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One of my versions of heaven is a quiet room, homey, with an endless supply of books and an on-demand selection of perfectly-brewed teas. (Since it's heaven, I'll request some tasty snacks, too.) So anytime I happen upon a teahouse, I seriously consider moving in. I recently enjoyed an hour in just such an idyllic spot. 
The coffee houses I've experienced (yes, sometimes I do enjoy a cup of joe) can't hold a candle to tea houses. Step inside a tea room and you're met with an air of calm, because people aren't doing that grab-the-caff-and-go routine: they're sitting and chatting, sipping slowly, savoring. (But they're not holier-than-thou, so you can get a cup to go if you need to hit the road.) Plus, tea houses provide the utmost in personalized service. Select your tea from a list which might be several pages long - not from a "what we're brewing today" mini-list. It arrives at your table perfectly steeped, or accompanied by a tiny hourglass to tell you when it will be ready. These details never fail to make me feel special.
And what's on the shelves? (Of course there are shelves.) Quirky teapots, flowery cozies, gold-accented teacups, and other paraphernalia to allow you to savor at-home infusions with all your senses, like quilted coasters that emit sweet scents when placed under a warm mug. And then there are the canisters of aromatic teas and tisane selections, just waiting for you to select them.
Though I'm comfortably settled on my couch with a steaming mug of English Breakfast, a part of me is pining for a tea house right now. Somehow I don't think that just pulling out a little hourglass will do the trick.
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It's winter, time for cold fingers, hot drinks, and cozy nights on the couch under a blanket. Winter is a perfect time to reconnect with domestic crafts, or learn a new one while enjoying a hot cup of tea.
I learned to crochet during a snowstorm. My older sister was visiting and my entertainment value plummeted when we got stuck inside while 8 inches of snow piled up outside. I made a pot of hibiscus tea and fretted about the plow schedule for the neighborhood. My sister, undaunted, pulled out her hooks, a skein of yarn and set me to work creating a single chain. When I had made one hundred chains, she directed me to rip it out and do it again until my fingers memorized how to make the stitch. In one night, we finished off two pots of tea and I had nothing to show for my work but sore fingers and wrinkly yarn. In two days, I made a scarf.
Even if you live in a temperate climate, it can do wonders for the soul to turn off the phone, and snuggle up alone with a movie, a pot of tea, and knitting needles. A quiet night is valuable whether you live in North Dakota or Florida. If you don't know how to knit or crochet, you can teach yourself from a book. The internet is full of tutorial videos for when you get stuck. If yarn crafts aren't to your taste, you can make magnets from glass marbles and pictures, flowers for your hair from material and rhinestones, or even get your aggressions out making mosaics.
If you have a friend or family member who can teach you a craft, or do it with you, make a night of crafting together. The conversation that flows from creating with others can be insightful and genuine - and nothing compares to the special feeling of learning something new from someone you love. If you learn on your own, you have that spectacular feeling of accomplishment of independent learning.
Since that winter snowstorm with my sister, I've made hats, amigurumi dolls, shawls, and fingerless gloves. Whenever I pull out the hibiscus tea, I think of that snowstorm and how much I learned and I'm inspired to learn more. I need my sister to come back out during inclement weather for another crochet boot camp.
If you'd like my recommendations for crochet or knitting instructions or websites, please feel free to contact me.
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... then tea and scones are absolutely delightful!
Raise your cups to an act of winter whimsy: the tea party. In attendance were two children (at heart) and two teddy bears. In the oven, a batch of maple-cinnamon scones. In our cups, well, tea of course - in fact, thee kinds were consumed over the
course of the afternoon. I don't recall being one of those tea-party-loving little girls, but here I am, a tea-party-loving woman.
After a cold-but-pleasant January walk, we whipped up some super-tasty scones (the mix had been a holiday gift) and boiled a pot of hot water. To make it even more of an event, we put cream in my grandmother's creamer (usually we pour milk straight from the carton) and drank our tea from fancy-schmancy mugs that look like little elephants. After ensuring that we had photographic evidence, we chowed down. The scones melted in our mouths as the tea warmed us from the inside out. Now that's what I call a relaxing weekend afternoon.
