The Tea Corner

I Love Tea

February is the perfect time of  year to share your love for tea with someone special.  February 14th is especially memorable this year because it is not only Valentine’s Day, but it is my Mom’s 90th Birthday!  We’ve planned a large tea party for my Mom, our family and friends. 

Along with all of the many Valentine and Birthday decorations, we will be giving teapot trinket boxes for tea party favors to our guests.

Mom has enjoyed a cup of tea throughout the day for many years and her love of tea has passed on through the generations.  I love tea, my daughter loves tea and my granddaughters love their tea parties.

Aside from the many health benefits of tea, our family enjoys the tradition of serving tea.  There are so many beautiful tea sets and accessories available for this relaxing tradition. 

As a child, I  remember my Grandmother putting a tea kettle of water on the old Southern Comfort stove for brewing a cup of tea.  Her country kitchen was the meeting place and everyone sat around the kitchen table, on the stairway and rocking chairs waiting for the kettle to blow its whistle and then the conversation began.

Now that the Holiday rush is over it’s time to sit back in your comfortable chair and think about what your goals are for the new year while sipping on a cup of your favorite loose tea.

Relax with a cup of tea!

Holiday Teapot

Tis the season to decorate with your Holiday Teaware.  Teapots are not just for the kitchen.  Display your Holiday teapots throughout the house.  Embellish them with fresh or silk flowers.  Place a decorative teapot on a bookshelf, fireplace mantel or bedside table for an interesting Holiday decoration.

There are so many decorative holiday teapots to choose from.  Seasonal teapots come in all shapes and sizes.  Let your creativity sore and have fun decorating with your teaware.  Fill a glass teapot with small Christmas balls of solid or mixed colors for a unique centerpiece.

Teapot Ornaments

Tea enthusiasts will adore these tiny teapot ornaments with red cardinals & pine.  The mini decorations are endearing for a Christmas tree or wreath or even displayed on a Christmas tea table.

When the decorating is done, sit down with your favorite cup of tea and relax to the Classical Music Collection of Mozart, Chopin, Debussy and more and plan your next tea gathering to celebrate the Holiday Season.

Autumn is here and now is a good time to introduce the warm colors of Autumn to your tea table setting.  Think of a walk in the woods.  Bring nature indoors with beautiful hues of brown, golden yellows, vibrant reds and luscious orange.

Fall decorating can be fun, easy and very inexpensive when you look to nature for your supplies.  Each year with our Hydrangea bush blooms, I can’t wait to pick some of the colorful blooms to place in a teapot or pitcher for a lovely display that lasts throughout the year.  The green, pink and ivory blooms dry naturally in the container.

Fall Teapot Assortment

   This Fall Teapot assortment will get you through the Winter Season and beyond.  The colors of falling leaves.  Mismatched teapots give the tea table a sassy spunk and add interest.

Exotic Birds Cups & Saucers

From Congress to tea sets, one woman’s journey

By Pamela Riqaux, News-Post Staff                                                

My Journey to Tea

Pam Gleason gets up at 7:30 a.m. and starts working.  Her husband comes home at 4:30 p.m., and she is usually still working in her office in the basement of their home on Ridge Road in Frederick.

Her hobby of collecting tea sets turned into a full-time job two years ago when she decided to launch a web-based business called “The Tea Corner.”

“Children’s tea sets are a big seller right now,” Gleason, 60, said.  “I have them broken into categories: princess tea, flower fairy tea, garden party tea.  I even have boys’ top hats.  Boys like to have fun, too.”

She traces her interest in tea back to her first job out of high school in Winter Park, Fla.  She worked in the china section of a department store.

“I had a full set of china before I got married, she said.  “What got me back to this again, I was a legal secretary for a company and when they sold out, I had to have something else, I just went back to what I love — the china.”

The eleborate nature of her party supplies might be related to an experience with Walt Disney World in 1970 when she was 23 years old.  “I have one claim to fame,” she said.  “In Florida, I entered the Walt Disney World ambassador contest.”

A photo of her standing next to Mickey Mouse shows just how close she came to being picked — she was one of three finalists.

“That was a turning point of my life,” Gleason said.  “Had I become ambassador, I would have traveled all over.”

Instead, she went to Washington for a job on Capitol Hill as an appointment secretary for the late Silvio Conte, a Republican from Massachusetts.

“During my interview he said, “You’re from Florida.  What makes you think you can work her in Washington?”  Gleason said. “I said, ‘From one Mickey Mouse organization to another.’  He laughed and I got the job.”

That was in the early 1980’s she said.  Later she became a staffer for a subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee.

Her job was to help conduct hearings.  She remembered one hearing vividly.  A congressman gave her some papers to Xerox, she said.  She opened a door to where she thought the photocopier was.  She stepped in, shut the door and looked around.

