While the Boston Tea Party is often the most common story of tea’s role in rebellious acts, the beverage found its way into the homes and lives of another group interested in revolution: the American women’s suffrage. On July 9, 1848, five key members of the American women’s suffrage movement met for tea in Waterloo, New…
John Harney Inspired America’s Tea Renaissance
John Harney and Bruce Richardson at World Tea Expo 2009The tea family lost one of its patriarchs this week with the passing of John Harney. John was the founder of Harney & Sons and one of the pioneers who helped light the fire beneath America’s tea renaissance beginning at the end of the 20th century.Monday morning, John -…
A Gadget Guide to Making Tea
The recipe for making tea during the time of Jane Austen was fairly simple: the butler brought in the “tea things” on a teaboard (tray), the hostess placed a few teaspoons of tea leaves into a teapot (Austen purchased tea from the Twinings shop in London,) and heated water was added directly from a silver…
Everything Stops for Tea
The song “Everything Stops For Tea” was first performed by Scotsman Jack Buchanan and featured in the 1935 musical film Come Out Of The Pantry, which was set in New York. In Great Britain, everything did stop for tea throughout the first half of the 1900s as British workers took their tea break. By 1900,…
Teaspoon Etiquette of the 18th Century
Teaspoons played a very important part in the etiquette of tea drinking. The Prince de Broglie recorded how he was taught the complexities of etiquette while on a visit to England in 1782:“I partook of most excellent tea and I should be even now still drinking it, I believe, if the Ambassador had not charitably…
Teatime at P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home Retreat
P. Allen Smith's Garden Home Retreat along the Arkansas River. Shelley and I recently spent a beautiful spring day with our friend P. Allen Smith at his glorious Garden Home Retreat, located outside Little Rock, Arkansas. P. Allen Smith is an award-winning designer, gardening and lifestyle expert. He is the host of two public television…
The Health Benefits of Chamomile
It happens nearly every week in our retail shop. A new customer - often a man - will enter and say something like this, "Dr. Oz says I should be drinking a tea that begins with the letter P. Do you have any?"My answer is, "You mean Pu-erh?""Yeah! That's it!" I call it the Oz…
Mr. Selfridge Brought Tea to Marshall Field’s
In 1890, Harry Gordon Selfridge, manager of Marshall Field’s in Chicago, enrolled the help of Sarah Haring to assist with a new project at the store. She was in many ways, a typical American woman of her era—wife of a businessman and a mother. Neither aristocratic nor impoverished, Haring was needed to recruit “gentlewomen” who…
Afternoon Tea Reigns Supreme at The Empress
I had the opportunity to return to the Empress Hotel in Victoria, British Columbia last month for TeaTime magazine’s Occasion for Tea. The other speakers included Jane Pettigrew, Norwood Pratt, Shelley Richardson, and editor Lorna Reeves. We were joined by 70 devoted tea enthusiasts from across the United States and Canada for a weekend of…
Six Steps to Crafting an Afternoon Tea
Tea at Harrods, LondonI remember my first London afternoon tea at Harrods in 1979. Shelley and I queued nearly 30 minutes while waiting for the velvet rope to drop, allowing access to a three-tiered buffet of sweets that would make a regiment of Horse Guards swoon. The dessert trolleys held row after row of delicious pastries,…