Teas of Root Beer & Grace

During that recent trip to Florida, I came across several new teas. Among them were these two bottles of SteaZ brand teas. On the left is the Key Lime flavored green tea soda, and at right is the Root Beer sparkling green tea. Now I have to say, I happen to like root beer, but the mere idea of sparkling green tea root beer struck me as pretty disgusting. The combination was bound to be just terrible, but at least I could say I tried it, right? Well imagine my surprise when I loved this tea, which tasted like really, really good root beer. DH tried it too and said he liked it but could taste a little something strange which he assumed was the green tea. I didn't detect anything odd, just a very nice root beer flavor with a teeny bit of zip to it. The Key Lime? It was just your basic mildly fruity drink, and nothing I'd bother to try again. The root beer, however, is another story!

I also found this Garasha Japanese Sencha I got primarily because I love the design of the package. According to the information on the back, "Garasha is the Japanese pronunciation of the Latin 'Gratia,' which is equivalent to the English word 'Grace.'" I like a tea with grace!

The back of the package had an interesting little tab to help you open it. Very thoughtful, that. The inside of the package has the type of sealing strip you find on Ziploc baggies. (I have missionary friends in Japan, and I don't know why it hasn't dawned on me before that I need to ask about their tea-drinking habits. Maybe this type of package is the norm?)

The dry leaves were a very bright green, and when steeped, I couldn't help thinking they looked just like collards! (Do my northern friends eat collard greens?) This Sencha tea brews in just 60 seconds, and the flavor was quite enjoyable and not too "grassy" at all. Maybe it's just grace-y!

Remembering Dec. 16, 1773

In case any of you woke up thinking "Gee, I wonder what happened in American history 235 years ago today?" well, now you know! This scene on a vintage postcard I found on eBay is "a reproduction of one of the famous murals in the State House at Boston. It depicts the historic occasion of the Boston Tea Party when a group of citizens, garbed as Indians, showed their rightful indignation at the exorbitant taxes that King George of England had levied by throwing a whole cargo of tea into the Boston Harbor December 16, 1773."

Of course I got this 1943 postcard purely for the image, but I also am intrigued by what's on the back. The card is addressed to Mrs. John D. (or P.?) Huizenga, Route 3, Holland, Michigan (double click to see more detail). It reads, "Dear Annette, Its 5 min. to 7 now. I've made my bed and am going to the Drill hall for a free show or lecture I've been over to Hdqtrs. this afternoon. Love John."

The card was sent by John Huizenga of Batt. 70, Co. A-6, N.C.T.C., Camp Endicott, Davisville, Rhode Island. Wikipedia says Davisville, Rhode Island was the former home of the U.S. Navy Seabees (CBs, Construction Battalions). "It was located at Quonset Point on Narragansett Bay, an area now included in the town of North Kingstown. The Navy acquired the property in 1939 and built Naval Air Station Quonset Point. In 1942, adjoining properties were developed for training Seabees, including the Naval Construction Battalion Center (NCBC) at Davisville." Perhaps the postcard should have read N.C.B.C. instead of N.C.T.C.? Interesting to ponder, and all because of a little old eBay postcard!

Planning ahead

This is the time of year that, in addition to preparing to celebrate Christmas, I also start thinking about the new year ahead and what I hope to accomplish. High on that list is "more gardening," and last week I got a new planning tool I thought might be appropriate to share with some of my tea friends who also enjoy gardening.

"A Record of the Garden 2009" is the creation of my talented friend Katherine McCall. She writes, photographs and illustrates garden stories for our magazine, and I have been a fan of her artwork for years. When she told me she was thinking of designing a garden journal, I knew I would be one of her first customers, because Katherine's work is first-rate, and I was eager for the opportunity to purchase something with her artwork in it. Isn't this watercolor of a poinsettia just gorgeous? It's one of the seasonal page dividers in the garden journal.

She includes a calendar page for each month where you can record temperatures and conditions, a Planting Record for each month with notes about what to plant when, a page for monthly gardening notes, graph paper for landscape and bed planning, and pages for adding photographs and sketches. I like that I can personalize it and use or not use the pages according to whatever works best for me. Katherine sells this as a "filler set" like other planners you buy at this time of year. Using your own 1-inch or 1-1/2-inch notebook with a clear insert on the cover, you insert the artwork and pre-punched pages and voila, your own garden journal.

