Teavivre's Fengqing Dragon Pearl Black Tea

So, the plan was to enjoy a tea tasting of two of my new tea samples from Teavivre, but I was so excited over this one tea that I thought it deserved its very own post!

Ever heard of Dragon Pearl Green Tea? I've sipped it many times, the jasmine-flavored version, but I have never heard of Dragon Pearls that were black tea until I received this Fengqing Dragon Pearl Black Tea from Teavivre.

Watching the pearls become tea leaves is so enjoyable to me, I chose to steep this tea not in a gaiwan but rather in a clear glass infuser mug. The insert at left has little slits in the glass so you can lift it right out once your tea is ready.

And what a treat this tea was! It had a rich mouth feel, brisk but not astringent, and I was so pleased the taste matched the beauty of this tea. If you'd like to learn more, go here. You know, I think some photographer ought to create a book that is focused (literally and figuratively) on the beauty of tea. Now wouldn't that be a pleasure to see?

The new issue of Daphne's Diary

Does your brain ever need a break? Mine does. I have been a very busy girl over the past few months. I have edited everything from novels and self-help books to children's books and a cookbook. I have written reviews of all kinds of books and said sure when asked if I would consider reviewing even more. I researched and wrote an essay for a historic institute in Washington, D.C., and all at the same time, I wrote and wrote and wrote and finally hit the magical 75,000-word mark on my own first novel, a "cozy" about a jewelry designer who solves mysteries in her spare time. I think I deserve a little down time, and oddly enough, even though I am playing with words nearly every waking minute of the day, my favorite way to relax is still with a new book or magazine. Happily for me, the new issue of Daphne's Diary (which I first discovered here) landed at my local Barnes & Noble last week. Ahhh ... reading purely for pleasure!

It is so lovely to sit back and relax with a cup of you-know-what and thumb through the pages of this oversized magazine which started in the Netherlands but now has an English-language version. The cover has so many details, you really must stop to take them all in. Note the little tags along the bottom, including the one at far left with the teacup on it. What an elegant touch!

Daphne's Diary is really unique among magazines in that it's just this great and wonderful hodgepodge of articles on this and that, everything from decorating and gardening to antiquing and cooking. This pretty pedestal displaying cupcakes? There's no recipe. There are no words, in fact. It's purely eye candy, and I love that. There are also stickers, designer papers, a paperdoll craft … you just never know what wonderful gifts are waiting within the pages.

The quote above this teacup says, "Pick up the phone and invite someone round for a cup of tea today. Just because. Be spontaneous, you'll enjoy it!" I think that's fine advice, and as a matter of fact, I have plans to join some friends for tea later today — another of my favorite ways to relax and regroup!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

To celebrate St. Patrick's Day, I thought it would be fun to host a giveaway, so that's what we're doing today, and the winner will receive the goodies shown here!

First we have a shamrock teacup and saucer. It's one of my T.J. Maxx bargain finds, and I particularly like the shape of the handle and saucer on this set.

Naturally, you'll need some Irish Breakfast Tea to go in the teacup.

And last but not least, some of you may recall that I got a bargain on this oven mitt and potholder at Dollar Tree an upscale department store last month. Well, I bought an extra of each to give to one of you this month. So, if you'd like to win this St. Patrick's Day Giveaway, just leave an "Enter me" to this post between now and 7 a.m. Friday, March 21, and you'll be entered to win. Good luck!

Tea Room Postcard #11 -- Hains Point Tea House (Washington, D.C.)

"... There used to stand a small but stately, white-columned teahouse, facing resolutely south toward the open water of the Potomac. It stood there for 64 years, from 1923 to 1987, one of the best places to escape the oppressive summer heat of the city in the days before air conditioning."

— streetsofwashington.com

Are the trees blossoming in your neck of the woods? They are in mine, and that's one reason I am so enjoying this week's postcard of the Hains Point Tea House in Washington, D.C.

