Angela Webster McRae's Blog, page 173

Some intriguing news in the new Upton Tea Quarterly …

I have often written about the intriguing cover stories appearing in the Upton Tea Quarterly, but this time, the most interesting news to me was something that appeared on page 3. (You can read the full issue for yourself by clicking here.)
If you've read this newsletter/catalog over the years, you may be aware that the Upton folks are fans of the patented Chatsford Strainer System in teapots. (Go

Sampling Samovar Tea from Anchorage, Alaska

I absolutely love it when a friend surprises me with a gift of some new tea to try. This week, I got to sample some Samovar Tea that tea friend Ruth picked up on her recent trip to Alaska!
 The scent when I opened the package was absolutely divine. It was redolent of cinnamon and immediately made me think of red hot cinnamon candies. I looked at the label and saw that this blend contains black tea, cinnamon and orange oils, clove, granulated lemon and orange, and orange peel.

I'm happy to report that it was every bit as delicious as it sounds! I've been drinking more iced tea than hot tea lately, but this tea was so good, I immediately added it to the week's tea rotation. With the sweetness of the cinnamon and citrus, this would be a wonderful "dessert tea," and I'm so grateful Ruth thought of me with this delicious gift!

The Original Long Island Iced Tea

I've always heard of "Long Island Iced Tea" as an alcoholic beverage, but the "Original Long Island Iced Tea" flavors I picked up at Ingles over the weekend were made with camellia sinensis instead. I had actually been looking for the Jimmy Buffett teas I like to sip in hot weather, but alas, they had none on the shelves. Happily, though, I found a new brand of bottled tea to try.
The mango flavor was quite a sweet treat and did indeed taste like mangoes. This tea boasts non-GMO ingredients and "a pinch of pure cane sugar."

The Diet Peach flavor was also good but had a hint of that tartness I sometimes find in diet teas, probably from the sucralose sweetener. I liked it, but I definitely preferred the mango flavor. I seem to drink bottled teas primarily when I'm on the road (such as when I'm on vacation or when I'm heading from my Dad's house back to Newnan). Do any of you drink bottled teas more often than that?

June Giveaway: Herbal teas and herbal tea book!

One thing I don't suppose I'll ever develop sales resistance against is books. I found several good book buys at Dollar Tree over the weekend, and I pretty much leaped upon this copy of "A Cozy Book of Herbal Teas" by Mindy Toomay. I already have this book, but to find a brand-new copy for only a dollar? Well, I couldn't just leave this for any old body to find when one of *you* might need it! So I decided I'd pair it with some herbal tea bags as this month's giveaway.

The book is a charming one, and I'm happy to have been reminded of it because I'm suddenly on a Blue Willow kick and realized Blue Willow teawares are on the cover. I actually reviewed this book back during my year of reviewing a tea book a week, and the review is here if you'd like more info.

I'm also including a little fabric pouch with a few herbal tea samples. Even if you don't like the teas, I think the bag is cute! So if you'd like to win, just leave an "Enter me" to this post between now and 7 a.m. EST this Friday, June 10, and you'll be entered to win. US and Canada only, please. Good luck!

My Country, 'Tis of Tea — Michigan

I am a little nervous writing about Michigan's tea connections because the expert on all things tea in Michigan is my friend Phyllis of the Relevant Tea Leaf blog. In fact, I started to just post the link to her blog and say, "This." But that would be cheating, wouldn't it? So instead, here are my votes for three important things to know about tea and Michigan!

• You can't mention Michigan without thinking of the automobile industry there. Since my dad is retired from Ford Motor Company, I have a strong loyalty to Ford, and that's the only brand of car I've ever owned. (It helps that I've always gotten that nice family discount, but I would buy Fords even if I didn't.) I knew I remembered from reading Phyllis's blog that Clara Ford, the wife of Ford founder Henry Ford of Dearborn, Michigan, was a fan of teatime, and I found this picture of her online. This year marks the 150th anniversary of Clara's birth, and a number of anniversary teas and other events have been scheduled in honor of the occasion. In Ford R. Bryan's book "Clara: Mrs. Henry Ford," there are numerous references to Clara taking tea. She had tea with friends, she had tea before going to a concert, and in 1927, after she became president of the Woman's National Farm and Garden Association, she held a tea for 34 women at an inn. The most exciting tea tidbit I read in the book excerpt was that in April of 1928, Henry Ford was the guest of honor at a dinner given by the American Society in London, and "the Fords met King George and Queen Mary for tea at the home of Lady Astor the next day."  Here's a great blog post from Phyllis in which she writes more about Henry and Clara Ford.

