Angela Webster McRae's Blog, page 168

Snapple's Straight Up Teas

So I was in Publix when I saw these new flavors of Straight Up Tea from Snapple. I loved the packaging, and though there were three varieties — Unsweetened, Sorta Sweet, and Sweet — I bought only the Sorta Sweet and Sweet since I have never liked unsweetened bottled teas. And just so you know, I rarely — and I'm talking every-six-months-or-so rarely — use any sweetener at all in my tea!

That said, I was curious what the difference would be in Snapple's Sorta Sweet and Sweet teas. I tried the Sorta Sweet first. It tasted like wimpy sweet tea with a slight, slight lemony flavor. Was this tea supposed to be flavored? I didn't think so. The citric acid, maybe? I drank only half the bottle of this tea, but it turns out, if I'd had the whole bottle, I would have consumed 21 grams of sugar. By way of comparison, there are 20 grams of sugar in a Snickers bar. Friends, I would have much preferred the Snickers bar, even if I had to melt it and sip it out of a bottle.

The Sweet tea? I'm sorry to say I didn't bother to read the labeling until I got home and had drunk half the bottle — or more than a Snickers bar's worth — of this tea. Ironically, I didn't think this sugar-laden beverage tasted that sweet, and goodness knows it should have, considering all the sugar. At home, I drink my iced tea unsweetened, and I do not miss the sugar. In fact, in iced tea or hot tea, I like to taste the flavor of my tea, not the sugar. I do, however, like to try all the new bottled teas for the sheer novelty of them. These disappointing Snapple drinks, however, are going on the been-there-done-that list and won't be repeat purchases. Do you usually drink your tea, hot or iced, sweetened? I'm betting that many of us do not, so I'd love to hear your thoughts!

A new teacup and a new look!

Don't leave — you're at the right (blog) house! It's me, Angela, but with a bit of a different look! I've put off updating my blog header for way too long because, well, to be honest with you, I forgot how to do it. And I know just enough about Blogger to be dangerous, so I always have a slight fear that if I hit the wrong button or replace the wrong code, zap, nearly 10 years of blog posts will vanish into cyberspace. If you are reading this, that did not happen overnight, so yay! And yay to the new turquoise teacup I found at T.J. Maxx in Rome on Saturday, which spurred me on with the long-overdue redesign!

It's a Made-in-China cup and saucer from Gracie China, which has practically become my BFF of new teawares in recent years. In fact, I may just start saying "from my friend Gracie*" if I buy one of these teacups, and then you'll know what I'm talking about without me going into a big ole explanation.

But for now, I'm ready to chill out with a cup of tea after the mild panic that always sets in when I do scary computer things. Cheers, y'all!

My Country, 'Tis of Tea — New Jersey

It's the home of both Princeton and the TV show "Jersey Shore," and its state bird is the American Goldfinch, but what about New Jersey and tea?


• Did you know there is a plant known as New Jersey Tea? It's actually Ceanothus americanus, a shrub that got its nickname during the American Revolution when its leaves were used as a substitute for imported tea. And despite the name, it grows in many places in the US (click here to read more).

• We all know about tea being thrown into the Boston Harbor on December 16, 1773, but I'll bet not many of us know about the great "tea  burning" that was held in Greenwich, New Jersey, on December 22, 1774! I came across some info about this 1950 book, now on my wish list, called "Tea Burning Town: The Story of Greenwich on the Cohansey in West New Jersey" by Joseph S. Sickler. When I searched online, I found an article at nj.com that told how, on that evening in 1774, a stolen shipment of tea was set ablaze in the town square! The article says, "To this day, Greenwich’s identity is built around scorched tea as a symbol of courage and independence. The town’s annual charity 5k run is called the Tea Burner Race. Its logo is a flaming crate." Click here to read more of this fascinating tale!






• "CAROLINA TEA ROOM. Helen and Jewel, Proprietors. 1734 Asbury Avenue, Neptune, N.J. Famous Throughout Jersey For Southern Home Cooking." This is one of the postcards from my collection of vintage tearoom postcards, and I still find it intriguing that "Southern Home Cooking" was being offered in this tearoom. I also find it interesting that the top photo above shows tall electric fans on both sides of the tea room. That's something I picture us needing here in the hot South but not necessarily in New Jersey!

