Teavivre - Tea for Life

It is such a treat when my mail includes a package from Teavivre containing samples of black, white, green, oolong and Pu-erh tea.

The tea samples included Bai Haoyin Zhen (white), Long Jing (green), Taiwan Tung Ting (oolong), Dan Cong Phoenix (oolong), Golden Monkey (black) and Mengku Palace Ripened Golden Buds (loose Pu-erh). 

As I mentioned in a previous post, this tea is very well packaged.  I like the individual sample bags that give lots of information including ingredients, place of origin, distributor and a brewing guide.  The heavy silver bags protect the tea from light, air and moisture.

 

 Right away I brewed myself a pot of the Golden Monkey black tea.  This tea from Fujian province had a pleasant aroma and I found it smooth and refreshing.  Obviously I’m not a connoisseur with extensive tea tasting experience – but I know what I like.

Next I tried the Dan Cong Phoenix oolong and the Pu-erh.  Both were very enjoyable. 

This was my first experience with loose Pu-erh tea.  The others I’ve tried came paper wrapped with the tea pressed into little bird nest shapes.  This one was not too earthy and I’m now starting to enjoy this type of fermented tea.  The Teavivre website has lots of valuable info on each of their teas.  For instance, I learned that the Mengku Palace Pu-erh was picked by hand in 2007 from special large leaf tea trees.  It is low in caffeine and outstanding in health benefits.

I’m looking forward to sampling the rest of my tea.  And while I’m sipping the Teavivre tea, I’ll be exploring all the great tea stories, photos, videos and links on their website. 

Tea Quote

Tea’s proper use is to amuse the idle, and relax the studious, and dilute the full meals of those who cannot use exercise, and will not use abstinence.

- Samuel Johnson

I don’t know about you, but I am starting off the new year bearing the effects of lack of exercise and indulging in a lot of holiday treats.  Time to get back on track and dig out my copy of “The Ultimate Tea Diet” by Mark Ukra.

Tea Towels

While trying to tidy up my tea cupboard and find more space for all the new teas I’ve added over the holidays, I came across several tea theme towels.  Since I have what now seems to be a “collection” of tea theme kitchen towels, I decided to learn more about tea towels (dish towels as many of us in the US call them).

In the early 19th century Victorian ladies used fine linen towels to dry their precious china, glassware and other tableware.  This linen fabric didn’t scratch or leave lint on the pieces.  These ladies also personalized their towels with fine embroidery and used them at tea time to cover trays of food or as a cozy to insulate the teapot.

These days most of our tea towels are made of cotton or cotton blends and are easy care.  That suits me, since I don’t have the time to hand wash and air dry fragile, hand embellished linens.

One fascinating fact I learned was that the impoverished Vincent Van Gogh actually painted on tea towels out of necessity when he had no canvas available.  One (still life with flowers) sold for over 2 million pounds at auction in 2000 and a couple of others are in private collections.

In the 1900s in America, housewives used rough animal feed sacks for dish towels.  These were also hand embroidered, but whether or not they made it to the tea table I don’t know.

So, I guess I’ll continue to check out the tea towels at places like Marshalls, Ross and TJ Maxx just in case there might be a new tea theme towel to add to my collection.

 

 

Christmas Tea

As usual Santa brought lots of tea  – it’s nice when people know what you like – no toe socks or drudge gifts.  Hubby gave me a Kindle Fire and I’m loving it.

Nana has been enjoying playing tea party with my little granddaughter today.  This photo shows her washing up after our tea party.  Can’t wait to take her to her first tea room visit – maybe when she turns three in May.

Merry Christmas

May your Christmas be blessed with peace and happiness.

Madison Tea Room and Garden

What better way to enjoy a Christmas visit with a friend than at a lovely tea room that I’ve never visited before.  I set out Wednesday morning to drive to the historic district of Madison, GA and meet Angela (Tea With Friends) for our 11:30 tea time.

As soon as I drove into a parking space right in front, I knew this would be a lovely afternoon tea.  The outside was decorated for the Christmas season.

The inside was light and airy and packed with beautiful tea ware, Christmas floral arrangements and gift selections.

The tables with matching Christmas pattern china were lovely – they were set for a large party meeting in the back area of the tea room.  It was obvious that the proprietress, Kathi Russell, has been collecting wonderful tea cups for many years.

 

Angela and I ordered the Queen Victoria London Tea, which is a traditional English style afternoon tea.

The food was delicious with a selection of sandwiches, including chicken salad, cucumber, egg salad, turkey and a tasty mini quiche.  The scones were cranberry and the sweets included a selection of cakes (the lemon square was a favorite).  We were offered the house blend tea that was a fruity currant black tea.

There was an artful arrangement of gorgeous hats to try on and Kathi graciously offered to snap a photo of Angela and I in our finery.

We enjoyed a leisurely visit (we never felt rushed and knew we were welcome to sit as long as we wished), then we shopped for some nice tea items.  We both bought a copy of the book “Tea Celebrations” from Teatime Magazine.

Although this tea room is not close to where I live, it was worth the trip and I hope to visit again soon.

Thank you Kathi Russell – you really do provide a place to “relax and enjoy yourself in the art of civilized  pleasure and taking time for tea”. 

You can see more at Tea With Friends and Madison Tea Room and Garden.

Teatime Fleece Throw

Last time I was at a Jo-Ann craft store, I saw a display of fleece throws in many different patterns.  I was not looking for a throw, but luckily this one jumped out at me.

This comes as a kit with a patterned front panel and a solid coordinating color for the back.  I loved the pink and white stripes with a solid pink back.  The idea is to cut 7 inch strips around the outside of the two pieces and then tie them together to make a fringe.  I decided that this pattern was so cute that I’d sew the throw together and not lose any of the pattern (plus it would seem larger).

My kit looked like it had been dropped and had a slightly soiled area (plus a rip in the cardboard packaging), so I was able to negotiate a bargain price of $8.25 for this originally $32.99 kit.

Has anyone else noticed that these tea theme items always seem to pop up when you are shopping for someone else.  I’ve come across several great tea items while Christmas shopping.  

These lovely Christmas cards were purchased at Ross.  There are nine in each design.  If you check Amazon’s web site under Punch Studio you will find many other beautiful cards, notepads, etc. with teacups or teapots using Victorian ephemera designs.

I can’t believe that I’m not yet finished my Christmas shopping but, on the bright side – I may come across some more lovely bargain tea gifts for me.