“I was in a broom closet,” she said.  “I didn’t know what to do.  People in the hearing knew I’d stepped into a broom closet.”

She did the only thing she could do — composed herself and slid out.

Meeting her husband for the first time is another story.

He was the bass player for a band she asked to play at at party.

“I was renting a big farmhouse on Quebec School Road in Middletown.” she said.  The band was from Baltimore, and they said they would play for free.

The only musician who didn’t like the arrangement was her future husband, she said.  “They showed up that night, and I ended up marrying him.

Tea with Jane

“Jane Austen (1775-1817) loved tea.  She mentions tea so often in her novels and in her letters that I began to suspect that she was a true tea enthusiast…At the cent of almost every social situation in her novels one finds – tea.” wrote Kim Wilson in her book, Tea with Jane Austen.

For that perfect cup of tea, Jane Austin might make some of the following suggestions.

Always use freshly drawn water and never boil more than once. Twice boiled water has less oxygen thereby reducing the flavor and aroma of your tea. For a really good cup you need loose tea, which these days is not carried in all grocery stores. However, you can easily slit the top of the bags to get the amount you need for that perfectly brewed pot of tea for your party. If you are a lucky lady and find loose tea, you will not be disappointed. Loose tea leaves generally are larger than those in teabags and the tea itself is often of a higher quality. Tea very easily picks up odors so be sure to store your tea in airtight containers.

Generally, one teaspoonful of leaves for each cup of water makes a perfect cup. Some teas are lighter in character so you may need to try different quantities to suit your taste.

Some tea lovers allow the tea leaves to float freely in the teapot but a nice tea ball is perfect for removing tea leaves and most importantly prevents over steeping. Tea steeps best when it is kept warm while brewing. Whichever teapot you select, warm it by rinsing with boiling water right before you make your tea. A tea cozy will help keep the heat in during steeping. Be sure to never over steep. Over steeping will cause your tea to have a bitter taste. Always be sure to fill your tea ball only half full so the tea leaves have room to expand thus allowing all the flavor to flow through the water.

The temperature of the water plays a big part in the kind of tea you select. For oolong, black and herbal teas, use water that is at a full boil as it hits the tea leaves. And, of course, the length of time you steep is your own personal taste. Generally, five minutes for most black and herbal teas and seven minutes for oolongs. This will give your very nice results.

Like oolong, white and green teas are made with cooler water, about 180 degrees. A simple to determine the right temperature is when your tea kettle begins to make a rumbling noise then it is about right to pour. White tea should be steeped about seven minutes and light oolongs and greens teas for only about three minutes to avoid bitterness.

Remember, regardless of the type of tea, remove the leaves from the teapot when the tea is done steeping…this is a most important step.

