Grand Reopening :)

When last you read fresh blog posts here, they were about traveling in Wyoming and Utah, where I:

Saw antelope cavorting in the snow . . .



Was a guest at an extra special tea party . . .



Carefully packed up my grandmother’s chintz china teacup collection and shipped it to myself. . .



Then, took in one last wonderful Wyoming vista before flying home. . .



Since that time much has been going on, and some of it was even tea-related. For instance, I put together an IKEA sideboard to hold my grandmother’s cups (plus all of my own pots and cups and tea).

In one afternoon, it went from this:



To this:



Tea had been spilling out of my kitchen cabinets on to countertop baskets, and with the addition of 25 cups and saucers things had gotten out of control. The new tea cabinet is now in a central living area, and there’s almost always a pot or cup or thermos of tea perched on it. It’s not elegant, but the simplicity and function of the tea cabinet make it a fitting place to keep grandma’s teacups. My mother saved these cups for me after my grandmother’s death a few years ago, and I was excited to finally have them in my own home.

Grandma W. spent most of her life on a farm in southern Minnesota. She didn’t have many fancy or dainty things – a few pieces of crystal, some depression-era glassware, and a bunch of individual cup and saucer sets. Many of these were gifts from her daughter-in-law, my mother, and they rarely came out of that cabinet. However, they did come out during my visits to see her. I was one of the few tea drinkers on my father’s side of the family, so my grandma loved to make a pot of tea for us to share. Bagged Lipton tea was placed in a brown betty pot, covered with cold water, and heated in the microwave until it boiled. Not a great cup of tea, but I’d still give just about anything to be back with Grandma W. in her farm kitchen again.

Later this spring, though, I will get a chance to sip tea with my other grandmother at her 90th birthday party! She is matriarch of the British side of my family and a devout tea drinker (bagged Red Rose from Canada is her favorite). Grandma G. is probably most responsible for my tea-geekiness. I lived with her for a few months as a young adult and soon fell into the habit of brewing tea each morning and afternoon.

Early next week I’ll be heading to Las Vegas for the World Tea Expo. I’ve signed up for a couple of seminars and will be attending the keynote, as well as spending time in the vendor’s area. I’m looking forward to learning more about the business of tea. Check here next week while I post live from the Tea Expo.

Also coming soon: a few thoughts on the perfect tea cup, this year’s search for a cocoa-mocha golden yunnan, tea in Bollywood, and quite a number of links I’ve saved up the past few months.