A cup of letters

I succumbed to buying a tea shirt this time last year, and a friend just pointed me toward another nifty design:



It's available at RedBubble one shirts or hoddies (as well as stickers!). Race ya.

Tuesday tea TV: Redistribution of girth

How are those new year resolutions working out for you?

If you're already sick of going to the gym, try instead the unique body-shaping method demonstrated in this Japanese tea commercial ...

Still steaming over teapot museum

This is not, repeat not, a political blog. I have my own reasons for disliking the Tea Party, but that aside the loosely defined group is a hitch in my kettle mainly because its existence has made searching for tea news and information increasingly difficult, especially online.

But one Tea Party beef is actually related to tea.

Recent stories about Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum kept mentioning that one of his cardinal sins, according to competing candidates, is that he once cast a vote in favor of Congressional funds supporting the Sparta Teapot Museum in North Carolina.

"Why can't there be a teapot hall of fame?" asked Sonny Kamm, who launched the museum with his wife, Gloria, and philanthropist Philip Hanes (as in Hanes underwear). "And we said, 'why not!'"

Amazingly, they managed to secure $400,000 in state funds for the project, as well as another $500,000 from Congress. A furor erupted over the expenditure, however, and it was canceled.

Despite all that scratch, the museum closed in 2010. Too bad, sounds as if they put on some great exhibits.

Tuesday tea tunes: 'Mad Tea Party'

Digging this rootsy amble from a Polish band called Camero Cat, here spewing a description of one spooky "Mad Tea Party":

Tea from Guatemala

From the My Friends Travel Far More Than I Do file ...

A dear long-lost friend of mine has been found, and she's in Berkley writing a wonderful spiritual blog. She also recently sent me the following envy-inducing dispatch and photos, which I'm sharing ...

Friends traveled to Coban, Guatemala, to visit their son for Christmas (said son staying at a monastery for a year). After dinner this evening, we sipped souvenirs ... Tea, from the only tea plantation in the region (see below) – yes, individually bagged, but oh-so-smooth, and fresh. It tasted like it knew exactly what it was – not Chinese tea, not British — definitely South American ... and as mellow and interesting as my dinner companions. Sweetened lightly with honey from a vial packed in my companion’s carry-on – honey from Guatemalan bees nourished only by orchids. Too good not to share with a tea-lover ...

The case of the traveling tea case

When I was a budding twentysomething hipster, I thought I was too cool for cooking school when I acquired a portable bar. You can find these in antique shops all the time now — it's a splendid vintage leather case, like a bulky, hard briefcase, and contains slots inside for two bottles, as well as a pair of small cups, a bottle opener tool, cocktail spoon and strainer. The eyes must have seriously rolled as I strutted into the party and set up my own mixology post.

Now that I covet tea paraphernalia, I'm drooling over this 1920s tea case...



This article about a later reproduction of the case -- which, alas, does not indicate where you could buy such an item -- explains:

In 1930, Louis Vuitton delivered its version of this tea case, an elegant and practical piece designed to be compact and yet easy to remove and use. The case contains cups, pots and all the other paraphernalia for a proper cup of tea on the road. While path-breaking at the time, today the piece is easy to identify with. It has the economy of space and packaging that is often seen in modern luggage, consumer electronics and even architecture.

Here's a promotional video from Vuitton giving a little background for the case's creation ...

Tuesday tea tunes: So I drink tea

A wintry, melancholy strum called "The Tea Song" from an unsteady lil' band Google has otherwise never heard of, the Delphiniums Blue:



I know of only one way to avoid my misery
So I drink tea

Wint-o-greeeeeeeen!

I had no idea you could still buy Teaberry gum, but lo and behold here 'tis in a neighborhood frozen custard joint with old-timey pretensions.

Teaberry is just a minty chewing gum (from ye olde Clark company) flavored from the Eastern Teaberry, a strain of wintergreen plant, so it's that Life Savers kick instead of mere peppermint or spearmint.

In the 1960s, Herb Alpert & the Tiajuana Brass wrote a theme for this Teaberry commercial ...



Native Americans, though, did infuse teaberry leaves as a medicine. Teaberry plants are plentiful, particularly in the eastern U.S.; here's a site with detail about using it as an herbal tea. The Republic of Tea makes a Lemon Wintergreen blend that contains leaves and oil.

Tea, photos, music, oui, oui!

I adore checking in with the Tea Masters Blog, even though it's in French, because the fella lays out gorgeous tea spreads and photographs them beautifully. The images, like the one above, are often breathtaking. This particular post (translated link here) caught my eye and ear — dig the pipa, a four-stringed Chinese stringed instrument. Stephane talks about the music, but it's also a striking object on his tea table. His teaware is gorgeous. I've got to go to Taiwan.

