Kate Greenaway & Tea

The British artist Kate Greenaway (1846-1901) is someone I first got to know in the pages of the old Victoria magazine back when it was in the habit of shining a light on women artists and writers. Greenaway's drawings were quite lovely, and when I got into crazy quilting in the early '90s and began to study the earliest examples, I learned that vintage crazy quilts would often incorporate a Kate Greenaway drawing as an embroidery motif.


Yesterday I attended my first Collins and Wood tag sale of the year, and though I left with several goodies, my favorite find was this tiny (4x4-inch) and thrifty (just $1) copy of "Kate Greenaway's Birthday Book," in which I was surprised to find several little tidbits related to teatime. (But why should I be surprised that a famous British artist drew ladies at tea?)


An inscription tells me the book was given as a gift for Christmas 1963, so it's at least that old, but I'm more impressed that the publisher is Frederick Warne and Co. If the name seems familiar, that may be because you've seen "Miss Potter" (which had lots of great tea scenes) and recall that this company published the Beatrix Potter books. Beatrix Potter, Kate Greenaway ... it's so nice when the historic ladies I admire all seem to share a love for teatime!

Hanky-panky and tea

Finally! I always knew there *had* to be vintage handkerchiefs with tea stuff on them, I'd just never seen any. I was even at a trade show last month and mentioned this quest to a woman whose company reproduces vintage hankies. No, she said, she'd never seen a handkerchief with a teapot or teacup on it, but it would be a great idea, wouldn't it?

An afternoon visit to Collector's Corner in Sharpsburg, and the booth of my friend Angie, of all things, turned up THREE! I always knew she and I like a lot of the same things, I just never knew she was such a collector of handkerchiefs. She has them very neatly displayed, and monogrammed ones are even in a notebook where you can flip through and find the initial you desire. But I was of course attracted to the ones with tea images, like this pink one signed Jeanne Miller.



And Pat Prichard is the designer of these dark gray and bright blue hankies. I got all three for a total of $10, and I plan to use them as "art" on my walls, perhaps in my sewing room. Do you like old hankies? If so, I'd love to hear about them!

A Valentine's wrap-up

If you'll permit me one more day of Valentine reportage, I wanted to share two treats from girlfriends that I just loved! First, my friend Deberah, who recently hosted a beach-themed bridal shower, brought me a treat bag featuring the sand dollar punch she used (cute!) as well as some heart-decorated bags, all filled with chocolate. Does that heart design look familiar? It should, because she "borrowed" it from that toile looking teacup I wrote about on Thursday! Isn't that a great idea?

And my friend Susan, one of the local "baking queens" I am blessed to call a friend, dropped by the office with a beautiful plate of Red Velvet Cupcakes. Now I just love cupcakes. The portions are just right, the shape is cute, and I thought her presentation of these was just so lovely, especially when accompanied by chocolate-covered strawberries!

And yes, I shared a couple of the cupcakes, but this last one was mine. All mine. Except that I felt guilty and decided to share it with DH!

So he got half, and I got half. Not a bad snack! So I had a weekend full of tea and treats and enjoyed every single bit (and bite) of it.

And a beautiful plate as a keepsake from Valentine's season 2009. Now, what are we going to be doing to celebrate St. Patrick's Day?

Saturday's giveaway winner is ...

ParTea Lady, and I'll get your cookbook in the mail to you when the mail resumes tomorrow! Congrats! (Oh, and yes Teresa, they still had a small stack of the books when I was at Scott's on Friday. All autographed!)

Tea at Seven Springs

For the sixth year in a row, my sweetheart has treated me to afternoon tea for Valentine's Day, and this year we went to a totally new (to me) tearoom, Tea at Seven Springs in Powder Springs, Ga. My tea friend Beth had praised this tearoom after visiting, and now that I have been myself I see why she was so impressed. This is a tearoom that did everything right. We had a short wait and were soon seated by a gracious hostess. The atmosphere was quiet and soothing and there was pretty instrumental music playing in the background.


