I needed a new tea pot. So on a normal Monday off/ lunching/ shopping/coffee drinking excursion, a tea pot was high on the shopping list.
We started at World Market, where I buy my weekly digestives ration. Tea pots galore, but the tops didn't seem to fit properly or the handles were unnecessarily fancy. Carrying on, we went to Bed, Bath and Beyond, no tea pots whatsoever. Sur La Table, only one and it was TOO big. Macy's sold a tea pot from Ms.Stewart but it came boxed with 4 cups. I have cups, my teapot was broken. A fast coffee break then down the street to the Asian market, where I buy my rice bowl, soup bowls and my rice. NO tea pots??? I was feeling very Goldilocks.
I wanted a little brown teapot like my mother, an Irish Canadian, used for everyday meals, fat, round and glazed. I went on line and found a Brown Betty Tea Pot, hand made , traditional in shape. I ordered a 4 cup pot, maybe I would have liked a 6. Should have checked with my tea swilling English/Irish girls first.
So here I sit, cup in hand, pounding on the ole laptop while surrounded with studying girls and begging dogs all swathed in scarves. I know not why.
I make my tea in the cup (mug really). It tastes good to me but maybe I don't know what I'm missing. Do you have a tea making ritual? What makes the perfect cupa?
ReplyDeleteS
xo
Can't live without my tea, and have a pot nearly like yours. Unfortunately, I have way too many rituals: Never tea to the water, always water to the tea. Way prefer it with milk, altho I have cut back since reading that the good antioxidants are negatively affected by the milk. Preferably Earl Gray or assam, but I do like the occasional chai.
ReplyDeleteThink I'll go heat some water!
Sue, Like Webb I add my nearly boiling water to the tea. Sometimes, black(then milk and sugar) sometimes green, sometimes herbal. Loose, bagged I drink it all. And I love using a pot because you can add more water and make more tea. Um and sometimes lemon with black tea.
ReplyDeleteWebb, the best part of tea, the rituals, oh and the memories!
Oooh, you'll shoot me, Jane, for my low class ways with tea. I nuke a cup of water for two minutes in the microwave and then dunk my teabag in the cup.
ReplyDeleteI have no excuses; I certainly wasn't brought up this way. . .
Jane, tea memories? Please share. Maybe in your next post? Just a thought ...
ReplyDeleteS
xo
Earl Grey leaves
ReplyDeleteout of the pot into a beautiful cup and saucer that were once used by ones Grandparents!
A dash of lemon
or
a dash of milk and sugar after the tea has been poured.
Teamed with warm teacake.
I am in heaven!!!!!!!xx
A dangerous subject to post about, with British readers! Wars have been started over here about how to make and serve tea. Teabags are most popular here, but loose tea in a proper, pre-warmed pot is much better again.
ReplyDeleteBut for me, always boiling water onto tea, leave a little while, depending on preference, then pour. Never add milk to cup before pouring tea. Never, ever! Makes for a nasty back taste of boiled milk.....
Add a couple of McVities Rich Tea biscuits (google them!), and you're done. Feet up......
Agree with Rachel - a little bit of a dangerous subject but am VERY pleased you use a teapot - just as it should be.. Love the lab's accessory - maybe a new marketing tool?? X
ReplyDeleteThat's what I call a Great-Aunt Teapot. What a comfort it must be to you.
ReplyDeleteHere in Blogtopia, do you think that the Principles of Biochemistry book needs a pink floral cover, edged in Japanese ribbon? Perhaps you could do a surprise makeover while the Friend is out buying more biscuits?
you should have stopped by Home Rule to say hi to me! We don't have brown teapots, so maybe you would have been disappointed still, ours are lime green, bright blue, red and white, but at least you could have seen my smiling face, especially after the GORgeous flowers I received last weekend. Miss you guys!
ReplyDeletehi jane,
ReplyDeletei love tea also. but unless i'm having girls over for a little tea and chat i usually have mine in a cup w/a tazo zen teabag or maybe a tazo awake. i'm faily lazy. but you knew that already.
~janet
my mother collected teapots throughout my childhood, so the idea of needing a new one sounds so foreign to me :) i LOVE brown betties.
ReplyDeletexo Alison
I'm not a huge tea drinker - maybe once or twice a month - but I do love the ritual of it. Maybe that's why I don't drink it that often, because if I'm going to drink tea I want to go "all the way"! Love your new teapot!
ReplyDeleteHaving almost bored you to death on the subject of tea and scones on previous posts, I shall refrain from saying anything about this. Not a word. Damn this is hard. xx
ReplyDeletealas,
ReplyDeleteIt's time to own up to the fact that it's actually MY fault that there was a tea-pot-hunt in the first place... i believe i was, however, in the process of cleaning the said pot when the felony occurred... not that that is a mitigating factor ...my dog is VERY cute though, so...
I am so glad you aren't a milk in first girl.
ReplyDeleteThat has quite made my day
xx
Sue, soon:)
ReplyDeleteJulienne, perfect, but of course!
Karen, if I shot you I'd miss you, so do it your way. but if i ever come to visit, can you put a kettle on?
Rachel, another perfect tea scenario. and i don't have to google McVities, they're a staple in this house!
Semi Expat, yes, that pup is a beauty and a true fashionista.
crunchycon, see you know! welcome, come back and chat again.
Katie, I probably would have love each and every tea pot I found there. What was I thinking. Miss you guys too, Happy Anniversary! xo
Janet, I'm not seeing the lazy Ms. Clean closets. You want lazy? Come visit.
Alison, you are very lucky. I have the fancy ones packed away. guess if my mother didn't use them I don't either. Perhaps some pictures of yours/hers?
Life In Small Chunks, As soon as them time changes or the weather cools, I'm a devoted tea drinker. All year I'm a coffee addict!
Belinda, please don't ever stop your self from ranting, I mean commenting on a subject so close to your heart. Ever. mean it.
GG, Look what a broken handle has wrought! Now stop reading the blog and get on the bus/metro/bike and come home. a good dinner awaits.xo
Ah, Miss Pickering, weighing in on the subject. I'm going to start saving my $$$ so i can come over and have a cup with all of you one day.
ReplyDeleteNow that I'm in France I only make one lonely cuppa. Back back in Dublin, it was always made in a pot because when it was grey and rainy out, there was nothing like a pot of tea to keep you warm and cozy.
ReplyDeleteLie your little brown tea pot :-)