Belated birthday gifts

A few weeks ago, I received belated birthday gifts from some friends.

This mug is perfect for quarantine.

I love mangoes so I was delighted to receive this Mango & Lychee Souffle green tea.

How cute are these Tea Time socks?

I also received a Davids Tea gift card, but I'm going to try to wait a while to use it (famous last words...)!

You've got tea mail!

Oops! ... I did it again.

I bought more teas to support my favourite small businesses!

That is just so tea-pically me.

Late April purchase

When I found out that Geek+Tea was relocating this month, I felt compelled to stock up on my favourite fall teas (pumpkin juice chai and chocolate cauldron), and try some of the teas that I had been eyeing for a while. My order qualified for free delivery so Alyson dropped off the teas on my front door, rang my doorbell, and ran!

Mid-May purchase

Last month, Dessert by Deb celebrated its 1-year anniversary and I took advantage of the great promos to try out the teas that were on my wish list. Thank you, Deb, for the sweet handwritten note and including 2 free samples to my delightful package!

Late May purchase

At the end of May, Monarch Tea Co. launched a beautiful new website. When I e-mailed Katie to inquire when the summer teas--Summer Fling (a watermelon oolong) and Love is Love herbal tea--would go on sale, she let me buy the teas in advance and hand delivered them to my front door. She also included a sample of a peach ginger tea! Thank you, Katie, for the superb customer service!

Hello, June

I don't know what to say about the recent horrific events so I'm sharing Masai Ujiri's opinion piece on racism. It's also worth checking out these links on ways you can take action and be a better ally:

• Anti-racism resources
• Beyond the Hashtag: How to Take Anti-Racist Action in Your Life 
• We also have work to do in Canada: Resources for non-Black folks to support Black communities in Canada 

This was one of my quarantine reads. It was eye-opening and disturbing to learn about tea's early dark history. For example: labourers could be bought and sold like slaves at the British tea plantations in India, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and Africa.

May sipdowns

To end this post on a lighter note: the teas that I finished in May!

Oldest tea: The Naked Leaf's Pineapple green tea (May 2018)

Newest tea: Laura Secord's Earl Grey black tea (May 2020)

NOTE: Due to the increase in spam comments, Comment Moderation has been enabled. 

Tea gifts in the time of corona

During these topsy-turvy times, I was touched by my awesome friends' thoughtful gifts to lift my spirits during the lockdown.

A friend gave me this gorgeous teacup...

...to help me get through the bad days of the pandemic.

Another friend gave me this cute vintage Noah's ark teapot.

How long did Noah and his family shelter in place in the ark with the animals?

It takes many people something like this- to realize that their net worth isn’t what they HAVE in their lives - but WHO they have in their lives.

— jann arden (@jannarden) May 24, 2020

Does it worry you to be [home] alone?
How do I feel by the end of the day?
Are you sad because you're on your own?
No, I get by with a little help from my friends. 
(The Beatles)

Kicking off iced tea season

Happy Victoria Day to my Canadian friends!

In honour of Queen Victoria, I've displayed my Tower of London teapot (the crown on the lid is so cute!) and Emma Bridgewater crown jar (the bottom part is missing). Of course, the teacups are vintage bone china made in England!

This May long weekend marks the unofficial start of summer in Canada. The weather is FINALLY warming up so I cold brewed my first iced tea of the season!

Teavana's Youthberry is actually a white tea; the pink hue is due to the hibiscus. Its tropical flavour is very refreshing!

My violets started to bloom during the lockdown.

Instagram Fail!

Week 9 of Physical Distancing: So I'm thinking of resurrecting my doormant Instagram (IG) account.

I joined IG back in 2018 so that I could follow tea friends who moved from Blogger to IG. As you can see, I only lasted 2 posts--from January 2018!

Because I'm old school, I don't like posting from my phone. But there's a great tea community on IG and I do enjoy viewing other people's posts--the tea pics soothe me during these peculiar times. I think I finally figured out how to post from a desktop computer, so maybe it's time to make an IG comeback?

This threads of Angela Landsbury (aka Mrs. Potts) as teapots made me laugh. To view the 50 tweets: click here

Going to the Dark Side during quarantea

May the 4th be with you!

"Found only in a galaxy far, far away ... 

The force awakens with our darkest tea yet as this aggressively aromatic, forcefully flavoured black tea gets its character from real smoke—deep smokey pine roasted lapsang souchong with a hint of maple that will transport you into the world of one of the greatest stories ever told." 

(From: Geek+Tea)

Geek+Tea's Dark Side steeped to this gorgeous amber colour and had a strong maple scent. Its delicious taste was the perfect balance between the smokey lapsang souchong and the sweet maple.

My tea empties for April.