Gracious Hospitalitea

The Gracious Hospitalitea topic this week was to discuss tea rooms. I have wanted to check out our local tea room, Emma's Tea Room, so I decided this was a good reason too.

I ventured over there, camera in hand, intending to photograph the tea room. I opened the door and was intimiated to find a packed room full of ladies, all staring back at me. It looked quite charming, but I didn't take any pictures. There was a wait to get a table. I decided I needed to return on another day with a friend.

I did go upstairs to explore their store and buy some tea.

I bought a bag of the Raspberry in Paris Rooibos. It was quite good and I will pick up more on my next visit.

Decaf Tea

Here is an interesting post by Gracious Hospitalitea on how to make any tea decaffeinated.

Gracious Hospitalitea

The topic of the week at Gracious Hospitalitea was to discuss which color tea is our favorite.

This year I have been on a journey to discover tea. I have had a lot of fun trying them all; herb, green, red, white and black. The varities that are available are endless. But, I have to admit that black tea is for me! I think that because I have been a coffee drinker all my life, I prefer a stonger tasting tea.

Twinings Lady Grey is my favorite. I like the Earls too. Bigelow English Breakfast, Constant Comment and good old, dependable Lipton can also be found in my favorites collection. I like to drink my tea plain, I don't add milk or sugar.

For awhile, I was on a ginger kick. I liked Eastern Shore Ginger Pear and Tazo Green Ginger. I have not found a white tea that I like yet. I think I like red rooibos, but have found there to be a great variation in it. I recently discovered that Barnes & Noble sells Harney Tea. I found the African Autumn red tea to be nice. Also, Rooibos Sweetheart Blend by SBS Teas was decent. I have come across a some nice herbals too. Celestial Seasonings Tension Tamer is a good one. I am still trying to find a fairly affordable chocolate tea that I like.

Gracious Hospitalitea Blogathon

The Gracious Hospitalitea topic this week was to discuss our afternoon tea and what we wear. My typical tea time is not really glamorous, but it is consistant and happens every afternoon in my office. Actually tea time starts at around 7:30 am and continues all day. My typical attire is work clothes and I usually use this not-so-dainty mug.
If I had my choice of circumstances, my preferred place is in comfy sweats, in my favorite recliner and shared with a favorite fur-kid on my lap. :-)

Red Rooibos

I have moved on in my journey into tea and am now trying Rooibos. I think I like it but am finding there to be a great variation in it. Some of them are quite awful. Does any one have a few favorites that they would like to suggest? I would appreciate comments on it.

Cow Creamers - The Early Years

I came across this as I looked through some old photos albums last night. Our family was already experiencing the problem of duplicating creamers. So, this was my sister's and my first attempt to document Mom's growing cow collection. The back of the photo is dated 1982. I carried it in my purse for several years and consulted it many times until it became obsolete. I know we had several more photo sessions like this over the years. This was the only time when all the cows were able to fit into one picture. I think because of it is so quirky, the cow head in the left hand corner was a favorite of mine. I also favored the one in the middle with the rose colored flowers and golden hooves.

Afternoon Tea

Brent made a "dainty" cookie to go with our afternoon tea. I think it came out looking more like a pizza. :-)

Cow Creamers

Blogathon topic #3 is to discuss Decorating With Tea Items. So, this is the week that I get to talk about my mother's cow creamer collection! She has collected them since I was a kid. Mom bought her first ones at a gift shop on Pelee Island in Canada in the 60's where we had a summer cottage. Since then, I have grown up constantly searching for cow creamers; gift shops, antique stores, garage sales, etc.

It has been a fun family hobby. We were always on "The Hunt". We always had something to look for when we wanted to give Mom a gift. Her collection eventually grew to over 250 creamers. It got to the point, that Mom sometimes even ended up with duplicates. She had so many that we forgot what she already had.

I don't have a final count or pictures of the collection. Mom entered into a giving away stage and divided it among the family members. I live in a different state so was not present when she did and no final photos were taken of it. I do know that she had 8 cases of them and each case held about 30 cows. She had them in her china cabinet too.

I now own about 40 of them. I have not yet figured out how to display them in my home. Here a few pictures of how Mom had them in her house. The pictures don't really do them justice. The cows were always present, so I never thought to take pictures of just her display cases.

Caffeine

Do you know how much caffeine is in that cup of your favorite beverage? I discovered this on the side of a tea box. I found it interesting that there is caffeine in decaf tea.