• I wondered if anyone was currently growing tea in Michigan, and a search led me to the internet home page of Light of Day Organics in Traverse City. You may notice that it says at the top, "Michigan's Only Tea Farm." As I was looking over their website, I found a quote I absolutely loved about how they operate: "We wanted to make sure that taste wasn’t the only thing to feel good about. Ensuring the highest quality of tea for you and life for those who bring it to us is part of our mission. We honor all of those involved in bringing this extremely labor-intensive crop from the fields to our cup by paying everyone a proper living wage and encouraging the spiritual sacredness of the family unit and community with time off from work to recharge and to play in this beautiful area that we are blessed to call 'home.'" Loved reading how a mom named Angela (ahem!) started this company in 2003 and helps her customers make healthy lifestyle choices. You can click here to learn more about the tea farm.
• When I started collecting recipes from famous department stores years ago, I was happy to learn about Detroit's J. L. Hudson Department Store, which was known for its Mezzanine Tea Room and other eateries. And then I was beside myself to learn that the great Diana Ross once worked in the basement cafeteria at Hudson's and was, in fact, the first black bus girl there. That was actually quite fitting, since Detroit is also the home of Motown, the legendary record company founded by Berry Gordy Jr. in 1959, where Diana Ross would soon find a recording home. Frankly, if you don't love Diana Ross and the Supremes, I'm not sure we can be friends. "Stop! In the Name of Love" and "Where Did Our Love Go," "Baby Love" and "Come See About Me" still take me to a happy place inside my head. Now one of Hudson's signature recipes was their famous Maurice Salad. And while I haven't found any evidence that Diana Ross ever enjoyed a Maurice Salad (and neither can I say that she didn't), I can tell you that I've made these simple and delicious salads myself, and they are quite delicious.  I suggest eating one while you listen to Diana Ross and the Supremes on Pandora. Here's the recipe if you care to look it o-o-ver.

Freeman's Sweet Tea & Lemon Peel-Away Clay Mask

If I were a braver woman, I would have taken a selfie to show you what I looked like wearing my Sweet Tea & Lemon Peel-Away Clay Mask from Freeman this week. Alas, no. Just no.
I found this for a dollar and some change, I believe, at an Ingles Market a few weeks ago and just got around to trying it this week. I was happy to see that camellia sinensis leaf extract was indeed listed as one of the ingredients. When I opened the packet, I squeezed out goo the color of Thousand Island dressing and the consistency of glue. And yes, I smeared it across my face. I have always loved peel-off masks because I like the idea of "peeling off" impurities. (An old friend who was a sales rep for a well-known brand of department-store cosmetics heard me say this once and was horrified because she said I was stripping off a layer of my skin. Whatever.) And after just 10 minutes, I was able to peel off my mask (yes, I still had some skin underneath) and my face felt wonderfully smooth. I'll be buying this mask again!

June Coweta Shopper Column: The Charleston Tea Plantation

Planning a trip this summer? If you're anywhere near Charleston, South Carolina, I highly recommend a trip to the Charleston Tea Plantation, the topic of my tea column this month in The Coweta Shopper. If you don't live within the local readership area, you can find it online here.

How to drink more green tea

If you're like me, I always *intend* to drink more green tea for the health benefits, but I usually just don't like the taste as much as I do black teas or fruity teas. Thanks to a recent $1 find at Dollar Tree, I think I've found the perfect solution to this dilemma!

Years ago I received one of these infuser tumblers from some marketing company, but the infuser part didn't fasten securely, so I ended up tossing the tumbler. When I saw this one at Dollar Tree, I took the lid off, unscrewed the infuser, and it screwed back on just tight as a tick. So I took my tumbler home, cold-brewed some green tea, and popped a nice large slice of orange inside the infuser basket. The result is a delightfully citrusy iced green tea, and I could (and will) drink this stuff all day long!

The straw is nice and sturdy, too, so I don't think this will wear out anytime soon. Just in case, though, I plan on picking up another of these great tumblers the next time I'm in Dollar Tree!

Thrifting over the Memorial Day weekend

Lately I've been on a cleaning-out binge, tossing away, giving away, and putting away all kinds of books, magazines, and bric-a-brac. I've got my dad's blessing to bring some junk to his basement so my sister and I can be ready for the town yard sale there this fall. I don't care if I sell the stuff or not, I just want it gone. So I really, really think twice about bringing new stuff into my house (and my rule regarding teacups is that for any new one I bring in, I have to give one away, so expect some giveaways in the future, ha!). One area where I bend the rules, though, is when I come across something that's been on my "wish list," and Saturday at the Salvation Army in Carrollton, my aunt and I were shopping when I found a full-size cottage teapot like I've been wanting! Since it was just $1.50 and was in great shape, this definitely met a need.

It wasn't marked except for a sticker saying Made in Phillipines. I don't recall ever having teawares from the Phillipines before, do you?

The night before I hit the Salvation Army, I was talking to someone who wants me to help her with a big private tea on her property this fall. As I stood there pondering this fifty-cent handled dish, all I could think was, "Yes, and you'll be wishing you had this for lemon curd and cream come fall, won't you?" Since fall-colored teawares aren't that easy to come by, this got the nod as well.

The backstamp says Mitterteich, Bavaria, Germany. I found a page regarding Mitterteich backstamps here, and I gather this piece was made sometime after 1920. Fun finds at the thrift store!

Remembering ... on Memorial Day