RA Poinsettia Teacup, Candy Cane Green Tea Taste Challenge, and More!

Vintage bone china teacups with Christmas designs are hard to find in my neck of the woods.

So I was beyond thrilled when I found Royal Albert's poinsettia teacup at my local thrift store for only $5!!!

Last week, I organized a "Candy Cane Green Tea Taste Challenge" at the office. We sampled three green tea blends (left to right): 

1) Tease Candy Cane Crush (loose leaf); 

2) Trader Joe's Candy Cane (teabag); 

3) Celestial Seasonings Candy Cane Lane (teabag).

Teas #2 and #3 had the same ingredients, but we noticed a slight difference in taste (note: those photos were shot at home because I forgot to take pics during the actual tasting).

The winner was: Celestial Seasonings Candy Cane Lane Green Tea--one of my all-time favourite holiday teas!

I've also been enjoying candy cane black teas:

Top (left to right) Dessert by Deb's Peppermint Mocha Fudge  and Davids Tea's Candy Cane Crush Tea Latte.
Bottom: The Polar Tea Co.'s Candy Cane Crunch was my favourite. It's too bad that the vendor is no longer in business.

I've also been sipping other (non-candy cane) seasonal teas.

Creemore Christmas Herbal Tea by Clearview Tea.

Christmas in July, an orange spice black tea by Coco Tea Co.

(I forgot to photograph Coco Tea Co's other delicious holiday blend: Christmas Cookie Rooibos)

(Orange) Holiday spice black teas by Geek+Tea (top) and Monarch Tea Co (bottom).

Dessert by Deb's holiday teas: Santa's Snickerdoodle black tea (left) and Holiday Cranberry Crumble Rooibos (right).

At a friend's house, I enjoyed these sweet treats with a cup of Chocolate Cauldron, a chocolate orange herbal tea by Geek+Tea.

Days 13-24 of my "drink what you own" tea Advent calendar.

(Yes, I cheated and took out the last 2 days so they can be included in the collage).

Wishing you a joyful and blessed Christmas!

Scarecrows & Teas

October was a busy month at work, but we still managed to fit in a tea social last week!

We sipped Pumpkin Cheesecake Rooibos by David's Tea from my Fire King and JAJ Pyrex tea cups.

Our sweet treats include peanut butter fudge cookies, pumpkin spice cream cookies, baklava and Timbits (Stephanie, I enjoyed a Timbit for you!).

Does anyone know why Google Photos added that weird symbol in the centre?

We also had crackers with hummus, roasted harvest vegetables and veggie sticks (not pictured).

This past weekend was the Valley's annual "Scarecrow Saturday". 

The displays created by the local businesses were a mixture of whimsy and horror.

Picone Fine Food's cute display encouraged us to "Shop Local".

This gorgeous wool coat from Terraware comes in purple.

But the $900 (!!!) price tag gave my wallet a fright!

I see a bad moon rising.

Scarecrow Gord Downie by Taylor's Tea Room was ahead by a century.

Of course, my favourite display was this adorable tea party by Stawberry Fields.

For today's Halloween potluck at the office, I made assembled these witches' brownies (take that, Pinterest!)

Pumpkin treat of the week: This delicious Pumpkin Spice tea from my teacup swap partner. 

Come back on Wednesday for the big teacup reveal!

I'm joining the following parties this week:

Tea Cup Tuesday

  Friends Sharing Tea

Tuesday Cuppa Tea