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.

Breakfast, anytime

Breakfast, anyone? I've been drinking a lot of tea lately, especially breakfast blends. My usual m.o. is to drink black in the morning, black after lunch and green or herbal in the evening. Lately, it has been black all the time. Am I more tired than usual? Who knows. What I do know is that I like the description I found below(sorry I don't remember where and hope this isn't infringement).

Breakfast Blend – Black tea blend of any variety and origin astringent enough to add milk and sugar, but balanced enough to drink straight. Appearance of the dry leaf depends on the blend. Leaves should be well-twisted and include some tip. Wet leaf is brown, copper with a toasty to citrusy aroma. Liquor is bright and clear with rich, reddish-brown hues and a medium to full bodied, mouth-feel that is balanced, brisk and astringent with a tangy high note.

I invite you to share your favorites--teas or descriptions: info@shoptwofortea.com.

Sharing the love of tea,

Dara and Ernestine

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

It's Cold Out...Tea Anyone?

{this is an old blog i forgot to post}

Winter is slogging on here in the Midwest. Today it snowed useless fluffy white snow on-and-off all day. I had pancakes and a pot of tea this morning as I watched a "snow flurry" turn into a "snow shower" not to be confused with a "wintry mix." What the hell? At least tea is tea--or is it? When I was studying to become an important and useful resource on tea one of the first things I (we if you include Mother) learned is that not all "tea" is created equal. Take for example the Camellia Sinensis bush. It is tea! Compare that to your beloved Chamomile (hint, Chamomile is an flower/herb, therefore not from the Camellia Sinensis, there for not tea).

I love how clear cut this is.

Earl Grey tea. My husband's favorite detox stuff, not tea.

Tea anyone? Or not tea?