Category Archives: Tea

Hot Tea Month ~ Favorite Teas

This is week two of Hot Tea Month blog-a-thon. Click on over to the hot tea month site to join in the fun. A big thank you to Scrabblequeen for hosting the event!

Week Two: January 10th-16th

Tell us about your favorite teas. Do you prefer black, green, white, red, or “herbal”? Do you like added flavors such as fruit, flowers, vanilla, chocolate, or spices, or are you a “purist”?

For a quick cup of tea I generally enjoy tea steeped with a tea bag. If I am going to steep loose tea I enjoy a good Earl Grey or English Breakfast Tea or a Russian black tea called Czars tea.

I always have to make sure I have good ole Lipton tea bags around for my family especially my brother Leonard. Some of my sisters have moved on to herbal teas. When I was younger I put lots of sugar and milk in my tea. These days I drink most of my hot beverages black with no sweeteners.

I found this really good tea in these cool muslin bags at a local grocery store at a close-out price. A Russian blend of China, Ceylon, and India teas with natural scents of bergamot, lemon, lime, orange, mandarin and flowers. What a description :0)

 

This is my daughter in a flat we rented in Scotland enjoying our welcome tea tray that was left for us.

I very rarely go for more fruity teas but I do experiment once in a while. This tea cup and tea was a gift from my son and his wife and I’ve enjoyed the variety of teas from this box.

If I want something hot at night I generally will go for the herbals. My first choice is usually Chamomile.

When we go out for tea in a larger group we will usually get a pot of Earl Grey, a pot of some fruity tea like Peach, and choose something different like lavender or anything we haven’t tried before that is different from our usual. It’s fun to experiment with the group.

I’ve developed a nagging cough that hopefully will depart in the next day or two in the meantime as I write this post I’m enjoying a hot cuppa Lady Grey to soothe my throat. It’s interesting that if I’m ever sick I always think of hot tea not hot coffee. Of course if things get really bad there’s that other British remedy…

Have a good week enjoying your tea, whatever flavor or variety you choose!

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Hot Tea Month Blog-a-thon ~ Week One…

Click on the image above to visit the Hot Tea Month Blog-a-thon site hosted by Scrabblequeen! Check out the weekly prompt and join in.

Week 1: “Tea as a mood lifter: How does tea improve your day? What is your favorite time for a nice, hot cuppa?”

My tea drinking experience started early in my Russian culture upbringing. Tea was always requested when people were tired or needed a lift during the afternoon. Drinking tea takes me back and gives me the sense of the comfort of home…

I don’t ever remember using tea-cups in our Russian gatherings for tea. Typically a glass was used served with a bowl under it. Many of the children and older folk would pour their tea into the bowl and drink it out of the bowl. There were fancier glass holders called podstakahnyik that I’ve posted a couple of pictures of here. Literally translated it means under the glass. Any Russians out there can correct me if I got that wrong. Russia has two national drinks, tea (chai) and vodka.

I came across these very old Paintings of Russians drinking tea (chai) and I wanted to share them. This first photo is from 1889.

I would love to own one of these older Samovars. See the glasses on the bowls. She is pouring the hot water into the glasses with a strong steep of tea. The concentrate of tea is in a small pot that fits on top of the Samovar.

“Of all beverages, tea alone has the proverbial power to relieve toska, the sadness and melancholy which traditionally burden the Russian spirit. The samovar which dispenses it is a time-honored symbol of Russian hospitality. It stands for the hearth, the warmth of a Russian welcome, the restorative powers of a glass of tea around the stove after hours in sub-zero temperatures. The word means ’self-boiler’ and the samovar is just that, a portable water heater made traditionally of brass and fueled with pine cones or charcoal. On top of it rests a teapot containing a powerful infusion. To pour a glass of tea, a little of this concentrate is diluted with boiling water from the urn. This way it is always fresh never stewed.”

 

After serving the tea the guests will pour the tea out of their glasses into their bowls and sip the tea from the bowl. Quotes from The Food and Cooking of Russia by Leslie Chamberlain.

This is how I remember drinking tea with my grandparents and relatives growing up.

Tea is “Chai” in russian, (not the now popular Chai drink you find at Starbuck’s). Chai is just plain old steeped tea with boiled water added to your desired strength.  In our Russian culture it is an important part of a meal. We usually have it at the end of a meal. Many times we’ll have it in the middle of the day too. It’s has been associated with rest, comfort and refreshment. It’s just common for us to say at the end of the meal, “Chai?”  or “Who wants Chai?”

When I have my “Russian” crowd over these are what I serve chai in. I have 12 of them and they are perfect to see the strength you want your tea to be. Some add lemon, some add cream, some have it black. I’ll have to share in a later post the Varenya that my mom and other Russian ladies make to add to tea. It’s a fruit based syrupy liquid to sweeten and flavor your tea instead of sugar.

In my younger days we attended a church where meals were commonly served during holidays, after funerals, and weddings. Part of the meal was the tea service. We had the typical glass and bowls for our tea. Small teapots with the tea steeping and large Tea kettles with boiled water would be put on the tables. There was always a bowl of sugar cubes to sweeten the tea. My cousins and I would build sugar cube bridges across the inside of our tea glass and then watch the hot water melt them down. Fun times :0)

 

In this painting again they are drinking tea from the bowl. Statistically the Russians are among the world’s top three tea-drinking nations (with Britain and Japan).

