Tea find

Today I was shopping in Walmart for some random stuff, including some new pajama bottoms and top, and I found a cut lilac nightgown with this:

Too cute, and it's just reaffirming what I already know ;).  Just thought I would share my fun new find!

Tea Samplings--Part 1

This will be my first post giving a review of a tea--exciting!  Today I am reviewing a tea by one of my favorite blenders--Harney and Sons.  This particular tea is called Tropical Green and is a part of the Historic Royal Palaces collection. 

The tea is green tea with pineapple and comes in little sachets.  I really enjoy the teas from this collection for work or on the go because they are close to loose leaf quality, but are way more portable.  The sachets also leave a lot of room for the leaves to expand.

 

I'm not a huge green tea fan (I often think they taste a little grassy, but that is probably because I am always forgetting to take the kettle off before it starts boiling), but this tea is really quite nice.  The pineapple gives it a little sweetness, but the green tea taste is still paramount.

 

The tea is in an Elizabethan English bone china cup and saucer set.  There is a pagoda and little yellow flowers and trees in this green and yellow patterned cup.  I thought it was very appropriate to showcase the tropical green tea.



Belated Christmas Sweets

Well, I originally was going to write about something else today but the picture didn't come out because the lighting wasn't good, so I thought I would post something else.  I had a few friends over for a Christmas brunch/tea last month for which I made these mini-cupcakes and white chocolate covered strawberries:

The cupcakes are gingerbread with cinnamon brown sugar buttercream frosting.  I found the recipe here.  They were a huge hit!  As I mentioned, I used mini-cupcake tins (which I prefer because it gives guests a taste of a cupcake, but not too much if they don't want to eat a whole big one and I like the size for tea).  I used one of my favorite gingerbread cookie recipes for the gingerbread man and a small cookie cutter.  The cookie recipe I prefer has lemon or orange zest, whichever I happen to have on hand, which gives it an extra kick.

Just as a little side note, the three tier stand that the desserts are on is Christmas Tree by Royal Albert, which is my Christmas tea china.  I walked through the doors of my local Homegoods and this three-tier tidbit tray was right there.  My dish addiction is so great that my heart sped up.  I haven't seen it offered for cheaper since!  But I'll leave my love of Homegoods for another day...  

Each cup of tea represents an imaginary journey

The first post is probably always the most difficult.  Where to start?  I've loved tea from when I was a child and, after seeing other blogs where people shared their love for tea (and teacups!), I thought it would be fun to join in. 

First, a bit about me.  I enjoy the beverage (of course, this is a tea blog), but I also enjoy taking the full blown "afternoon tea" at tearooms and other venues.  Collecting tea trios and other various tea paraphernalia so I can put on the best afternoon tea possible is a great deal of fun.  Like a scavenger hunt each time you step into a consignment store or antique store and look for a new find.   I also enjoy hosting tea parties--especially themed tea parties.

I see this blog as a place to post about all sorts of tea finds, and other tea related topics.  And this the start of our journey together with tea.