About halfway through our tea, Alex said he believed the food was as good as we've ever had in a tearoom, and I had to agree with him. For our teas I selected the Earl Grey Supreme and he got the Darjeeling (from Harney & Sons, always a plus). Next came a teacup holding a serving of homemade vegetable soup (chunky and delicious) accompanied by a small cheddar cheese biscuit. Then, out came our three-tiered tray bearing a variety of goodies. The scones were large, round, powdered-sugared and chocolate chippy, with a texture we both found interesting: flaky but light exterior, moist and light interior. Fabulous! There was also a cup of frozen fruit salad and some fresh fruit. The sandwiches were cucumber, pimiento cheese (with pretty stacked layers), bacon and tomato on pumpernickel, and chicken salad on croissants. All yummy, and not a soggy one in the bunch. Finally, dessert! We had brownies with fudge sauce and a cherry on top, what I believe were white chocolate covered cream puffs, strawberry mousse in tart shells, and my favorite, raspberry cheesecake topped with mini-white chocolate chips. You will not leave this place hungry!


I asked if I could snap a few photos and our server told me to take all I wanted. I liked this huge teapot bearing a floral arrangement on the mantel.



There were about three other tables occupied while we were there, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, from a table of ladies to a young couple with a very well-behaved little boy who sat next to us!


The tearoom also had a very well-stocked gift shop, and I left with a rosy porcelain spoon, a necklace and earrings. Just doors away are more shops that might be of interest to tea-goers: a country store featuring primitives with a quilt section opening in early March, a consignment store, a used book store, and a store of country French antiques (named "Refind") that surely is one of the prettiest, most charming and elegant antique stores I've visited in quite a while. Of all the gifts my husband gives me, these Valentine's Day tea trips will always be my favorite!

Friday's giveaway winner is ...

Steph of Steph's Cup of Tea! Since I have your address already, I'll get these notecards off to you! Congrats!

Want to win a Newnan tearoom cookbook?

Let's end this week of giveaways with a really good one, shall we?

In the mid-eighties, I was the guest of honor at a luncheon given by some co-workers at Something Special in Newnan. I absolutely adored the ladylike atmosphere, dining in a historic home among so many pretty things and enjoying wonderful homemade foods. It would be years before I realized I had actually been in a real old-fashioned "tearoom," the sort of place that offered quiches and tea biscuits for lunch. By the time I fell in love with teatime, the owners had retired and moved away. Today, Something Special is still open to the public as a special events facility, but gone are the days of "ladies who lunch."

I did have the good sense to get a copy of the Something Special tearoom cookbook when it came out, and I treasure it as a memento from a beloved local establishment. The author and Something Special's proprietor, Martha Sue McCain, was back in Newnan Thursday to autograph her second printing of the book at Scott's Bookstore. The new edition of the book includes a chapter on chocolate, and today I'm giving away a copy as a Valentine's Day gift and reminder that readers of this tea blog are very much LOVED and appreciated! (All those sweet comments? You ladies are such sweethearts!) To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment to this post between now and 7 a.m. Monday. And Happy Valentine's Day, y'all!

Tea Tasting Saturday #7 - Bi Lo Chun (Spring Snail Shell)

Ramen noodles. That's all I could think of when I opened this packet of tea from Upton Tea Company. The leaves tumbled out and looked just like curly dark green pieces of crumbled-up ramen noodles. You know, it's almost like opening a present each week to see what the tea-of-the-week is going to look like, and it is really quite fun to see the variations in appearance!

Name of tea: Bi Lo Chun (also Pi Lo Chun), Spring Snail Shell

Category: Green Tea

Purveyor: Upton Tea Company

When purchased: January 2009

Dry leaf appearance: "Ramen noodles" is what first came to mind, but then I remembered the English words from the Harney book, Spring Snail Shell, and thought, "Ah, yes! I see where they got that!"

Wet leaf appearance: Pretty olive green, twig-looking leaves. Or maybe fat pine needles.