Tuesday tea TV: 'Gimme a tea, you bastard'

In the new year, may we all be more assertive about our tea choices ...



(Tuesday Tea Tunes will now mix up occasionally with some choice non-musical videos. The tea song well is drying up a bit, and I don't want to stretch it too far...)

How's it hanging?

How're ya feeling this morning?

If your New Year's celebration was intense, or if you don't exactly remember, a cup of tea on the morning after is always a good prescription. It's no hangover cure in and of itself, but it couldn't hurt.

As Tallulah Bankhead (pictured, looking rather blue in black-and-white) said, “Don’t be swindled into believing there’s any cure for a hangover. I’ve tried them all: iced tomatoes, hot clam juice, brandy peaches. Like the common cold it defies solution. Time alone can say it. The hair of the dog? That way lies folly. It’s as logical as trying to put out a fire with applications of kerosene.”

That advice is on a Flavorwire list of hangover cures cited from famous writers and celebrities.

A few tea merchants occasionally market a blend as a hangover salve (this one's of note) -- and this new restorative recipe involving twig tea and plums at least sounds tasty -- but plain ol' tea is the best bet. Hydration is really the only answer, anyway, and caffeine is usually good for a headache.

Ask not for which desire the bell tolls

In Japan, New Year's Eve traditions include the ringing of temple bells 108 times each, symbolizing the exorcism of the 108 earthly desires for the hew year.



The onoe-gama is a kettle shaped like a Korean bell, used to serve tea and symbolize this calendar-ending, bell-ringing purification during the New Year's tea ceremony, joya-gama.

A pure, happy new year to you all!

Smashing Pumpkins leader opening tea house

Billy Corgan continues to lead the Smashing Pumpkins -- their recent Chicago visit made my list of best '11 concerts -- but he's diversifying. In addition to launching his own pro wrestling group (auditions coming up Jan. 12, for those who want to get their pile driving on), Corgan this week announced he's opening a "1930s Chinese-style tea house" in a suburb north of Chicago.

As the Sun-Times reports, Corgan's a partner in the business and apparently the one selecting the teas. "The tea menu will tout flavors and aromas from around the world, from greens to organics and exotics," according to the report.

"It's a little bit of a salon vibe, not modern at all. Very old school," Corgan told another site. "What we're going for is that Chinese-French style."

Fellow bald-pate musician Moby partnered in a tea house, TeaNY, nearly a decade ago. It reopened last year after a small fire.

Tuesday tea tunes: Happy new year

We'll end 2011's weekly music feature here with one of my occasional thematic stretches. The Walkmen are a favorite band of mine. I've written about them here and there. Having been born out of another band that kicked my ass once upon a time, Jonathan Fire*Eater, they continued their vintage 1960s-garage sounds and have been a pillar of great indie-rock for years. I wish you a happy new year with the Walkmen's hopeful "In the New Year," which has little to do with our purpose here — except that it was partially recorded at England's Sweet Tea Studios ...

Real tea, imitation vanilla

Just a curious factoid: I had to rush to the corner convenience store for some vanilla extract during a fit of holiday baking. Imitation extract was only available. While the real stuff contains oils extracted from vanilla beans in an alcohol solution, the fake stuff substitutes the synthetic and more cheaply available "vanillin." To round out the flavor profile, though, I notice the ingredients also include "extractives of tea."

And, you know, a teaspoonful in a mug of some holiday blend ain't half bad.

Tuesday tea tunes: Christmas to a tea

This group of traditional Irish musicians called Dun Mor delivers an undulating pipe medley, "Christmas Eve / The Cup of Tea." Happy Christmas to all this weekend!

Christmas eve The cup of tea by Massimo Cerra

Holiday breakfast everyone's sure to Finnish

Looking for a new recipe for the holiday mornings?

I have been indulging in this breakfast delight all year long, and I've just about got it perfected. Over the years I've tried different versions of a Finnish pancake — a suomalainen pannukakku, a big poofy oven-baked, custard-like creation made simply of eggs, milk, flour and sugar. I finally found one I can work with, from Sunset magazine.

Theirs uses honey and lemon zest to brighten it up, and fresh berries in the mix — raspberries inside, strawberries on top. Don't know about you, but the process of pureeing and then straining (and straining, and straining...) the raspberries to get the seeds out is more of a pain than I'd like in the mornings; thus, I often toss in plump blueberries instead (as pictured, above).

Be sure to let it rise and brown the edges; it'll settle down out of the oven. It's a killer breakfast, and works equally well with a stout black or a floral white tea.

Must be time for tea

Tuesday tea tunes: I'm dreaming of a 'White Tea'

This spare electronic dance groove is full of white noise, like a white wintry day. It's "White Tea" from DJ HxH ...

WhiteTea by HxH

Teaku No. 14

No umbrella,
tea cup forward,
defying the cold autumn rain.