recall, when some of them chortled away and suggested I have a NASCAR Tea. "No problem," I said. And it wasn't.

I will say that I can count on one finger the number of times I've shopped for tea party supplies at Auto Zone. The surly man on duty did not seem nearly as amused as I when I told him I needed red shopcloths (A/K/A, "the napkins") and silvery clamps (A/K/A, "the napkin rings") for a tea party. His problem, not mine, right?


The tea selection was easy and obvious (a famous blend I shortened to simply "Earl"), but the treats were, ahem, decidedly non-traditional. I used a recipe that had appeared in our newspaper and made Buffalo Chicken Cornbread Squares as the main savory. I can see by the photo I made some sort of finger sandwich on rye bread, but I'm sorry to report that memory fails me on what sort of filling I used.

A red shop bucket, embellished with a NASCAR flag, held chips for the dip. (And no, I've never served cheese dip before or since at one of my teas.) Brownie bites and sugar cookies were decorated with black and white NASCAR M&M's. Mini wrenches served as teaspoons, and black-handled flatware from the dollar store completed this tablescape's serving pieces. The "tablecloth" was actually a bit of fabric from my friend and NASCAR fan Bob, who got it for me on a tour of duty in Iraq. On race day I dropped everything off at the home of one of the guys and ran, and I heard that a good time was had by all.

And, I'm pleased to report, never again did these guys challenge my ability to throw a tea party!

A whimsical tea collectible

Recently I wanted a glass of iced tea and realized, with no small irony, that I was out. Oh, I had tins of Darjeeling and Chocolate Mint and Russian Caravan and all sorts of fancy flavors and teabags galore, but I had no basic, plain old tea. It was especially funny to me since just a few years ago, I had so many boxes of Red Rose Tea that I was giving them away to family and friends. But then, I had just discovered Wade Whimsies.

Do you know about these Wade of England porcelain miniatures? I'd heard somewhere that the figures were premiums offered in specially marked packages of Red Rose Tea. I went a little nuts, buying a box of tea bags every time I popped into the grocery store. It was worth it as long as I was getting a new Noah's ark figurine, I figured, passing along the excess tea to others. But then I got something like four lambs in a row, my family began to say "No more free tea, thanks!", and I decided my little tea-buying spree was over. Whether they liked it or not, Mr. and Mrs. Noah's family was complete.

On Friday, however, I was out of plain tea and bought a new box of the Red Rose. I discovered the Wade Whimsies have moved on to a new series, the Pet Shop figurines, and I got the horse. Happily, my compulsion to buy five more boxes of tea did not rear its greedy little head, so I do not anticipate a pantry full of tea this time. If you want to know more about Wade Whimsies, there's a neat website at wadewhimsies.com.

Why Harney is a Valentine's honey

Yesterday's Valentine's gift giving was such fun, but it wasn't without a bit of drama this year! You see, last week I had ordered some of Harney's Valentine's Blend, a tea of chocolate and rose petals. One tin was for a friend who's had a bit of a rough time lately; the other would be divided into individual tea-filter bags and shared with numerous girlfriends in cards and treat bags. On Tuesday night, however, I received an e-mail from Harney telling me the shipment was scheduled to arrive by UPS ... on Friday!


So, I dashed off an e-mail to Harney telling them how disappointed I was the tea wouldn't be arriving for Valentine's gift giving and requested a refund. The next day, I got a nice e-mail from a woman in customer service apologizing for the delay, offering a complete refund and telling me to keep the tea with their regards once it arrived. I thought that was a reasonable solution, but then came follow-up e-mails from both her and Michael Harney (!) telling me they were airmailing another shipment of the tea that would indeed arrive on Thursday! Long story short: both shipments ended up arriving yesterday, so I was sharing Harney's Valentine's Blend with EVERYONE this Valentine's. Can you believe that? And that Michael Harney himself was involved? Sheesh, that'd be like getting a personal e-mail from Martha Stewart telling me she was sorry my magazine was late and she was going downstairs to mail it herself. Mercy! (The tea, by the way, is wonderful! Can you see all those pretty rose petals? The blend is very smooth, and one I greatly enjoyed sipping all afternoon and evening.)


Other Valentine's gifties: A couple of tea-loving friends got Laura Ashley post-it type notes. These are mine, but some just like them went to the friend who gave me this sweet Victorian Valentine.


Here are the little fabric bags that were packaged up for the co-workers: tea, Hershey's kisses, some of those pink rose sugar cubes I made last week.


And a final note: For the friend who's had some challenges in life recently, I put together a bag of the Valentine's Blend tea, Hershey's kisses, chocolate raspberry cookies, and Dove's Cucumber and Green Tea bath products (soap, body wash, hand soap). I ADORE the scent of this line, and I got some of the new handsoap for myself. Now, it's time to start thinking about Valentine's treats for next year!

A Few of My Favorite Things

Valentine's gift bags with sweet Hershey's kisses
Hoping the treats will be hits and not misses
Teabags (for co-workers) tied up with string
These are a few of my favorite things.

Cards from my sweetheart, a silver/gold heart charm
How did he know it'd be perfect on my arm?
Wish I could spend the whole day sharing love
Must be a gift from the Good Lord above!

And I've got some ... secret goodies ...
friends will get around noon.
This day is one of my favorite things and I'll
tell you more of ... it SOON!