Gracious Hospitalitea Blog-a-thon, Week 2

This week the topic was to discuss Teas In Literature. I have always found it interesting to read about any study relating to tea. The most recent one that I found was in the Winter 2008 Edition of HealthSmart Today. The article was titled "Nine Ways to Naturally Lower Cholesterol". I was pleased to see that step #8 was Drink Tea. It stated: "Many studies show that drinking tea (green or black) reduces the risk of heart attack. But it wasn't clear why until recently, when Chinese researchers showed that it reduces chlesterol. They gave 220 people with high cholesterol either a placebo or an exract of green tea. Four months later, the tea group's cholesterol had dropped 11 percent. It said that if you like tea, drink it instead of coffee, or drink iced tea with meals."

The Perfect Tea Sandwich

Surfing the Net has revealed more interesting tea information. Here is a link to the T-Cozy. It shows how to make the perfect Cucumber Sandwich for a tea. It is not as simple as I thought it to be.

My Favorite Teacup(s)

I don't have one favorite teacup and saucer because I actually have 12. I inherited the Royal Albert Flowers of the Month from my mother. I love this collection. I grew up studying them. When my mother started asking what each of her children wanted from her, this is was the first thing that I picked. I can't say that I like one month better then the rest. My favorite actually changes, depending on what time of the year it is. Right now my favorite is January which has snowdrops on it. I will most likely have a different favorite next month. The only thing I don't like about this set is that I have to "pinch" the teacup to hold it. I prefer being able to insert my whole finger. As a result, I only admire these pieces. I never use them. I have the whole collection proudly displayed in the china cabinet in my dining room.

Gracious Hospital-i-Tea

I'm will be joining the Gracious Hospital-i-Tea Blogathon. It looks like a lot of fun with such interesting topics! Since this is my year for learning about the "Wonderful World of Tea", I think this will provide much insight. Check back here later. I will post my first entry.

The themes are:

March 16 - March 23: Teacup-a-Story
March 23 - March 29: Litera-Tea
March 30 - April 5: Decor-a-Tea
April 6 - April 12: Stitches-for-Tea
April 13 - April 19: Dressed-to-a-Tea
April 20 - April 26: The-Sweet-and-Savory-of-Yummy
April 27 - May 3: The White, Green, Black, and Herb of Tea
May 4 - May 10: Set the Table, Tea is On!
May 11 - May 17: Tea Room Ventures and Venues

May 18 - May 24: The Pouring Teapot
May 25 - May 31: A Teatime Drawing

Twinings Lady Grey

I have tried quite a few teas by now. Some tea has been cheap and some of the loose leaf has been on the expensive side. Right now, Twinings Lady Grey is the one that I reach for the most. I probably have bought a 1/2 dozen boxes and have not grown tired of this tea yet.

Rooibos Sweetheart Blend

I have discovered another favorite tea. It is called Rooibos Sweetheart Blend by SBS Teas. It is described as a chocolate lover's delight and I agree with the desciption. It has tiny candy hearts, almond pieces, cocoa bits, vanilla and is quite fragrant. It also suggests that it is great over ice too. Sounds like something great for me to try this summer.

Chocolate Monkey

I received my first shipment of loose tea in today. Of my gosh, I tried the Chocolate Monkey. That is the best tea that I have tasted yet. The smell when I first opened the bag was heavenly. After brewing it, the taste did not let me down. I will definitely buy more of it.

First Game of the Season

I tried my Tea Tumbler. It turned out to be a disappointment as far as brewing tea is concerned. It does not contain the tea leaves very well and makes quite a mess. I have found the value in it though. Despite playing the game in near artic conditions, it kept my tea hot for an incredibly long period of time.

Tea Tumbler

I guess you just never know where you will happen upon tea accessories. I was at our local sporting goods store looking for cleats with my son when I found this Tea Tumbler. It looks like a pretty self-contained way to make loose leaf tea. I decided to buy on and give it a try at work. So far, all my tea sampling has been with bagged tea. I am now about to adventure into the world of loose leaf tea.

Tea Journal

I am still on my tea kick. I started keeping a simple journal of the ones that I have tried. Wow, I have sampled quite a few since the beginning of the year.

Here are a few of my favorites that I will always keep in my desk at work:
1.) Twinnings Lady Grey Tea
2.) Tazo Green Ginger Tea
3.) Eastern Shore Ginger Pear (I think that I have discovered I like ginger teas.)
4.) Bigelow English Teatime, actually there are several Bigelow teas that I like including Constant Comment, Mint Medley and Earl Grey.
5.) And last but not least, good old faithful Regular and Decaf Lipton Tea
6.) I don't think I like white teas. I have not tried one that I like yet.

I think this small change in my dietary habits is still working. I have lost about 7 or 8 pounds now. I know what I weighed after Christmas, and even with all my clothes on, I can no longer make the scale hit that mark. I think this is a fun and cheap way to lose weight. :o)

Teapot

Can you see the teapot?

Slightly cross your eyes and it will become visible.