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Tea Things Tuesday!

We started a little tradition last year during Thanksgiving Weekend. On Friday after Thanksgiving the girls head to Goodwill to shop the sales in hopes of finding some little treasure for real cheap and then we go out to eat. Last year we decided on tea at a favorite spot of Lana G.’s and mine but since that time our sweet tea shop changed hands and we’re not impressed with the new establishment. We were hoping to continue the tea tradition after Goodwill shopping. Well I’m so happy to say a new Tea Shop has opened in Downtown Bothell and we have reservations for 11:45 on Friday after Thanksgiving and Goodwill. Yippee! We hope all the usual suspects will be able to come!

 

 

My girls Katie and Laura. Aunt Letty and Katie. Aunt Lana G! and Katie. Lana G! and Ellen b. My DIL Laura and her mom Pat.

 

I’ll take lots of photos from the new spot Three Cups of Tea and show you all in December…

Happy Tea Things Tuesday to you all. Please visit Kim at Shabby, Pink and Pretty for more Tea Things…

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Tea Things Tuesday ~ White

 

I found these pieces at a thrift store. They are Johnson Bros. I got several round and square dessert plates, too.

Please visit Kim at Shabby Pink & Pretty the hostess of Tea Things Tuesday to join in or see more Tea Things…

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Tea Things Tuesday ~ Moss Rose

Time to visit Kim at Shabby Pink & Pretty for Tea Things Tuesday

In 1973 when I was on a singing tour in England I decided to buy my very first Tea Set. I chose this Royal Albert pattern called Moss Rose. I really loved the shape of the teapot and tea cups. Dear and I were married in 1974 and in 1976 when we were at a replacement china shop in Windsor, Canada we bought a dinner set to go with my tea set.

I now have service for 12 of this pattern and some nice serving pieces, too.

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Tea Things Tuesday ~ Pink…

It’s time to visit Kim for Tea Things Tuesdays

 

These are a few of my tea cups with pink. Hope you all are having a lovely Fall. I’m still waiting for cool temperatures here in Southern California to give me the sense of Fall. Have a great week and have a cuppa soon!

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Tea Things Tuesday ~ Blue

I’m joining Kim at Shabby, Pink and Pretty this week for Tea Things Tuesday. Click on over and join in the fun.

This is a photograph of a window through a mirror of a great Tea Shop that has since changed hands and changed decor. I miss this Tea shop and the owner who was a gem.

 

These are a few of my blue tea cups and saucers.

 

Blue Danube Tea Pot

There’s just something about Tea things that call to me. Hope you all have a lovely Tuesday wherever you may be…

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Family Tea with Mosaics…

Half the ladies in my family met for tea yesterday in Fullerton, California. We had the Senior member of our family(my 85 year old mom) and the youngest member of our family (my 1 month old Grand Niece) in attendance.

 

The venue was the Spring Tea Garden in Fullerton, California. We were treated well during our time there.

 

 

 

Avery was born on September 17th…

 

These are my sisters, my mom and our Grand Niece Avery.

Make sure and visit Mary at The Little Red House to see more of Mosaic Monday…

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It’s in the 90’s and We’re Going to Tea!

The Sisters…

Southern California is having a weather event and we are HOT HOT HOT. Back in April my family planned a nice afternoon at the Rose Tree Cottage in Pasadena for my mother’s 85th birthday. It was a disappointing day for my mom because she fell on an uneven sidewalk when she arrived and had to spend the afternoon and evening at the hospital instead of having tea.

My mother giving us some words of wisdom at her birthday tea two years ago…

We decided it was high time to get together for tea again and thought we’d have some nice Fall weather for our get together. Well it’s Fall but we are having some summer weather. This time my mom, all my sisters, a SIL, nieces, and little grand niece are gathering in Fullerton. We’re praying for an accident free day!

“Such items, if properly prepared and portered, jingle and tinkle, twinkle and shine, as if to announce their approach, and all the cups and saucers, the silver spoons and the sugar bowl, the steaming hot water and the shining strainer, the teapot and the plate of delicate sandwiches – all seem to combine and say as one, “Let your worries cease for now; the world is aright again!” And in the welcome pouring of the tea and the delightful crunch of the cucumber and cress sandwiches, not to mention the promise of the coming cakes and the possible surprise of strawberries and cream to follow, all else is held at bay: the past is forgotten, the future does not exist, and all is peace. ”

Toad Triumphant ~ by William Horwood

William Horwood has written sequels to The Wind in the Willows called The Willows in Winter and the book this quote is from called Toad Triumphant.

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Tea Time Tuesday

Barb at Grits and Glamour hosts Tea Time Tuesday every other week and I’m joining in this week.

 

I love my Wind in the Willows Teapot that I bought at the Rose Bowl Flea Market over a year ago. I put together a Pink and Green Tea tray to go with it just for fun. I enjoyed reading Wind in the Willows for the first time just before I saw this Teapot so I decided to add it to my small collection.

This is a tea I hosted back in February for my Bible Study ladies.

 

These are individual little bubble vase place card holders that are fun to use for tea or any meal.

I’m looking forward to  coming around to see your Tea Time posts.

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