The notebook I'm using has pockets at front and back which I will use to hold seed packets and other garden-related bits as I prepare for some organized gardening efforts in 2009. Tops on my list: Trying again to grow my own tea plants! After ordering some seeds from overseas, my effort earlier this year bombed, but I soon realized why. I followed the directions to "file down" the covering on the seeds, but I never saw a sprout of anything once I planted them. My friend Deberah ordered some of the seeds too, but when hers arrived some of them had the outer shell already cracked open. Imagine filing down a peanut shell to get to the peanut when you should have just cracked it. I am quite sure that is why my camellia sinensis did not get off the ground (literally), but thanks to my new garden journal I am optimistic about trying again in the new year. I bought journals for myself and as a Christmas gift for a gardening friend, and if you want one for yourself (they're $15 + shipping), I checked with Katherine and she assured me she could get them to you in time for Christmas if you order now. If you're interested, visit her Thoughtful Gardener blog for a link to her Etsy shop ... or just enjoy the gorgeous photos she shares, and you'll see why I'm such a fan of her writing and art!

It's what's inside that counts

Maybe shopping Florida antique malls the first week of December is just a good idea. All I know is, last Saturday, my DH was busy preparing to watch the Florida-Alabama football game on TV, and I was clearly asking too many questions and was soon encouraged to head on out and shop. So I headed to Pensacola and hit every antique mall I found along the way. At one, I saw a beautiful Wedgwood china-handled tea strainer and matching drip bowl, a set I've never seen before, but it was $35 and I just thought that was a bit much. Bad economy, Christmas gifts left to buy, yada yada. When I got to Franklin Antiques in Pensacola, I was glad I passed on the tea strainer, because I found several items that have long been on my wish list, including this full-size musical teapot.


It plays "Tea for Two" (of course), and I'd seen these on eBay before but been outbid. This one, in great vintage condition, was just $12.95, and I got 20% off that without even asking! I had always wondered where they "hid" the music box component. I hope you can tell from the photo, but the "bump" looking up at you from the interior is where the music part resides, so the teapot is completely usable. I cannot wait to use this in the new year!

I'd also been wanting one of those Art Deco looking teapots with a stainless "cozy," and this miniature teapot and matching creamer (I guess) were also $12.95 for the set ... but I got 10 percent off. I don't know about the prices where you live, but in my neck of the woods these prices are pretty terrific.

And inside, this little teapot contained a surprise: The cozy's lined with felt and the pot comes with its own strainer. Now obviously I need the matching sugar bowl, so if you see one somewhere, please send a cyber shout-out!

Vintage tea-themed needlework

OK, so this is the fourth day I've mentioned that day trip to Fairhope, Ala., and it's the last day I'll mention it, I promise, but I've been dying to tell you -- especially the needleworkers -- about the great vintage napkin I found! I was finishing up browsing in this antique store, and slowly walking back out, when I glanced at a rack of vintage linens and thought, "Wait a minute! Is that ..." and it was. A teacup!

I am perhaps fortunate that so many of my interests overlap (antique dishes, tea, needlework), and I had to have this for the pattern alone! (I uploaded this picture at high-res, BTW, so you crocheters can double-click to see the pattern better.)

As soon as I got back to Newnan, I began experimenting with my grandmother's old stainless steel crochet hooks, as I could tell this work was teeny-tiny. I started with a size 12 hook, but the stitches were way too big. I went down to a size 14 (the larger the number, the smaller the size), but it was still too large. Then I tried a 16. Then I tried an 18. Still too large. So, I googled to see what other sizes of these hooks are available, and I couldn't even find anything after 13 or 14 that is still being made! So, I just used the tiniest thread I had with that size 18 hook. The antique design is about 3-1/2-inches square and mine ended up being 4-1/2 as shown at left. I knew it would shrink when washed, so I slipped it in a cotton pouch and ran it through the washer and dryer. Now my piece is down to about 3-3/4 inches. One more washer/dryer trip and I'm going to see about using it as an insertion for a linen napkin, just as the original napkin maker did. I just love this design, and if I can master it, I will be making lots of these napkins. (Anyone got any tips on hemstitching linen to make napkins?)


Later in the week, I came across another great piece of vintage needlework at Miss Donna's Antiques in Navarre Beach. She has a lovely antique mall, great prices, loads of different stuff, and that's where I found what once was a pillow cover. The pillow form has since been removed, but I wanted this for the "art" and, possibly, for the pattern. I haven't copied it yet, but give me time and I just may give it a try!

A new teapot Christmas ornament

Have any of you come across new teacup or teapot Christmas ornaments lately? The only ones I've seen are little porcelain ornaments at T.J. Maxx, and I've already got quite a few of those. They also had some of the cloisonne teapot ornaments, but those are a bit too Asian looking for my frou-frou pink feather tree. So, I was happy to find, at the Fairhope Pharmacy's Christmas Round the Corner Shop, this Old World Christmas teapot.

I love that it has a different design on the back!


And as I was at the counter ponying up for my ornament, I happened to glance up and saw this building in a Christmas village on display. A tea shop! The clerks in Fairhope were all quite friendly, and the one here graciously permitted me to snap a photo.