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The tea and coloring books giveaway winner is …

Snap! I *think* I already have your correct address, but if you would confirm that for me via the email button at right, that would be great. Congrats, and thanks to everyone who entered!

A surprisingly different puerh from Teavivre

So I was in the mood to try another of my new samples from Teavivre when I decided upon the Moonlight Beauty Raw Puerh Loose Tea. I was expecting the usual dark black and brown, earthy-smelling tea leaves, so when I opened the package and saw this, I thought, "Uh-oh. This sample got mislabeled."

Now I rarely have a need to actually *touch* my tea leaves unless I'm photographing a sample for a blog post, as I did here, and the other thing I noticed besides the nice vegetal scent (not one I associate with puerhs at all) was that the leaves were so velvety! I wish you could touch them, because they felt simply glorious!



And just so you don't think the leaves are giant ones, here's a coin for comparison.

Steeped, the tea had a slightly musky scent, and when I sipped it, the tea seemed very much like a smooth, rich-tasting green, with no bitterness and no puerh taste at all. By then I was enormously curious about this new sample and had to go visit the Teavivre site, where I learned the reason for this tea's unique appearance and taste: It is "made from the tender buds of Menghai large-leaf tea in Yunnan and processed with the method similar to White Tea. So it belongs to both Puerh Tea (for its material) and White Tea (for its processing method)." I was also intrigued to find a comment that "Moonlight beauty tea is suitable for women or those tea lovers who prefer a fresh, soft and smooth taste." I must say I agree!
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A tea towel made with love

Like many of you, I'm quite fond of tea towels and consider myself a small-time collector of them. I have vintage tea towels, souvenir tea towels, some lovely modern tea towels, but never before have I owned a tea towel made with love (just for me!) until I received one in the mail this week!

The thick, squishy envelope was from tea friend Ginger in North Carolina. Inside was a darling tea towel she made from fabric she found on Spoonflower.com. She washed and hemmed the fabric (something I'd never have gotten around to doing myself), and she told me in her note that it's of cotton and linen, so it can be washed with my regular towels. I absolutely adore this design, and since I am a tatter, I was so tickled that the doily behind the teacup features tatting, which you can tell by the loopy "picots" along the outer edge.

And the icing on the cake (or maybe "the clotted cream on the scone"?) was finding that a little fabric hook had been sewn onto the back of the towel, and that's how I know my beautiful new tea towel was "hand made with love" by Ginger!

New magazine for fall: Teatime Celebrations

About this time every summer, I'm dripping sweat during one of my afternoon walks when I start to seriously think, "I can't wait for fall to get here." I've already started spotting the occasional brown leaf on my daily strolls, and I find myself fantasizing about cooler temperatures, warmer clothes, cinnamon scones, and spice teas. As if reading my mind, Tea Time magazine has come out with another special issue, Teatime Celebrations, that has me even more ready to welcome fall!

The teawares in this issue, as always, are incredible. I've long been a fan of Herend (not that I own much of it!), so this Herend Printemps china in a feature on a Birthday Surprise Tea immediately caught my eye.

A softer palette prevails in Come to My Tea Party, a feature about a children's tea. Is there anything sweeter than little girls in smocked dresses?

But the recipes are what make this issue such a hit with me. This is the cover cake, a Pumpkin-Chai Bundt Cake with caramel icing. Much as I love to bake using tea as an ingredient, I've never made a Bundt cake with tea in it, and I'm eager to try this one. If you're ready for some fall inspiration as well, this magazine should do the trick!

A fabulous gift of some teatime newsletters!

Recently I was contacted by Rose Turner Jory, one of the lovely ladies I've gotten to know through the wonderful Afternoon Tea Across America group on Facebook. She asked if I was still interested in  back issues of Mary Mac's TeaTimes Newsletter, which I had mentioned in a blog post back in 2010. Indeed I was, and I quickly wrote back, wondering whether perhaps Rose had found a link to some issues online since folks are posting everything here these days. To my surprise and absolute delight, Rose herself had some of the actual newsletters and was offering to send them to me! And since I *love* to research anything and everything related to tea, can you even imagine how happy I was to receive these six issues in the mail?