Tea with Friends

Sitting down at a properly dressed table with your favorite friends and enjoying a delicious cup of tea out of a beautifully flowered tea cup makes the experience of a tea party all the more special.
~~~

Submitted by a satisfied customer of The Tea Corner,

Ever find yourself opening the kitchen cupboard and reaching for the same mug, your favorite.  My favorite mug is like a child’s favorite blanket… it makes me happy and feels good to hold.

Mugs are widely popular and are collected based on personal likes and life experiences.  Mug designs are limited only by the designer’s imagination.  Generally, popular designs include floral patterns, geometric, solid-colored, and themed designs. Themes can vary from holidays, famous places, fictional and animal characters. 

Archaeologists found mugs carved from bones dating to the Stone Age.  In 1748, Britain banned coffee and all merchandise associated with it, including mugs. This led to a shortage of mugs, and the black market prices for mugs rose.
Mugs today are made from ceramic, pottery, porcelain to bone china, and come in a variety of sizes, patterns and designs.  A mug can be both useful and decorative.  A mug tree is a great way to display your mugs while providing useful storage.

Whether you purchase mugs for use or home decor, I’ve searched the market and have put together a variety of mugs to add to your collection.

Original Scone Mixes

What could be more enjoyable than sitting with a few friends and sipping cups of well-brewed tea and nibbling on the dainty morsels stacked up on plates lined with paper doilies?   Scones — that very English thing.

Scones, scrumptious as they sound, are among the easiest things to bake; and The Tea Corner has found a scone mix even amateur bakers can attempt without too much stress.  Enjoy the flavor and convenience of this easy to prepare mix.  No dry fruits or artificial ingredients.  Just add butter and buttermilk and bake.  Use your creativity to embellish as desired.  Choose from our savory  Lemon Poppyseed or our Original Scone Mix.

Scones are best served straight out of the oven. The plain ones are traditionally served split open and topped with clotted cream and fruit preserves.  Butter works equally well.  You can also serve plain scones with fresh fruit.   That’s the beauty of our scone mix, you can have the taste of homemade, the ease and convenience of a mix, and the freedom to create your own signature scone.  And best of all, if you have any left over you can freeze the dough as individual, ready-to-bake scones and bake as needed!

Here are a few scone facts:

Scones are most often thought of as British, but the fact is their origin is actually Scotland.  Pronounced both skon and skoan, these are light, buttery quick-breads made with flour, sugar, butter, milk or cream, and eggs, besides a leavening agent such as baking powder. What is important though is to mix the ingredients correctly, with a light hand to end up with scones that are light and soft.  Over-mixing will ruin the texture of your scones.

The original scone was round and flat, usually the size of a small plate.  It was made with unleavened oats and baked on a griddle then cut into triangle-like quadrants for serving. 

Visit The Tea Corner today and enjoy a fresh batch of scones and a cup of tea this afternoon!

A tea garden is not only practical, but alot of fun to design.  And what better way to enjoy a cup of tea..right out of your own garden!

Blooming Tea Garden

You can design your tea garden right in the ground or be creative and use old teacups and saucers for bird baths, feeders or grew plants in them.  Here is a list of easy-to grow herbs that are fragrant and make wonderful teas:

• Chamomile - (a delightful apple scented herb traditionally used to induce calm and sleep)  Small daisy-like flowers.  It tolerates full sun to semi-shade.
• Bergamot – (Adds a touch of orange flavor.  The plant produces gorgeous bright red, purple, or pink flowers and is happy in full sun or semi-shade. The leaves and flowers are suitable for steeping.
• Mints - (lemon or lime balm, peppermint)
• Scented Geraniums
• Lavender – (a softly fragrant tisane that is perfect for soothing.  Recommended for reducing tension and soothing headaches).  Lavender grows well in full sun, well-drained soil.  Lavender buds are the part of the plant used for tea.
• Lemon Verbena – (a refreshing and tangy lemony taste from the leaves.  It needs full sun and will not tolerate harsh winters, so you may want to keep it pot bound.  The leaves are used for tea.
• Marjoram – (this herb has a fruity, citrus flavor and an undertone of mint.  It grows well in full sun to semi-shade and the leaves and flowers are suitable for steeping)
• Rose Hips – (Rose hips are the seed cases for roses.  They are extremely high in vitamin C and are very good for you.  The rose hips should be deep orange before harvesting.  Clean the rose hips gently before steeping.)
• Thyme – (considered to be a good tea for soothing stomach troubles and sore throats.  It has a spicy taste.  Tolerates full sun and semi-shade and is an ideal container herb.  Use the leaves for tea – if flowers are present, they may also be added to the tea.
• Stevia- (safe and natural herbal sweetener, used in place of sugar in an herbal infusion and safe for diabetics to use.  Stevia should be brought indoors during cold snaps and wintertime, so plant it in a pot in the garden.  The leaves are naturally sweet and their sweetness can be concentrated by drying or dehydrating them.

These are just a few of the many herbal varieties you may choose for your tea garden.

Here’s how to make fresh herbal tea:

1. Pick the leaves or flowers.  The best time of the day for this is just after the dew has dried but before the heat of the sun begins to draw the oils out of the plant.
2. Make the tea.  Add the herbs to a teapot or directly to a mug or teacup.   For each cup of tea, add approximately 2 to 3 teaspoons of fresh leaves and/or flowers. Slice rose hips in half before adding. The photo in this section shows direct infusion of chamomile flowers.
3. Allow to steep for 5 minutes.  This will ensure that the flavors are released and the full benefits of the herb’s or flower’s qualities are available

Now and then I come across some helpful tips for tea drinkers and I would like to share these tips.

       Removing Tea Stains:  Leaving a tea bag in cups and on saucers may cause stains.  To get them sparkling again:

• Rinse the cup, saucer or mug with lots of hot water to flush away residue
• Squirt liquid soap or a bit of vinegar onto a damp sponge
• Sprinkle on a hefty dose of table salt (this acts as a mild abrasive) and gently scrub clean
• For fine china, mix a teaspoon of baking soda with a few drops of lemon juice, and rub this paste onto the stain
• Let it sit for an hour or so, then wash the cup, saucer or mug

You may want to consider using a Tea Bag Caddy  to rest your tea bag.  Mix and match your tea bag caddies for an interesting table setting.

       The Best Brew.    Who better to ask how to make the perfect cup of tea than the United Kingdom Tea Council?  Here’s the answer:

1. Buy good quality tea and store it in an airtight container at room temperature.
2. Measure your tea carefully; use either 1 tea bag or 1 rounded tsp of loose tea for each cup.
3. Pour boiling water over tea (For the best flavor, always brew tea with freshly boiled water.)
4. Steep most black tea for 3 to 4 minutes and green tea for 2 to 4 minutes.

Check back next month for some additional Tea Tips!