Thrif-tea!

Look what I found for $1.99 at the thrift store! I wouldn't call myself a collector, but I do have a few things that might appear that way to the casual observer. I have approximately 16 mismatched tea cups, 12 tea pots and 10 books about tea.

Just before I was married, my girlfriends hosted an Afternoon Tea Bridal Shower. The invitation requested that each guest bring a teacup to start my collection. I love them now, but at the time I thought, "what the heck I am going to do with a bunch of mismatched teacups?" And I still use the same 2 or 3 cups for my daily cuppa.

The books were a more natural extension of my interest in tea. EJ and I starting snapping up every book we could find about tea and tea parties as a part of our research to prepare for opening Two for Tea. On a recent excursion to the thrift store (a guilty pleasure since childhood), I found a copy of A Passion for Tea by Hattie Ellis. My mother already has a copy for which she paid full price at the local bookseller. It is not the best book about tea I've ever read, but it is a sweet little book with very nice photographs. Plus, who can deny anything useful that costs less than $2.00!

On of my favorite elements of Ellis' book is in "The Teas" chapter where she summarizes the various tea producing countries and the varieties for which they are best known. I forgive her for not including any African countries, since they are mostly known for beverages that are commonly called tea, but are really herbal beverages or tisanes.

So make that 11 books about tea.

Sharing the love,


Dara

Happy Mother's Day

Every Mother's Day I struggle to find, create or share the perfect gift. I mean, how do you honor someone for giving you life, dealing with your pubescent years and then becoming your business partner? If we didn't already have a tea business, I would throw her a really great tea party.

Long before we started our business my mom (EJ) and I used to host wonderful Annual Afternoon Teas. Our first tea was an intimate affair with about eight women and three little girls in attendance. We planned, prepared and orchestrated everything ourselves. The menu was simple--scones, homemade lemon pound cake, a few finger sandwiches and several varieties of tea. We had such a good time, an annual tradition was born.

Our Afternoon Teas grew from 8 to upwards of 40 guests. Each year for six years we opened one or the other of our homes and shared our passion for people, entertaining and tea. On more than one occasion we had women call months in advance to make sure they were on the list and to see if they could invite a friend! So many people raved about our parties that we started to think about ways of bringing that atmosphere and tradition to an even larger group of people. Our business, Two for Tea is a direct result of those annual tea parties.

So my gift this Mother's Day is one of hope. I will not be throwing my mother a tea party, but I will brew a nice pot of tea and have her over in the afternoon. Our conversation will surely turn to our business and our plans for the future. It is at that point that I will again thank her for all that I am. Then, I will suggest that we find a way to march on and continue to promote our shared passion for tea.

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.