I've never collected Christmas villages, and don't intend to since I already collect too much stuff as it is, but ... isn't this adorable! Turns out it is from the Dept. 56 line of Christmas collectibles. If one of you would like to buy it, I'll come visit it!

Finding Tea in L.A.

If you're from the South, you already know the old joke about how, in our neck of the woods, "L.A." refers not to Los Angeles but rather to Lower Alabama. So I was especially amused by the title of an article I found in Fairhope, Ala., "Lower Alabama Oolong." It is about -- are you ready for this? -- a place in Alabama that grows tea, the Fairhope Tea Plantation!

There's a tea plantation in Fairhope, Ala.? How had I never heard of this before? This is exciting news! Once I knew I'd be going to Fairhope, I googled "tea" and "Fairhope" and found a blog post from a lady in Louisiana who recently visited the tea plantation as part of a tour. I also found Fairhope Tea Plantation mentioned on the web site of The Church Mouse, one of the merchants in downtown Fairhope, shown here.

The Church Mouse sells, among other things, teawares, tea books, British specialty foods, and tea from the Fairhope Tea Plantation. An article was on display next to the tea, and I was delighted when the kind lady at the store gave me a copy of the article along with the bag of tea I purchased.

With article and tea safely in a gift bag, I continued on with my shopping, ending up with a great piece of tea-themed needlework (more on THAT to come) and the Lipton teapot from yesterday. The DH actually started reading the article while I loaded a few packages in the car, and he asked if I'd known that Lipton Tea Company once had an experimental crop of tea growing at Auburn's Gulf Coast Research and Extension Center in Fairhope. Well, noooo, I did not know that!

According to the article in the Baldwin County Guide (no date listed), Donnie Barrett of Fairhope began his tea-growing hobby when Hurricane Frederic blew away the experimental crop. "Workers gathered the strewn tea plants in a pile and burned them, but Barrett rummaged through the discarded heap and found three plants that hadn't burned," the article said. "Although he didn't know their variety names, he nursed them back to health and then began growing and cross-pollinating until he came up with his own variety, 'Camellia Sinensis Fairhope.'"

At the time the article was written (and I'm trying to find out precisely when that was), Barrett had more than 20,000 plants. He's obviously still growing tea, because the tea I purchased tasted very fresh. It was quite delicious, very "pure," I would say, and the article said Barrett produces 50 pounds of tea each year and sells out, all without marketing. Fun stuff, and I'm still just astonished to have learned of a second tea plantation here in the U.S.!

Back from the beach

From Wednesday through Sunday I was happily hanging out at Navarre Beach in Florida, courtesy of some friends who wondered if Alex and I would care to visit their condo for the week. So, I "power worked" the first part of last week and took the rest of the week off, and I have to say it ended up being a wonderful (and thoroughly unexpected) "tea trip" as well!

I visited so many antique malls I lost count, I found not one but two items that have been at the top of my tea wish list, and we even spent one day in a lovely town I've long wanted to visit, Fairhope, Ala., that ended up having a surprising tea connection I'd never heard of. (I'll discuss that tomorrow. Anybody want to guess?) We got to Fairhope shortly after lunch and ate at a place called Panini Pete's that is apparently somewhat famous after having been featured on Food Network. There is a cute courtyard in what they call Fairhope's "French Quarter," and tucked in a corner is Panini Pete's, along with several gift shops and boutiques.

Fairhope is located on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay, and I was surprised when we drove down to the Fairhope Pier and saw a gorgeous rose garden still bursting with blooms! As DH noted, the combination of roses AND the water is certainly one to make me happy.









But even on vacation, tea is never far from my mind ...

I bought a few goodies in antique stores in Fairhope, but I was especially pleased to discover this vintage, individual-size Lipton teapot (it's hard to see, but it says "Lipton" near the bottom of the front of the teapot). I like to collect pieces from the various tea brands, and I'd seen these before on eBay, but not for the $6 I paid for this one. And interestingly enough, it wasn't the only time the name "Lipton" would cross my path that afternoon. Tomorrow, I'll explain why!

Harry and David Tea

Yesterday I popped in a Harry and David store in search of a hostess gift, and I was surprised to find the company I associate with Christmas gifts of delicious fresh fruits and chocolates also sells scone mixes, butters and jams, and even their own Republic of Tea teas! The one that most appealed to me was this Blue Ribbon Pie Tea in the Chocolate Cinnamon Decadence flavor.

I was happy to buy a tin of 50 teabags, because I have found that Republic of Tea teas stay fresh a long time. When I opened this tin, a delicious scent was released. The instructions suggested trying this dessert tea with a little milk and sugar, and I did. It was delicious!