Though the card was never used (purchased as a souvenir, maybe?), I was delighted to find out more about the tea room on the Streets of Washington website. If you visit the link here, which I highly recommend, you'll also see a photo of the Girl Scout teahouse erected in Potomac Park around 1920, as well as a 1924 photo of President and Mrs. Coolidge standing in front of the Hains Point Tea House. There's also a remarkable photo of the tea house when it was flooded in 1985. We're not always able to learn so much about a tea house of yesteryear, but thanks to this website a wonderful bit of tea room history has been preserved!

Flea Market Outdoors Magazine

There's yet another new magazine about flea market gardening, Flea Market Outdoors, and when I came across the premiere issue this week I knew I had to share it here!

If you're like me, your eye goes straight to the china in any magazine you read. Well, who wouldn't have hit the brakes upon spotting this feature on Garden Whimsies? (Is it crazy that I spotted the saucer in the middle and recognized it as one I own, shown here?)

There's also advice on making these "garden totems" I've seen popping up in gardens and at craft shows.

There's plenty of gardening eye candy, such as this pretty potting shed which has a table for taking tea. Check out the chandelier up top with silver teawares in place of candles. I am *so* doing this! If you're ready to decorate the garden with teawares this year, I highly recommend you take a look at this charming new magazine!

What's in my teacup?

You know that credit card commercial that says, "What's in YOUR wallet?" Well, today you may be wondering, "What's in YOUR teacup?" and the answer is that I honestly do not know.

Actually, I do know what's in my teacup, and it's all this stuff shown here — it's just that I don't know what all "this" is. You see, my friend Janet recently traveled to the Holy Land. When she joked beforehand she might have tea with the Bedouins, I laughed and said great, bring me back a teabag. Instead, she brought me back two huge bags of tea from Israel and Jordan. This is the tea from Israel, which is obviously some sort of spice blend. I get a strong sent of cardamom, but beyond that, I have no idea. Do you recognize anything in the blend? I'm especially curious about that beige pod-looking thing shown at front left. The steeped tea, pictured up top, is the color of honey and tastes like a great spiced tea, the sort of thing you see a lot at Christmas. There's also a bit of zip I am guessing comes from ginger.

And here is the tea from Jordan, which was a minty tasting blend and has more little black particles which I think might be traditional ground tea leaves. I have greatly enjoyed sipping these new teas from my friend's travels. Since so many of us are "known" tea lovers, do your friends bring you back tea from their travels? If so, what have you sipped that came from afar?

"Bunnies for Tea" by Kate Stone

Ordinarily I don't like to wait in line, but if I hadn't had to wait in line at Barnes & Noble this week, I wouldn't have been looking around and I probably wouldn't have seen the display of children's Easter books near the checkout register, including "Bunnies for Tea" by Kate Stone.

I probably don't have to tell you what it was about this book that immediately caught my eye!

It's a sweet little tale, and I shan't reveal the plot since, after all, it's so short and sweet. I will tell you that the teatime artwork is absolutely adorable, and I'm a little surprised I haven't come across this 2012 book before. Have you? If not, you might do some checkout counter browsing next time you're in line at the bookstore!

Teacup PJ's

Does this print grab your attention as it did mine?

I spotted it in Walmart the other day. Where, I ask you, can you get this much pajama fun for $9.96? The top's lavender, and the bottoms are black with pink, lavender and purple teacups in a variety of designs.

I can almost always use some more lightweight spring/summer PJ's, and these are fun and the price sure can't be beat!

The Wearing of the Green

Last year I ordered this pretty shamrock-covered china teapot from eBay, and the gracious seller surprised me by including this shamrock teacup as well.

Isn't it lovely? The Lefton teacup has such a cheery pattern and pretty shape.

In fact, this seller included quite a few extra goodies in my package, including the runner and shamrock ornament shown here. At first I wasn't sure I had enough green things to compose a small St. Patrick's Day vignette on my tea trolley, but now I think I do, by golly!

The card at left was a surprise from a reader who recently won one of my giveaways. Perfect!

And the African violet I've been nursing along for two years has finally decided to bloom again, with little buds peeking out at right. Do you decorate for St. Patrick's Day? Maybe it's the Irish in me, but I must say I'm getting into the spirit this year!

