Tea on Valentine's Day

I had a Valentine's Day treat this past weekend — tea at the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill! It's become quite the affair since I last had afternoon tea there...there was a special room and a dedicated tea hostess who waxed poetic about the tea my date chose (a coconut oolong which really was spectacular.) My tea, a mixture of green and black recreated from some 18th-century blend, failed to thrill her.

The treats were wonderful! We each got two cucumber sandwiches (the best I've ever had!), a roasted bell pepper sandwich, smoked salmon biscuits, raspberry gems (amazing! high-falutin' gum drops!), chocolate tartlets, shortbread cookies, chocolate-covered strawberries, and (of course) currant scones. It was super awesome.

Twitter Saves Indy Tea Shop

A Kansas tea shop owner thought that with the current recession, he would have to close his doors when his lease ran out in May. But when the whipper-snapper employees of Zoomdweebie's Tea Bar convinced their owner to put his store on Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter, business took off. His nationwide Twitter fans vote on what limited-edition teas he should blend every week. Could Twitter save other small independent stores struggling right now? If I ever get around to starting my tea room, I'll definitely have to get on Twitter!

Read the full story here.

New Owner for San Francisco's Japanese Tea Garden?

The Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park has always been one of my favorite spots to relax. I love wandering through the winding pathways, curved bridges, and manicured gardens and ponds that are dotted with flowers at all times of the year, thanks to San Francisco's constant climate. I always end my visit with a stop at the tea house for a pot of green tea and some sesame cookies. Now, however, it turns out a new buyer is making a bid to purchase the garden and turn it from what some consider a tourist trap into a more authentic Japanese traditional experience.

As someone who loves that tourist trap, I was kinda sad to hear this, until I read about what the new buyer would do. Carol Murata, who owns a café in Japantown, has promised to bring a $500,000 grant to improve the weathered garden, as well as to offer "authentic Japanese tea service and pastries, incorporate cultural events such as the Cherry Blossom Festival, sell goods made by Japanese artisans and feature traditional music demonstrations," according to a recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle. Hey, sounds awesome. It's true that the current garden serves fortune cookies, which aren't super authentic, and sells some shlock in its gift shop.

The current owner, who's Chinese-American, cries racism, and so far city staff have recommended Murata. We'll see what happens!

You can read the whole story here.

TEA: Celestial Seasonings Puts out Two Teas for Breast Cancer Awareness

BOULDER (AP) - Tea maker Celestial Seasonings has introduced two new green teas to coincide with National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October.

The tea maker is known for having packages with art and uplifting messages.

The artists whose work adorn packages of the new teas are Colorado breast cancer survivors Dagmar Fehlau of Boulder and Heidi Kummli of Ward.

Celestial Seasonings has pledged up to $100,000 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

(Copyright Associated Press, All Rights Reserved.)

Tea: Mourners' tea drains reservoir

Tea-drinking mourners emptied St Johnston reservoir


By Staff reporter

Published Date: 18 March 2008
Source: Journal Tuesday
Location: Derry

Mourners drank so much tea and coffee at three separate wake houses in a Donegal town recently, the local council reservoir ran out of water. According to Donegal County Councillor, Tony McDaid, council staff couldn't work out how the reservoir serving the St. Johnston area had suddenly run out of supply. He said it later emerged the three wakes in the locality had caused the problems.
“There were three large wakes at the same time,” he said. “With people making so much tea over the weekend, they actually emptied the reservoir.”

Details of the St. Johnston incident emerged at this week’s meeting of the Letterkenny Electoral Area Committee during a debate on the Glenmaquinn water supply outside Letterkenny.

Executive Engineer, James Kelly said on three separate days last month, residents served by the supply were left without water because of problems at the Listillion Reservoir.

Mr. Kelly said there were all sorts of reasons being suggested for the problems but the council had yet to discover what the real reason was.

“There’s talk of leaking pipes but that has still to be substantiated,” he said. “People were also wondering if farmers were using the water to divert water into slurry tanks to make the slurry easier mixed. That has also yet to be substantiated.”

Mr. Kelly said there were periods of frosty weather and the council engineers were thinking that maybe there were overground pipes left running in order to stop them from freezing.

The Executive Engineer said with the new boreholes development coming on stream in the Letterkenny area over the coming weeks, the hope is that the residents at Glenmaquinn will not have to face such supply shortages again.

Last Updated: 17 March 2008 1:36 PM

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