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General, News, Tea Info

London 2024 – 2nd Installment – Tea Stop #1 and Jessica’s Wedding

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Tea Stop #1 – Scottish Grown Tea “Nine Ladies Dancing”

For nearly 2000 years tea was primarily known to be grown only in China (and Japan circa CE 804). In the 1800s adventurous explorers and botanists began to bring seeds and plants to other countries so China would no longer have a monopoly. Now, in the 21st century tea is grown on nearly every continent of the world.

The United Kingdom boasts tea gardens in Cornwall and Wales and then, around 2016, nine Scottish women got together and began the process of growing tea on their estates.

It is my understanding that each of their tea gardens produces a limited amount of hand-crafted teas; and a few years ago they made tea news by getting their “Nine Ladies Dancing” tea blend (with leaf from all 9 farms) picked up by Fortum & Mason (UK provisioner-grocer-department store in operation since 1707). These limited edition teas sell out quickly and are impossible to get outside the UK (as far as I can tell). Visiting F&M to procure some of this tea was my #1 goal for this trip.

 Oh my, it is expensive – 60 grams (slightly more than 2 ounces) is all they had available at the time I was there; with the exchange rate (at F&M prices) it cost over $3 per GRAM. 3-4 grams are used to make a cup of most black teas (!).

Fortnum & Mason Premium Tea Counter

I look forward to exploring this tea with you – and to get feedback – IS There sufficient interest in this super premium exclusive tea that I should invest in 8-16oz, to sell in more affordable small trial and gift size portions? …. I Could do this – maybe not this year anymore, if they don’t have any left, but in the future???

We will be scheduling 1 or 2 sampling sessions soon. Guests will get an opportunity to taste this Scottish grown tea, as well as a number of other teas from this trip, as will be described in the next several installments. Invitation/Announcement will go out via email to our existing local customer list.

JESSICA’s Wedding – on the Isle of Portland, at the very southern end of England.

I hauled my luggage down this hill, and down these steps!
Old church remodeled into a B & B rental
Side view – This building housed all of Jessica’s friends and family + Adrian’s best friends for the wedding weekend.
Mr and Mrs Adrian & Jessica Wilkie

THOUGHTS? COMMENTS? Messages for Jessica you would like me to pass on? Add your messages on this post.

Next installment – Tea Stop #2

General, News

London 2024 – Jessica’s “Wedding” and my Tea Trip – 1st Installment

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When I first visited London and the UK a year or two before starting Traveling Tea, the only tea I could find was teabag tea and mostly it was Nothing to “write home about”, and that is all I am saying on the subject. I never visited an actual “tea room” back then, and I was not really looking for tea shops at the time.

Sixteen years later, I found tea service in restaurants and hotels*P still pretty much the same, sadly. However, …. Two of the looseleaf tea shops I visited opened up roughly around the time I started TT (isn’t That Interesting!?). French tea house Mariage Frère (a Paris institution since 1854) also opened a location near Covent Garden in 2018.

This is all strong evidence that proper tea enjoyment is definitely on the rise, Thank the Tea Spirits!

Petersham Hotel Dining Room view of Thames River with public commons walking area

*P A partial exception was found at my holiday splurge at The Petersham Hotel in Richmond (not far from Kew Gardens). The tea was no better, but the presentation was lovely. Pot of tea (with teabag inside) a pitcher of milk and a dish of several sugar/sweetener offerings (I’m sure I could have had lemon slices if I wanted). They served coffee the exact same way! Why cannot our quality restaurants figure this out? [caveat: by the time I added milk to my tea it was not very hot – but neither was the coffee I tried the following morning].

If you enjoy a bit of light hiking, The Petersham is a lovely hotel with several areas of public walking paths, including right along the River Thames. There is a bus stop right at the bottom of the hill in front of the hotel – so you don’t have to rent a car.

I did visit an actual tea room this time, also near Kew Gardens – Maids of Honor (established in 1850). They offered a proper tea service and a wide variety of teas. The décor was a bit run-down, but the service was good and I had a very tasty slice of quiche.

Next installment [presented in chronological order] – Tea Stop #1, and Jessica

General, News

Summer at the Tea Shop

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If you’ve been visiting us regularly you know we’ve added quite a few teas and new tea wares in the past year or so. Being able to open the shop floor up has improved cash flow and provided the funds to bring in more of what I hope you want to see and Share. Several new teas this year are a result of Customer Requests – Peaches and Cream, Buckingham Palace Garden Party, a Green tea Chai (custom blend), Earl Grey Crème (hitting the racks next week), to mention a few.

The celebration of our country’s birth seems a fitting time to announce that we NOW Have USA Grown Tea IN The Shop, and on the website, from Great Mississippi Tea Company. We are Very excited to finally be able to Share This with You.

Great Mississippi Tea Company (GMTC) planted their first tea bushes about the time we were opening in Maplewood and Kateri has been following their progress.

It takes at least 5 years to be able to harvest enough leaf to be commercially viable, and they have been adding tea bushes and learning and growing their farm, and garnering awards at tea competitions over all this time. The teas are sustainably grown without the use of pesticides or fungicides. GMTC is at the forefront of encouraging and helping to educate other farms and individuals who want to grow tea in the U.S.

I missed out on wholesale purchasing last year – because they have only what they can harvest and process in a given year. The 4 options of teas you can purchase from us right now is new 2024 harvest, made into a black, green, oolong, AND a yellow tea.

Good Yellow tea is hard to find outside of China – and truthfully, I have not yet tasted it and I am still learning about how it is made and what makes it different. The teas just arrived Wednesday. We will brew some up for sampling this Saturday, and are looking forward to learning more about it along with you!

I brought in only 1oz packages to start, as an introduction. Pricing is comparable to other of our farm direct, hand-crafted teas. Give us a week or so and we will be breaking down 1 or 2 packages into our usual Trial Size offerings for those of you on a budget, because Everyone should have an opportuni-tea to enjoy Good, Real tea.

Visit the Comings & Goings page for more New tea info

We’ve also come up with two more specialty matcha flavors – Chocolate Mint, or Ginger. We originated these as a latte, and they take a few minutes to prepare (like our Butter Beer, if you remember that one). For the freshest, tastiest experience we brew everything to order.

Thank you for Being Wonderful and Supportive of your Local Tea Shop. It means the World to Us.

Kateri + Lori and PJ