Teacup Tales

The Pacific Northwest is one of my favorite travel destinations. I throughly enjoyed my trip to San Juan Island last week and fulfilled my dream of seeing orcas in the wild. Such an amazing sight! We stayed in Seattle for one night before returning home. I had the pleasure of visiting the Perennial Tea Room in Seattle. This tea shop is located on quaint Post Alley a block away from Pike Place Market. It is a quiet respite from the hustle and bustle of the market. This tea shop does not serve tea (even though past reviews do indicate that they do at one point pre COVID) but has an amazing selection of loose tea. The tea is displayed quite nicely in glass containers. Upon entering the shop there is an area with laminated tea menus divided by type of tea. The staff is extremely knowledgeable about each tea featured and were welcoming. I was interested in expanding my oolong and white tea stash. Across from the loose tea are shelves of quality boxed teas and accessories. This shelf made me...

Happy New Year! I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas season and are eager for what awaits in 2019. I began the new year at one of my favorite places in the world~ Carmel by the Sea. After spending some time on the beach, I went to a wonderful coffee house/bookstore in nearby Pacific Grove. Despite the cold, I enjoyed a pot of chai al fresco. Bookworks, located on Lighthouse Avenue, combines two things I love: tea and books. Whenever I visit, I find unique and wonderful titles at the bookstore which is located behind the coffee shop in the same store. I really try to support independent bookstores as much as I can. Every town needs an independent bookstore in my opinion. Today's featured English teacup and saucer is "The Friendly Village" by Johnson Brothers. This was one of the "holiday" teacups I used for my Christmas Tea. After visiting Carmel and Pacific Grove, I appreciate the calmness and beauty of "villages." T...

Hello Tea Friends, It is so wonderful to be back blogging! I certainly apologize for my blogging break. Simply put, life just got in the way. I think I put too high of expectations on myself regarding my blogging schedule.  My love of tea, blogging and most importantly the online friendship connections I've made have led me back. I look forward to sharing when I can and visiting your wonderful blogs. View flying into Cork Airport As many of you may remember, my mom was born in Ireland and all of her family still lives there today. Thanks to low summer airfares I journeyed to London and Cork, Ireland. It was truly a magnificent trip. I have really missed my aunts, uncles and cousins. We stayed at the lovely and quaint Arosfa Hotel in the Bloomsbury area of London. I thoroughly enjoyed sitting in the back courtyard, reading, enjoying tea and listening to the chatter of the songbirds. It was a nice respite from the busy streets of London. While In London and Cork...

Happy Summer Tea Friends!   One of my summer pleasures is visiting new tearooms while traveling. Saturday was my birthday and what better way to celebrate than going out to afternoon tea. A favorite travel spot of mine is the Monterey Bay. Carmel by the Sea, Monterey and Pacific Grove are idyllic towns. Last year while walking in Pacific Grove I came across   The White Hart . The beautiful Victorian immediately caught my attention. I was thrilled to learn the home serves as a tearoom to the public two weekends a month and can be rented for private parties as well.  I knew I wanted to celebrate my birthday there. We made reservations for 11:30 (right when it opened). The White Hart does not have set seating times like many other tearooms. This makes for a relaxed experience in my opinion. I was happily surprised to see the decorated table when we arrived. So sweet! A birthday card on the table! Noritake teacups We enjoyed a ...

"Love planted a rose, and the world turned sweet." ~Katherine Lee Bates Hello Tea Friends, Last week we had a bit of a warm spell which my roses, flowers and budding vegetables gladly welcomed. The yellow "Mellow Yellow" rose tree became so top heavy that I really had to cut it back as it was almost ready to fall over. So alas, no photos of those pretty roses- just miniature pink ones. Since the sun is shining and not too hot, please join me in the backyard for a rose tea. I have been so excited to share my first teacup trio! While on a recent trip, I found this "Orleans Rose" trio. It's in wonderful condition with most of the gold trim intact. I've been looking for (an affordable) trio for quite a while. The almost three dimensional paintings of the roses is quite lovely. This is my first Royal Standard teaware in my collection. It was produced circa 1950's. Have a slice of cherry cobbler fr...

Beautiful scents and colors are in the air as spring has finally "sprung" here! One of my favorite spring flowers are lilacs.  Unfortunately several consecutive rain showers really "damaged" my lilacs this year which is such a pity as I adore their scent. This is a photo taken last year in my backyard with a lilac branch and Royal Albert's Blossom Time Series Lilac  teacup. Many of last summer's vacations provided me with the opportunity to visit various tearooms. I didn't get the chance to share this wonderful garden and tea experience until now. Another purple hued flower I enjoy is lavender. While visiting Portland, Oregon I came across a brochure advertising a lavender cutting farm in Hillsboro. I was so intrigued. We enjoy fruit picking, but I've never cut lavender before. My mom and I drove to  Helvetia Lavender Farm  and enjoyed a wonderful afternoon picking lavender and relaxing at the tea pavilion. So peacefu...