Steeping temperature and time: 1 teaspoon of tea, 180 degrees, 2 minutes (I got two more steepings from this tea, each steeped for a minute longer than the previous version)

Scent: At first I thought this tea smelled like steamed asparagus, but then I decided it was more like cauliflower. "Steamed vegetable" would be a safe bet. And interestingly, once I poured off the water and smelled the spent tea leaves, some very different characteristics emerged. First, it smelled like something roasted (vegetable, not meat). But when I came back to the leaves perhaps 30 minutes later, they had an almost citrus scent, and the roasted scent was completely gone.

Color: Pale peachy gold

Flavor: This had a nice (what I've heard referred to as) "mouth feel," although there was a little of that puckery, astringent feel after I finished the cup. It was very pleasant to drink, though, so the aftertaste wasn't a dealbreaker for me at all.

Additional notes: Again, I'm surprised at how much I'm enjoying these "pure" teas in their simple, un-tarted-up form. Very different from what I've always thought of as "green tea taste." Michael Harney's account of seeking out a Bi Lo Chun farm in China was one of my favorite chapters in the book so far. You cannot read this book without coming away with a much greater appreciation for tea!

Next week's tea: Lung Ching

Thursday's giveaway winner is ...

Leslie from Comfrey Cottages! If you'll send your snail-mail address to angela@newnan.com, I'll get this bag of Valentine's teas right off to you. Congrats!

Vintage Tea-themed Valentines

My latest collecting craze? Vintage tea-themed Valentines. My fledgling collection was found through Ruby Lane Antiques, Etsy and eBay, ranging from about $2-5, which is a great "price point" for these pieces.

Next year, when I have (hopefully!) acquired a few more, I plan to create a little vignette with them. Meanwhile, I am scanning these as I get them and plan to use them in making crafts. The heart-shaped "Tea-Sing" one was actually red when I bought it, but my sweet friend Deberah pinkened it for me in Photoshop so I could have it in a colorway I will actually use. I scanned all of these as high-res images, so if you want to download them to your computer for whatever use of your own, you certainly have my blessing to do so.

And these aren't Valentine cards, but I thought it would be appropriate to make today's giveaway a pack of cards. If you'd like these cheery Mary Engelbreit teapot cards, well, you know the routine by now! (And yes, you can win more than once this week, so comment away!)

The winner of Wednesday's giveaway is ...

Belinda! If you'll send your snail-mail address to angela@newnan.com, I'll get that teapot dishcloth in the mail to you. Congrats!

Bigelow Valentine's Teas

This Royal Chelsea "Tea Party" pattern cup and saucer is a favorite set I bought years ago on eBay, and I love everything about it: the name, the pink toile look, the shape of the handle, and most of all, the graphic of a couple enjoying an al fresco tea party. It's a perfect teacup to use during Valentine's Week, don't you think?

The Valentine's teas I ordered from Bigelow arrived this week, so I've been sampling White Chocolate Kisses and Sweetheart Cinnamon teas. To my great surprise, the Sweetheart Cinnamon is actually the one I like best, largely because of the apple flavor which gives it almost an apple cider taste. The chocolate tea actually has cocoa in it (which explains the powdery residue in the cup), making for a sort of hot chocolate/tea hybrid, which was interesting.

I tucked a sample of each tea into some Valentine cards I sent to friends, and I have some left over and will be sending this little teapot drawstring bag of 10 teabags (five of each flavor) to today's giveaway winner. If you want to try these teas, just leave a comment on today's post! Good luck!

Tuesday's giveaway winner is ...

Ginger! If you'll send your snail mail address to angela@newnan.com, I'll get "A Social History of Tea" in the mail to you!

And since several of you asked about the pattern, I thought I'd let you know that heart-shaped tea set yesterday is unmarked except on the bottom of the box, which says Made in China. I didn't ask, but I would not at all be shocked to find my mother actually bought this months ago at a yard sale. At Christmas, I thought she had one of her greatest lines ever when she told everyone, "If you got something you didn't like, let me know and I'll see if I can remember what street I got it on so you can go back and exchange it."

Karen: Great idea about decoupaging the hat box! Thanks!

