Holding on to an old friend

Like most of you I have a morning rountine. It goes like this:

• wake up after hitting the snooze twice


• take shower


• feed cat


• fill fantastic electric tea kettle that heats up in like a minute


• scoop approximately 2.75 teaspoons of black tea du jour into really scuzzy two cup tea infuser that I have had for at least 7 years


• drink tea and thank the universe to be alive and have such a delicious elixir

Okay, perhaps you caught the scuzzy infuser part. It is my old fave. It is well seasoned and I know exactly how much loose leaf tea to use in it. I have about 20 tea pots of various description, all kinds of infusers and tea strainers and even some tea in bags. There is just something about this thing. My dear sweet husband encouraged me to let it go and he makes a good argument--it looks terrible, the flip lid is missing and I do have options, some of which he has given me as gifts. So recently, I decided to find a replacement. It is not perfect, but I found the Aladdin BPA-free Essential Infuser. It's nice, but I still have the old one. I don't want to hurt any feelings.

The Replacement

It's not perfect, but it'll do. The Aladdin Essential Tea Infuser. Purchased at Target for $14.95.

Down about the economy? Drink Tea!

I must now publicly admit that Two for Tea had to shut down its Afternoon Tea operation. However, we are still slugging it out online. In actuality, our last official tea party was in December 2008. We were hoping and hoping and hoping that things would pick up, but all for naught. Well, that is until we actually packed everything up and sent out a notice about closing earlier this year. We suddenly had a fair amount of interest from people wanting to host Bridal Teas and Birthday Teas and Just Because Teas. By then, the wind was out of our collective sail and it was good to only work 5 days a week.

Let this be a lesson--owning a business is no joke! But, I do miss it. So does Mom. If you are down on the economy, drink tea. I think it might help turn things around.

Many cups later

April 20, 2008
It's been a long time...and many cups of tea. This blogging thing really takes focus, time and energy. Where do you find the time? Here I am working full-time, running a struggling tea venture and volunteering. I might try blogging in my sleep.

My new favorite tea is Earl Grey de la Creme.
It is really nothing like Earl Grey, which I happen to love, love, love. People tell me all the time that they do not like Earl Grey. Why? The bergamot. I often tell our customers, even if you don't like Earl Grey (EG) you will love, love, love the de la Creme. Nothing like the EG. Earl Grey de la Creme is all Vanilla, Mallow Flowers and quality Black Tea. No bergamot. It is my new go to tea when I am not cheaping out on a nameless
grocery store favorite variety pack. Sue me, I'm not a purist.

photo by Lisa McLymont