Tea Room Postcard #10 -- Alma's Tea Room (Manchester, N.H.)

I just love the look of Alma M. Truesdale's old tea room in Manchester, N.H., established in 1923, with its seating capacity of 250 and "open the year around." Doesn't this look like it would have been a fun place to visit?

This postcard was mailed on Oct. 3, 1950, and reads, "Arrived O.K. - Leaving 9.20 this evening for Washington DC and have to bring my old gal to Mass. Eye & Ear on Friday morning. If you are home I'll see you. May be able to have dinner with Rodie in N.Y. on the way back from D.C. Love Mother." I was about to take umbrage at the phrase "my old gal" (how sexist!) until I read "Love Mother." I will always wonder what the postcard writer thought of the tea room or whether this was simply convenient stationery to use while traveling!

Shamrocks & Shortbread

Generally I prefer to make decorative cookies myself, but when I saw these Shamrock Cookies from Little Debbie at the grocery store, I had to get them to go with my afternoon tea!

Shamrocks are on my mind with St. Patrick's Day just around the corner, and earlier this week I found a short little vintage china shamrock mug at a new antique store that's opened up in Newnan on the Millard Farmer Bypass. I thought the price, $1.25, was irresistible! There's no backstamp on the bottom, just a number, A-1163.

The other reason these cookies appealed to me is that they are shortbread cookies, not sugar cookies. They come individually wrapped, too, which makes them a nice takealong treat from now through St. Patrick's Day!

A Teavivre tea tasting

I'll bet my mailman thinks I live a much more exotic life than I really do, receiving packages from China, India, England, and elsewhere. Most recently it was a new box of tea samples from Teavivre in China that I had delivered. This time I decided I'd sample two distinctly different types of tea, a puerh tea and a black tea. This puerh is Fengqing Zhuan Cha Raw Puerh Brick Tea 2005, and you will note the crumbly, sometimes powdery bits of tea from where it was separated from the tea brick.

It seems folks either love or hate the earthy flavor of puerh, and I happen to like it. This one had an almost sweet flavor to the puerh. Another reason I like sampling different teas is that I enjoy seeing how the leaves look after steeping!

The black tea I tried was this Nonpareil Yunnan Dian Hong Chinese Red Black Tea.

Even though I like puerhs, this terrific yunnan tea was my favorite of the two, and it had a very crisp, woodsy scent and a nice, brisk, black tea taste that was a welcome contrast to the flavored teas I've been drinking lately. If you haven't tried Teavivre teas, I definitely recommend them — and you can find out more by going here!

Let's get ready to "tea garden," y'all!

If Georgia can't decide whether she wants it to be winter or spring, fine. I'm gardening anyway. Or at least I'm gathering my seeds and getting ready to garden! This year I'm planning to grow two especially tea-ish plants, Earl Grey Larkspur and Zinger Hibiscus Herbal Tea.

My rosy garden tote has a happy memory attached, as I got it at Marshalls when I was out shopping with my friend ParTea Lady after she and I enjoyed tea together a couple of years ago. Now, I use it to store seeds, small pots, and garden doodads during the off season.

For some kitchen herbs, I'm going to try some of these new seeds Renee's Garden so generously sent. I especially love the name of "Mrs. Burns' Lemon Basil." Are you getting ready for the garden season? If there's something tea-ish in your garden seed stash, I'd dearly love to hear about it!

The weekend's tea finds

On Saturday I spent the day in the Marietta area shopping with my Aunt Jane. These were the only two tea-related items I picked up, but I love both of them!

First, this dessert/luncheon plate from America's Thrift Stores is just the size I like, 7-1/2 inches in diameter. Wish I had more of these--especially for the 79 cents I paid for this one. Unlike teacups, which demand a bit of storage space, plates are easy to add to a stash. Besides, I like having pretty plates on hand for styling photos, especially when the roses are so pretty. There was no mark on this plate at all, so I'm stumped as to the maker and the pattern.