If your tea parties need a jump-start, here are a few ideas that will please kids and adults alike:
- Base your menu (whether it's extensive or not) around a colorful theme. A Valentine's tea could feature rooibos tea, scones with strawberry jam, and raspberry thumbprint cookies. Green tea, cucumber sandwiches, and shamrock cookies work for St. Patrick's day. You can even ask guests to wear the appropriate color. (If you're throwing an impromptu at-home "party," go ahead and change - it'll put a smile on your face.)
- Try a "T" party - think toast, tomatoes, or tiramisu.
- Or go for a "no T" party, where you'll rack your brain to avoid using words with the letter 't' in conversation. ("Could you please pass some more warm beverage?")
- Get fancied up. Everything will taste better while you're wearing your pearls and holding a silver spoon.
- Relive the royal wedding with elaborate hats (homemade or not) and across-the-pond accents.
- Stage a blind taste-test of different types of tea, or play guess-the-tea.
- Have each attendee adopt a funny character of his or her own creation. Give yourself an unusual name (Lucinda Catterbottom, Mr. Sledright, Oddball Jones, etc.) and act as outlandishly as your character would. If you have the time, this one just screams out for costumes!
Remember: a tea party is a tea party simply because you say it is. Plan one weeks in advance, or throw one together last-minute. Commemorate a special event or counter rainy-day boredom. Above all, be creative, and enjoy!
When you think of your history textbook from high school, you think back on wars, bloodshed, gunpowder... and tea? Tea has been part of revolutionary movements in politics and has caused several wars over the past few centuries.
Despite its relaxing properties, tea has caused some of the largest and most widely studied conflicts in the world. The most famous instance of rebellion and tea came in 1773 with the Boston Tea Party where disgruntled Americans took our their anger on the tea tariffs by dumping all the tea from a cargo ship in to the river, creating one of the major tension sparks for the American Revolution. This action has been adapted throughout history and inspired the creation of the Tea Party, a conservative, libertarian party concerned with the government's involvement in private life.
Aside from these two obvious tea-related conflicts, tea has also started (in ways) conflicts like the First Opium War in China because it was in such high demand in Britain, causing Britain to interfere in Chinese trade to fulfill their demand. Empires in China have been overthrown because of tea trade.
Next time you pick up your cup of tea, think about everyone who has fought for their love of tea. Tea revolutionized the way cultures interact and has forever stained our history. Enjoy that tea for thought!
While sipping tea recently with a friend, I was impressed by her sugar dispenser, a little glass bauble which puts out exactly one teaspoon of sugar each time you invert it. I sheepishly admitted that I don't get out much, and I might even have uttered the word "newfangled." Then she told me the piece was actually old. Oops.
So I shouldn't have been surprised that the tea-focused segment that I caught on TV yesterday was actually a month old. Pop-culture medicine man Dr. Oz was spouting age-old wisdom anyhow: his "Teas to Fight Disease" are nothing new, but perhaps they've reached a new audience in recent months. Of course I'm thrilled by the possibility that Oz's Oprah-fueled fame is providing well-brewed advice to reduce the incidence of diabetes, Alzheimer's, and various cancers with black, green, and white teas, respectively. But I'd like to highlight an aspect of his article which was not at all its focus.
When we talk about tea as a healthful beverage, we often focus on antioxidants, the benefits of caffeine intake (or, paradoxically, the benefits of reduced caffeine content when compared with coffee), or the beverage's super-soothing effects. But tea was flavored water before flavored water was hip - that is, before you could bottle flavored water and charge people for it. One of the greatest health benefits for tea drinkers is that they're upping their water intake without consuming extra sugar or calories - of course, as long as they're not drowning their tea in cream and sugar. Don't get me wrong: I love cream (or milk) and sugar in my tea, but it's not as necessary as I think it is. And so my favorite feature of the Dr. Oz feature was his little "Flavor Meter" for each tea, showing which teas were sweetest and which were strongest. His list was painfully short, excluding red teas and herbals blends, but maybe I'll create my own someday. For now, I'll be satisfying my sweet tooth with healthy cups of Darjeeling, matcha, and Silver Needle teas.
What are some of your favorite sweet-without-sugar teas? (And when you do need some sweetener, doesn't that old-timey glass dispenser sound positively tea-lightful?)
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