A teapot that goes in the washing machine

Have you ever used dishcloths knitted or crocheted from that Sugar 'n Cream yarn? I've been making them for years now, and my family and I just love them. They look a bit large when you first make them, but then after you use one a while and toss it in the washing machine and dryer, it shrinks a bit but then bounces right back to become a favorite dishcloth. I've made very plain, unadorned ones, but last night I made this one, and it is also going to serve as today's giveaway!

I found this great pattern here, courtesy of one Stephanie Haberman, who is apparently both talented *and* generous, since she has provided this pattern free of charge. It was very easy to make, even for a newbie knitter like myself.

So if you'd like to make the dishcloth for yourself, visit the link above. If you'd rather not, and you'd like the one I made last night, leave a comment to today's post before midnight. And happy dishwashing! (As if ...)

Monday's giveaway winner is ...

Loralie! If you'll send your snail mail address to angela@newnan.com, I'll get the tea-themed notepaper headed your way! Enjoy!

Hearts and Roses for Valentine's

Ever seen a heart-shaped hatbox? I hadn't until I got this Valentine's gift from my mom!

She was bothered by the orange accents and said she meant to replace them but didn't have time. Considering what lovely goodies are tucked inside, I can tolerate the orange just fine! (Besides, fellow tea blogger Steph loves orange, which has given me a whole new appreciation for the color.)

These cups and saucers are the small demitasse size, and with the heart-shaped saucers and the heart-shaped cups and handles, I think this is just one of the neatest Valentine's sets I could ever imagine.

And now it's giveaway time. Today's giveaway is a copy of the perfectly wonderful book "A Social History of Tea" by Jane Pettigrew. I had a heck of a time finding a copy of my own when this came out, and paid something like $40 for it years ago. When I saw this one on the clearance rack at a local bookstore recently for just a few pennies, I had to get it to share with another tea lover. It's a hardback book with dust jacket, but the top cover of the book (which you can't even see since it's behind the dust jacket) has a slight "dent" in it, so this imperfection is why it was on clearance. Other than that, it's a new, unread book, and I hope someone out there would like to have it. Just leave a comment between now and midnight and you'll be entered to win. There's no limit to the number of times you can win this week, so feel free to enter every day!

A Week of Valentine's Giveaways

Besides the fact I'm a hopeless romantic, I think one reason I have long had a soft spot for Valentine's Day is that during my single years, which lasted until age 42, I avoided pity parties on Feb. 14 by doing something for others on that day each year. It was a great spirit booster during the (many!) times I didn't have a boyfriend and kept me from going crazy over what others were getting that I was not! So now I keep up the practice, often trying to surprise someone who wasn't expecting anything on Valentine's Day. This year, I decided to do a Valentine's Week of Giveaways here on the tea blog to celebrate! Today's treat is this sweet paperboard "envelope" of tea-themed notepaper, a tidy little 3 x 4 inches and perfect for throwing in your purse for notetaking on the run. (Or in a tearoom.)

I found these at Barnes and Noble the other day and bought several of them, one of them just for one of you! Here's the back of the magnetic-close "envelope," which is just as pretty as the front.

And here's how the notes look when they're opened. If you want it headed your way, just leave a comment between now and midnight letting me know you want to be entered in the giveaway! (The rest of the week I plan to write regular blog posts, and I'll have a picture of the day's giveaway at the end.)

Tea Tasting Week #6 - Jin Shan (Jin Mountain)

Too bad it's not time for the February 14 tea tasting yet, because I took one sip of this tea and thought, "I'm in love!" Although I *want* to love green tea (the amazing health benefits alone are reason enough), it simply has not been a favorite. This time I didn't use too much leaf, I didn't let it steep too long, and wow -- I can't believe I prepared this myself!

And one more comment: Any day now, I keep thinking, all these tea leaves will start to look alike and I'll probably quit including a photo with my Saturday tea tasting post. But this week, once again, the appearance surprised me. You just never know what you're going to find in a package of tea, do you?

