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Gift for the Teacher

Sarah wanted to give a handmade gift to her teacher. Earlier in the year, Miss Jackson had taught the class to make baskets and boxes from cardstock, so used used that knowledge to make her gift.

Sarah chose purple cardstock because Miss Jackson has shared that she loves purple.

In a recent segment on plants, Miss Jackson taught the kids that many plants and herbs are used for teas, at which Sarah piped in that her mother sells tea and many of them have funny names.

Sarah thought it would be appropriate to give Miss Jackson some tea, so after writing all kinds of sentiments and memories on her basket, Sarah tied in a bag of Cherry Rose Sencha, with purple ribbon, of course!

We added some books for the classroom and some thank you note cards to the gift. I'm sure she'll get a lot of use out of it! I know I would.

A Weekend Steeped in Tea!

I've had a busy but wonderful tea-filled weekend.

Friday night I was near the Gowanstown area, just outside of Listowel, to hold a tea party for Jen and her friends who travelled from Listowel, Gorne, Fordwich, Atwood, and Bluevale. Jen was a super hostess and we had a lot of fun talking about our experiences with tea, learning about the history and health benefits of tea, and of course, tasting tea! And Jen had fresh Ontario strawberries to dip in a yummy tiramisu dip. Yeah - local berries, always so delicious.

Saturday during the day, I provided a tea station at an all-day craft event in Cambridge. Thank you to Andrea for having me in. She had about 40 women there and many of them were tea drinkers. It was fun to share in their fun of trying different teas each time they came up for a cup - I had Earl Grey de la Creme, Mango Delight Green tea, and Creme Carmello Rooibos tea for them and they were all a huge hit. I'm looking forward to having a few tea parties with some of these ladies, and meeting more again in the fall - Andrea is already planning for a November event.

After I was done in Cambridge, I made my way to Woodstock for another tea party. Rayelle, my hostess, is a charming woman and I enjoyed sharing Steeped's wonderful tea experience with her mom, grandma and friends. Rayelle, herself, is not so much a tea drinker, but her hubby is, so with her hostess benefits, she stocked up on LOTs of flavours for him, a soothing Lavender Eye Pillow for herself.

After my busy weekend, I curled up on the couch with my hubby, a movie, and a cup of French Bouquet - I love the combination of fruit and florals in that rooibos tea.

Tonight I'm off to Cheryl's up in Palmerston - can't wait!

This will be the last party for June for me, but I have openings in July. If you would like a wonderful relaxing night out with your friends, I would love to come do a tea party for you! Just email me at annthetealady@roegers.com to set something up!

The Virtues of Syrup

All spring/summer I have been recommending that customers use a sugar solution to sweeten the iced teas they are making with our Steeped loose teas. The quantities I use for our family are 1/3 c sugar dissolved in 1/2 c water over low heat. This amount can be adjusted if your family likes things a little sweeter.

Last week, I had the pleasure of conducting a tea party just outside Listowel, where one of the guests had spent 5 years in Sri Lanka in the missions field, and she had the opportunity to tour several tea plantations while she was there. She shared that she believed that although it is easy enough to dissolve granulated sugar in the tea while it is still hot, the sugar syrup adds a certain smooth texture to the tea once iced, that dissolved sugar misses. She recollected that when you are out at a dining establishment in Sri Lanka, they have sugar syrup on the table to add to your hot tea as well.

I tell you, this is just another reason why I love doing tea parties - I love getting to learn more about my product from people who've been there!

If you haven't tried it yet, give the sugar syrup a try - it is fast and easy.

Happy sipping and blessings, Ann

Beating the Heat!

Wow - when summer decided to start here in southern Ontario, it kicked in with a blast of heat and humidity, didn't it?

I was searching for ways to keep my family cool this weekend and thought I'd share this "hit" with you.

Until recently, Sarah's only exposure to iced tea was that syrupy stuff you order in a restaurant - you know the Nestea kind of stuff.

Remember the world of loose teas is just unfolding for me!

So when the heat hit on Friday, I thought I'd make an iced tea that somewhat resembles that stuff in flavour without all the chemicals and artificial ingredients, and I could control the sugar. I iced the Lemon Drop rooibos tea. How delicious and refreshing! I just made a pot of Lemon Drop rooibos in the Shanghai press and let it steep about 5 minutes. I poured it into a glass pitcher and stirred in a bit of simple syrup (1/2 c water into which 1/3 c sugar has been dissolved over low heat on the stove.)

 I poured some into popcicle makers and chilled the rest. The chilled tea tasted lemon-y and less sweet than the powdered stuff. And with it being a rooibos tea to start with, I was making something that had some health benefits to it too, not so of those powdered drink mixes. If you want to know more about the helath benefits of rooibos, I'm already planning my July newsletter - sign up and learn about rooibos, and more!

I was looking forward to how our popcicles would turn out! It froze nicely and was refreshingly delicious - lemon-y yet tart. You could add more syrup if you prefer your lemon taste sweeter, but this satisfied us!

Remember, you can ice just about any tea, so get something chillin' before the kids get home from school and feel free to leave me a comment telling me what you made and what your family thought.

Til next time, stay cool.

Blessings, and happy sipping - Ann