Winter Seasonal Teas

Well, it certainly seem to be Autumn here in Seattle. It's been pouring rain the last few days, perfect for sitting inside looking out the window with a nice hot cup of tea. In fact, we just happen to have a couple of seasonal blends perfectly suited to this situation!

First up is our Winter Chocolate Spice, a black tea blended with cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and other chai spices, along with real bits of roasted cacao beans.


It's great served as-is, but with a little milk and sugar, it's wonderfully decadent.

We also have Winter's Eve Rooibos, a no-caffeine version of the Winter Chocolate Spice, made with a rooibos base. The rooibos makes it a little lighter and gives it a slightly different flavor.


This blend also has pieces of cinnamon sticks, a lovely visual treat. Since it has no caffeine, this blend makes a great after-dinner drink to warm you up on those chilly evenings.

Both of these blends are also wonderful when made like a traditional chai; simmered with milk for a few minutes and then strained and sweetened to taste.

You can find them on our website as well as in the shop.

Just a quick note

Thanks to all the folks who came to the 2nd Annual Northwest Tea Festival!

It was a great success, and we hope to see you all again next year!

They grow up so fast...

Well, Summer is almost over and Timmy has grown quite a bit since we last saw him. Here's what he looked like last time I blogged about him back in April.
And here's a picture I took this afternoon.


Just look at all those new leaves! Now that the first (Spring) and second (Summer) flushes are over, he probably won't grow much more until next Spring. Come say hi to Timmy next time you're in the shop!

NW Tea Festival Cups

Do you know about the Northwest Tea Festival? It's happening at Seattle Center on October 3-4th. There will be all kinds of tea tasting, vendors selling teas and teawares, tea experts doing presentations, tea classes and a bunch of other stuff! You can check out the festival website at www.nwteafestival.com.

For just a $5 donation (which goes to help fund next year's festival), you get a porcelain tasting cup so you can taste all the wonderful teas at the show. We just got the cups the other day and they are beautiful!







Our supplier says they're made in one of the four cities in China most famous for high-quality porcelain. The porcelain is so fine that if you hold it up to a light, it will shine through the cup.



Here's a picture for size comparison.


$5 is a steal just for the cups, but then you get to taste all the fantastic teas at the festival, too! You can only get the cups at the Northwest Tea Festival, so come by and see us at our booth while you're there!

Best of Western Washington

We've been nominated for best tea house in King5's Best of Western Washington!

You may have noticed the little button at the right side of the blog. Click on it to vote for us! You have to register with their site, but it also lets you vote for businesses in other categories, too, like our good friends around the corner from us at 94 Stewart. They're nominated for best French restaurant (although they're not exclusively French, more contemporary American...) so show them some love, too!

We managed to get 4th place last year, so let's see if we can make it to number one in 2009!

New Forlife Teapots!

We just got the new teapots from Forlife, and they are great! It's called the "Hospitality" line.

They all have a white ceramic body, with a colored spout. The really cool thing is that the spout is made of silicone! You definitely don't have to worry about breaking the spout on this teapot! In fact, they were originally conceived as teapots for restaurants and cafes, so they're made to take some abuse. The silicone also helps to make the pot drip-free.

And when I say drip-free, I mean it! I tried pouring out of this teapot and I couldn't make it drip if I tried! You're welcome to come to the shop and try it yourself if you'd like. It really is amazing.



The teapot also comes with a stainless steel infuser with a superfine mesh, so you won't get bits of tea dust in your cup. The pots hold about 12 ounces of tea, enough for a big mug or two small cups.

There are 7 spout colors to choose from: Red (pictured), Paprika (kind of a bright orange), Lime, Marine (a rich blue color), Black, Brown, and Grey.

We'll have these on the website soon, so keep an eye out for them.

Hey, long time no see!

It's been pretty busy in the shop, so I haven't been able to do as much blogging as I'd like. We've got some new stuff in, though, so I managed to squeeze in some time!

I think this new kid's tea set is just about the cutest thing I've ever seen, or at least the cutest thing we've sold in the store.

It includes service for four, with silverware, napkins, even a tablecloth! And it all comes packed in a lovely wicker basket, perfect for a picnic tea party.

You can find it on the website here, as well as in the store.

We're also expecting a new line of teaware from Forlife, the company that makes those great Curve teapots. They're really good at making high-quality, functional teawares. You can really tell that the designers understand what a tea drinker needs in a teapot. And the best part? Almost all of the teapots they make are drip-free! Hopefully we'll get the new stuff soon, and we'll let you know when we do!

Bye for now, and happy tea drinking!