Name of tea: Jin Shan

Category: Green Tea

Purveyor: Harney & Sons

When purchased: January 2009

Dry leaf appearance: "Wiry" is the word that sprang to mind when I opened this sample packet. Lots of deep hunter green little wiry tea leaves.

Wet leaf appearance: Medium to bright green, elegant tea leaves. And I picked up one of them and realized aha, two leaves and a bud! It was a textbook leaf-and-bud illustration!

Steeping temperature and time: 1 teaspoon of tea, 175 degrees, 2 minutes (plus, I got FIVE additional steepings from this one teaspoon of Jin Shan)

Scent: Again a vegetal scent ("vegetal" being my fancy word for "just a notch above grass-like"). But there was also a distinct note of something pleasantly fruity.

Color: Pale yellow

Flavor: This was smooth and ... rich? Or maybe "full" is a better word, but what I mean is that had a much more distinctive taste that some of the green teas I've tried before.

Additional notes: I'm not sure I'm properly slurping the tea as I first taste it ("properly slurping" -- is than an oxymoron?), so I swished it around kind of like you do when rinsing after brushing your teeth. I seem to get a better idea of the flavor that way. Oh, and this is cool: I try not to read Michael Harney's notes until I'm finished tasting, so when I read them after this particular session he described this tea as "silvery tips and spindly stiff leaves twisted like barbed wire." So I was right about that "wiry" thing! Cool!

Next week's tea: Bi Lo Chun

A celebrity update

So there I was, headed along Temple Avenue on my way home from work this afternoon. Suddenly, I see that perilously close to the road stands some funny-acting man in a white long-sleeved dress shirt and dress slacks. His arms are outstretched, like he's impersonating the letter "T," and he appears to be dramatically leading a group of young children behind him as they are about to cross the street. His stance says "I'll protect you, young ones!" and as I drive past the man, wondering what crazy fellow that could be, I think, "Wow, he looks just like Bill Murray." And then it hits me: It's because that was Bill Murray!

I don't know what he was doing (he was just across the street from where the movie is being filmed), but he was hysterical to watch. Oh, and I heard at lunch he had Gandy Glover run him out to Five Guys Burgers and Fries to eat the other day, where the counter guy commented on his amazing resemblance to Bill Murray. Gandy had great fun telling that young man who was in his restaurant.

And now, we return to our regularly scheduled programming ...

A mystery "teapot"

Earlier this week, I wrote about an antique spooner I own, and I was delighted to learn that some of you, like me, had been unfamiliar with these pieces. So I happened to learn what those are, but there's so much more I don't know, like the purpose of this little piece.

It was $3, a recent junk store find, and it's clearly not a teapot because it's so small (6 inches wide, 4 inches tall) and thin (1-3/4 inches deep) and has a faux "lid." So, for the time being I am using this to hold my small steel crochet hooks.

On the bottom is stamped in blue-green ink (or paint?) the number 52/133. I cannot for the life of me figure out what this thing is. A wall pocket? No, there's no hole for hanging on the back. A vase for small flowers? Maybe. But why would you have made a "teapot" so thin? What was its intended purpose? If anyone has any theories, I'd love to hear them!

This house knows tea - and celebrity!

Today I am wandering off the reservation and doing a post that has very little to do with tea, but I hope you'll join me anyway. This lovely house is the home of my town's former mayor, Gandy Glover, and it's a beauty. Homes like this are one reason Newnan is known as "The City of Homes." When I was a young newspaper reporter here 20 years ago, one of my first assignments was covering a women's club meeting held at the Glover home, and looking back at photos from the old article it appears they were actually having a tea. (My boss was the speaker, so I'm sure that's what I was most concerned about!) That same women's club is turning 100 years old this year, and they are again turning to Gandy's house as the site for a celebratory tea later this year. (The former mayor and DH are old friends. In fact, Gandy, a well-known local hunter, brought over a trap not long ago to help DH catch a possum that was terrorizing the cats. We ended up feeling sorry for the possum and let it go, but I digress.)