And although I rediscovered a few lost oven mitts last week, I saw this pretty, thick, teacup and bird design oven mitt at HomeGoods for $4.99 and had to have it. My friend Phyllis recently found some pot holders in this pattern up in Michigan, and I loved the pretty blue print. Have you had any tea shopping success lately?

"Beatrix Potter's Gardening Life" by Marta McDowell

"I am sorry to say that Peter was not very well during the evening. His mother put him to bed, and made some camomile tea; and she gave a dose of it to Peter! 'One table-spoonful to be taken at bed-time.'"
— From "Peter Rabbit" by Beatrix Potter

It's probably a safe bet that I'm not the only tea lover who is a fan of Beatrix Potter. Whether you fell in love with her children's books or, more recently, admired the Beatrix Potter portrayed by Renee Zellweger in the movie "Miss Potter" (2006), there is much to admire about the English author, artist, and naturalist. As our thoughts turn to spring and gardening, I'd like to recommend a particularly enjoyable new book, "Beatrix Potter's Gardening Life: The plants and places that inspired the classic children's tales" by Marta McDowell.

Beatrix used the royalties from her books and an inheritance from an aunt to purchase the thirty-four acre Hill Top Farm in the Lake District of England. Beatrix would go on to purchase other farms in an effort to preserve her beloved Lake District, and in her will she left more than four thousand acres to the National Trust. Beatrix also became a breeder of Herdwick sheep, and McDowell notes that in 1930, she was elected president of the Herdwick Sheep Breeders' Association.

While Beatrix wrote and illustrated many beloved children's stories, and I'm glad she did, I think that even more than those contributions, I appreciate her attitude. When she couldn't sell that first book, she published it herself before ultimately selling it to a publisher. She could easily have avoided romance after the death of her fiancé, but no, she went on to find love at age forty-seven and married William Heelis. I also appreciate her motivation for continuing to write and illustrate once she was already a successful author. McDowell says, "Beatrix continued writing books and designing spin-off merchandise — toys, china, wallpaper, and the like — in part to fund her garden efforts." And it was also fun to read that Beatrix was, according to McDowell, "a great preserver of fruit, making quantities of jams, jellies, and marmalade. To visitors, she served bread and preserves with tea, a simple country fare." The book includes chapters on each season of the year in Beatrix Potter's gardens, and it is lovely to read about the gardens and see some of her own plant illustrations as well as period photos of the gardens. The book concludes with useful lists of plants that Beatrix grew herself as well as those appearing in her books. If, like me, you're dreaming of gardening while you sip your tea these days, I think you'll enjoy this book!

Tea Room Postcard #9 - Blue Eagle Tourist Court and Tea Room (Roanoke, Va.)

"Tourist Court." Now there's a term I haven't heard in a while. The Blue Eagle Tourist Court shown on the bottom of this postcard reminds me of similar-looking places my family passed on the way to Florida when I was a little girl. We never stayed at one since we always liked to wake up with an ocean view, but I was always curious about those long rows of rooms in the "tourist courts." The tea room up top, by contrast, looks much more traditional, just as I'd expect a tea room to look in 1943 when this postcard was mailed.

"Stopped at these cabins on way to Knoxville Tenn. Seeing more of the country. Will try and answer your letter, but don't wait for it. Write soon. Cora." (At least I think it says "Write" soon. What else could that word be?) The postcard was sent to Mrs. Jack Gibson of Boston, Mass., and you have to wonder why Cora thought it was OK to ask Mrs. G to contact her while indicating her own letter might not be so prompt. Interesting! The other feature I noted about this postcard was the stamp, which says "For Defense." I've long known that war bonds were sold during World War II, but it wasn't until recently that I learned that war stamps were also sold. Now all that's left to wonder about is whether Cora ever wrote that letter.

Update: Some of you may have seen the postcard from two weeks ago of the Log House Tea Room in Washington's Birthplace, Va. After it appeared, I got the loveliest e-mail from a woman named Toni who was able to add to the history lesson. If you'd like to see the terrific information she provided, go here!