I had only one issue of this newsletter before Rose sent me the mother lode of  TeaTimes Newsletter back issues, so my research capabilities have increased tremendously! In this February/March 1993 issue, which charmingly featured pale blue interior pages, I read a piece on "Teapots of the Month," which included a tea-for-one set and a Pink Bow Novelty Children's Set. How interesting that 23 years later, both styles are still favored today!

I love how each issue featured a themed tea, and in the April/May 1993 issue, that was a Queen Victoria Tea. Inside are recipes for such royal treats as Chocolate Orange Cake and Trifle Fit for a Queen. An entire menu is suggested as well.

Even the old ads are fun to read! In this one, for "C's Fabric Design," the offer is for tea cozies and comes with the note that "we will reproduce your historic house as a cozy." Now how wonderful is that! As you can probably tell, I am having great fun going through these back issues Rose so generously shared with me, and I'll probably have more to say about them as I continue to pore over them in the days ahead!

July giveaway: Coloring books and tea!

I had just about given up hope of finding anything suitable for July's giveaway when I came across some fun "Time for Tea" coloring books at Dollar Tree over the weekend. I'm giving away two — one for you to keep, one for you to share — and a package of Divinitea's Organic Earl Grey tea. In my mind, I've pictured two friends, or perhaps a grandmother and granddaughter, coloring away while sipping cups of Earl Grey, which I think would be just lovely!
I have really grown to love Dollar Tree because I just never know what I'll find there. I've learned to always check out their book selection, and this weekend, I once again found some wonderful hardbacks from favorite authors. On the way to the books, I spotted these coloring books. Yes, they're thin, and when I counted, I realized they have just 32 pages each, but hey, for only a dollar, that's what, 3.125 cents per coloring page? Not bad.

So if you'd like to be entered to win, just leave an "Enter me" to this post before 7 a.m. EST on Friday, July 29, and tell me what you would do with the second coloring book (give it to a friend or share with a grandchild, for instance), and you'll be entered to win. US and Canada only, please. Good luck!

My Country, 'Tis of Tea — New Hampshire

All I know about New Hampshire is that a friend of mine's sweet husband is from there, and she occasionally shares entertaining stories about the linguistic challenges he experiences here in the South. One of my favorites is the time he came home and told her about a coworker who had named her son "Soy-yur." My friend said, "What an odd name," until he went on and she finally realized, "Oh, you mean SAW-yer!" But fortunately I learned a bit more about New Hampshire, and its connections to tea, by doing a little research this week …

• At Polly's Place, which became a well-known tearoom in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the initial offerings were simply cinnamon or plain toast and tea. The tearoom was the subject of a January 1922 feature in Woman's Home Companion magazine, which reads: "It started with a loaf of bread and a pound of tea, away off in the northernmost corner of the White Mountains, in a little hundred-year-old house at Colebrook, New Hampshire, ten miles from the Canadian border, with Mount Monadnock, in Vermont, just back of it, and the Rangeley Lakes country in Maine but twenty miles away. … After the little cottage had had many unhappy experiences with undesirable tenants, its owner decided to subject it to no more indignities, but to give it the dignified place deserved by the oldest house for many miles around. Accordingly, six years ago, it opened wide its yellow-painted door with a brass knocker on it, and made its bow as a tea room, the first one in the great North Country, and a decided novelty in its own home town." (If you'd like to read more of the article, click here.)

• For the second time this month, I have learned of some interesting tea research being conducted at a university here in the US. According to a segment on New Hampshire Public Radio in September of 2014, some genetic engineering of tea is under way at the University of New Hampshire, where a neuroscience major has been working to create a *genetically decaffeinated* tea plant. "If all goes as planned," the reporter says, "the tea from this plant will produce a more aromatic brew than chemically decaffeinated tea." If you'd like to read the full transcript for yourself, or to listen to the radio segment about the UNH project, click here.



• Have a spare $3.2 million lying about? This New Hampshire farm with its own Japanese tea house could be yours! This screen grab from the website Curbed.com shows the farm, which comes with "a massive Japanese tea house, which, from the looks of things, is currently being used as a massive rec room." (Great news! I just did a search to see if the property is still available, and it is—and for only $2.95 million. Maybe we could all pitch in and open a tea-themed time-share?)

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