Anyway, Gandy's home is one of the jewels in the town's crown, and Hollywood thinks so too. The reason that vintage-looking hearse is in front of the house is that the movie "Get Low" is being filmed there right now, and the home will serve as the funeral home central to the movie. (If you want to read more about the movie, go to times-herald.com.) Stars include Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek and Bill Murray, and my husband snapped this picture of Murray on Tuesday. Assuming Bill Murray was here on Monday as well, that means he was in Newnan on Groundhog Day! (Tea friend Bernideen, like me, counts this as a favorite movie.)

If you're a movie buff, you might enjoy skimming this article that was in our "movie issue" of the magazine a few years ago. Coweta County is the home of an honest-to-goodness movie studio, Riverwood Studios in Senoia, and that's one reason a lot of movies have come here to film. We even had Jessica Tandy twice, for "Driving Miss Daisy" and "Fried Green Tomatoes." Not too shabby, huh! Now if they'd only shoot a movie about tea!

The gift of "English Tea Time"

Most of us in the tea blog world seem to appreciate tea-themed artwork. On Monday, my friend Deberah Williams (who is also art director for the magazine) gave me this 8 x 10 print titled "English Tea Time." Isn't it lovely with its soft blue-green palette?

The gift means even more when you know that the artist is Deberah's mother, the well-known local artist Merlene Smith! For years I have seen Mrs. Smith's artwork in exhibits sponsored by the Newnan-Coweta Art Association, so I am especially delighted to have one of her prints. (I am also very grateful to Mrs. Smith for raising one of the most remarkable women I know, and I say that both personally and professionally.)

The artist, I am reliably told, actually painted this piece from a tea set she owns in real life. I just hope it's as gorgeous as the painting!

Spiffy Spooners

The spooner is an antique I learned about quite by accident. There was an estate sale that had advertised some glassware and china, and I came across an unusual glass piece with bleeding hearts on it. I was really fascinated with gardening that summer and was positively infatuated with bleeding hearts. In fact, I had some not-growing on my porch, along with a few other plants I was busy not-growing. (I said I was fascinated with gardening. I didn't say I was any good at it.) At any rate, the piece on the left is the bleeding heart spooner I bought that day, and the spooner at right is a reproduction piece I bought new.


After buying the bleeding heart spooner, I was eager to find out exactly what this was. The scalloped top made it unusable as a drinking glass, and it wasn't large enough to serve as a vase. Eventually I found one just like it at an antiques store online, and I learned this was called a spooner. Apparently, this was a circa 1860 or so piece that once held spoons on the table, a piece used at a time when the Victorian hostess didn't always have a spoon at every place setting. But since I'm OK on the spoon front, I use mine to hold teaspoons and other tea accoutrements.

The newer spooner holds my spoon-style tea infusers. And the rose doily they're sitting on, like the pink doily yesterday, is one I made a few years ago. I found a vintage pattern for the rose doilies and began cranking them out. Maybe I'll make one for a giveaway sometime!

February and flowery teas

You know, I thought about just re-posting the last post and letting you think it was like the movie "Groundhog Day" where you live that same day over and over again, but some folks might not have thought that was too funny. (But, truly, isn't there something beautiful about watching a movie over and over again about a man repeating the same day over and over again?) But I digress! It's February, which means it's time to break out some February teas and teawares.

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, I am all about chocolates, hearts and pink roses. The cup and saucer here is a set I found many years ago on eBay, and it remains a favorite because the teacup is a bit larger than the average teacup. Also, I like the pretty stylized handle.

And here are two teas I can recommend for February: First, in the pretty red tin is Valentine's Blend from Harney and Sons. The Valentine's Blend is a chocolate tea with rose petals, and I can happily drink it all month long. And Eros, a black tea from Mariage Freres, is "a blend for lovers, flavored with hibiscus and mallow flowers." I got an e-mail the other day announcing that Bigelow has come out with two new Valentine's flavors, Sweetheart Cinnamon and White Chocolate Kisses. Has anyone seen these in any stores yet? I'd love to hear a review, because I plan to order these online if they don't hit the grocery store shelves, like, today!