The store also had some cute tea towels, and I got a red one in honor of the holidays. So Harry and David sells tea stuff. Who knew?

A Dollar Tree Tea Party?

Recently I ran by Dollar Tree to pick up some cheapie glue sticks. While there, I found a couple of items I thought were so cute, I had to get them: This pack of felt doilies and an 8-pack of "coffee" cups that are actually in a teacup shape!

While I've never served tea party guests out of plastic, and surely don't plan to, I have thought before that on some more casual occasions, it would be nice to have some portable, take-it-with-you cups that guests could take with them and not worry about returning. Maybe these cups are the answer?

I'm not quite sure what to do with these things, but I just knew that if I left them for $1, I'd never see them again and would later come up with the perfect idea for using them. So I'm not saying the idea has fully materialized yet, but ... a Dollar Tree Tea Party just may be in my future!

"Porcelain & Pottery Tea Tiles"

My friend's Christmas gift of two unmarked, vintage tea trivets prompted me to pull out a 1994 book I found on eBay this summer, "Porcelain & Pottery Tea Tiles" by Ralph Moore with photography by Dinah Tanner. According to this book, tea tiles are sometimes called "trivets" and in Scotland are sometimes called "teapot stands."

The author says tea trivets were made as long ago as the 1700s, mostly of iron, and porcelain pieces became popular in the 1800s. "Many tea tiles have no marks as to manufacture or country of origin," the book says. "Two reasons for this can be stated: the tiles could have been made before the McKinley Act was in force, a law requiring that all imports be marked as to country of origin; or the tiles were made for local use and not for importation."

I enjoyed seeing all the photos, which give a good idea of the variety of trivets that are "out there," but most helpful were the photos of the backs of trivets and the markings some of them have. The book also includes a price guide, and the trivets at the time of printing ranged in value from $18 to $85. I believe I paid $5 for my most expensive one, so I think I'm doing OK!

Tea Trivets x Two

Yesterday I finally had a chance to meet up with my friend Ruth for lunch. We had lots to catch up on, and I was glad to see her again since Ruth had been recuperating from some health issues. So I was already glad just to get to see her, but then Ruth surprised me by bringing along, on Dec. 1, my Christmas gift of two porcelain tea trivets! What a nice way to kick off December, eh?

Years ago, Ruth was given a lovely collection of vintage tea trivets by an aunt back home in Maine. She has shared some of them with me as gifts over the years, and I am thrilled with each one. These two are especially lovely because of the pink roses on them, and Ruth knew I would love them.

One of my friends at work enjoys looking for antiques just as I do, and I showed the trivets to her. She says she's never come across one and doesn't really know what to look for. I told her I think they look like dessert plates, but the rim on the bottom, which elevates the teapot from the table, is a defining detail to me. (And in a pinch, I would not hesitate to use a tea trivet as a dessert plate if I wanted to.) I think this makes seven tea trivets for me, and I can hardly imagine a more thoughtful gift from my friend.

Happy 70th, Spode Christmas Tree!

Now that December has arrived, it's time to start pulling out the Christmas decorations, including teawares. And as much as I love cups, saucers and plates of every variety, it's a bit odd that until a few years ago, I actually had no Christmas china! But then my friend Ashly gave me some pieces of the Spode Christmas Tree pattern I had admired when we were out shopping one day, so now I can at least have a friend over for tea and use some "nice" Christmas china. Did you know that this pattern, which I'll bet some of you also have, was introduced in 1938?

The story of the Christmas Tree design is a fun one, and if you don't already know it, the short version is this: During the 1930s, a Spode agent was searching out new patterns for the American market. He asked a Spode designer to create a pattern with a Christmas tree, but since the man had never seen one he actually drew the tree with presents hanging from the branches! He was then told that in the U.S., the custom was to heap the presents in piles on the floor beneath the tree. He was also unaware of what went on top of the tree, thus the Santa Claus tree topper which is so prominent in the Spode Christmas Tree design. According to Spode, "In the last quarter of 1999 Spode's Christmas Tree was recorded as the largest selling casual dinnerware pattern in the USA." (If you want to read more of this pattern's history, go here.)

I was happy to see that Denise over at Uniquely Tea is featuring her Christmas cups and saucers over the coming days, and she's made me want to start collecting vintage Christmas cups and saucers. Do you collect Christmas china? If so, I'd love to know what patterns you have -- or would like to have!

SPECIAL NOTE: For my tea friends who enjoy Christmas crafting, I thought you might like to know about Newnan-Coweta Magazine's "12 Days of Christmas" blog, which kicks off today right here. Art Director Deberah Williams and I have been busy making goodies to share with our magazine's readers, but I think some of you who are not in our readership area for the print magazine might enjoy some of these ideas as well!