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When in Rome…

May 10th, 2012 . Posted in Random | 8 Comments »
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…or Washington, DC whatever…you go looking for tea right? Of course! So this Friday my husband and I found ourselves in DC with family for the weekend. When we arrived we dropped our things and headed off to locate one of the Capital Tea locations in DC. We grabbed our Metro cards (a must) and headed off in the direction of Dupont Circle. A short ride and a few blocks later we found ourselves at Capital Teas.

They have a lovely shop with a wall of teas in glass jars filled with each of their teas. So we were able to smell all the teas we wanted. They also had a lovely selection of tea ware. I didn’t buy any, but I did buy some tea…of course! I picked up Caramel Toffee Pu’erh, Capital Breakfast, Genmaicha (sorry Robert), and Organic Irish Breakfast for my dear friend who was good enough to watch our “kids (cats)”. I think she’ll like it. Hopefully she won’t read this and ruin the surprise!

The staff at the Dupont Circle shop were super friendly and helpful and they really knew their stuff! I was impressed to say the least. With my tea purchases in hand we headed off to enjoy the adventure that was a weekend in DC!

We hit up the National Museum of Natural History where you can see just about everything including The Hope Diamond! There is supposed to be a curse associated with the diamond, but I’d be willing to risk it.

The Hope Diamond - just stunning!

So we wandered in and around the museum and noticed the butterfly room. Yeah they actually have a room full of butterflies in various stages. For the small price of $6. We had to go in.

Me with a butterfly. :)

It was a really neat experience to wander around this room full of butterflies. Apparently one even landed in my hair. I’m sorry I missed that! But it was a great experience and I would do it again.

Grossed me out at first, but it wasn't bad in the end.

Yes, that is a Hissing Cockroach and yes I am holding him/her. I chickened out the first time around. But when I went back after running around with the butterflies I opted to pick up one of these little guys/gals. He/she cleaned him/herself the entire time. So cross that one off the bucket list, not that it was ever on the list, but there you go!

The Doll's House

The National Museum of American History was next. If you follow me on Instagram (thepurrfectcup) you saw some of these updates. But the one above is one of my favorites! Yes, I’m a girl and I loved playing with my own doll house as a younger girl and so this is my FAVORITE spot in the museum. I honestly would love it if they would give folks (ok me) just ten minutes to play with it. This will never happen, but if it did I would be first in line. You will be happy to know there were several tea settings in some of the various rooms in the house!

Korean War Memorial

Sunday evening a few of us in the family took a Monuments by Moonlight tour. We saw a great many sites and this was one of them. The Korean War Memorial is very interesting. It is a series of life sized statues of soldiers walking in a V pattern. It is very moving and eerie in the evenings. Plus the eyes seems to follow you around the whole memorial. A must see.

Iwo Jima Memorial, Washington Memorial and others from Arlington.

We next headed into Arlington, VA where the Iwo Jima Memorial is located. Plus the opportunity to get the shot like the one above. It was a beautiful tour and I suggest taking it when in DC.

Finally, on our last day in DC we made two stops The Library of Congress which was interesting. Then we were off to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. We had stopped on our tour the night before, but it was difficult to get goo photos. Plus I was trying to locate a soldier whose bracelet I’ve worn for some time. I’ll direct you to a new blog I’ve started on him called Dear John. I will tell you my trip to ‘the Wall’ was very moving moment in my trip there are just far too many names and…well read Dear John and you’ll see.

Other than the trip to Capital Teas there wasn’t any other tea shopping done. Mostly because it didn’t fit into our schedule. Sadly the only tea I had on the trip was bagged and from Biglow and Lipton on two occasions! Since I’ve come home I’ve enjoyed plenty of loose tea…have no fear my tea kettle has been working overtime!

I think I’ve rambled on long enough…thanks for reading if you made it this far.

*If you want to read more about my trip hop on over to my personal blog for a post to come this weekend.

Ladies Night “Out”

May 3rd, 2012 . Posted in Uncategorized | 10 Comments »

…started tonight. The first of I hope many weekly meetings of the Ladies Tea Trade Hangout. There were eight of us enjoying tea and one another’s company for well over an hour. What can I say we’ve got a lot to say and all of it related to tea. I’d tell you more of what we talked about but the first rule of Ladies Tea Trade Hangout is well we don’t talk about Ladies Tea Trade Hangout…(sorry @thedevotea). ;)

But I will say I had a wonderful time and I’m looking forward to many more meetings. Thank you ladies!

You win Assam, you lose Assam

April 28th, 2012 . Posted in Tea | 4 Comments »

Bad pun I know, but let me explain…yesterday I was at my new-ish fulltime gig when I get a call from DHL. They had a package of tea samples from Lochan Tea for me. I was super excited that it was finally here. I became less excited when they told me that someone would have to be home to sign for it. Really, they couldn’t have called yesterday when I could have left a signed note to leave it. No they called me day of…sigh.

I did what I could to get them to deliver to my work, but no luck. However, they did say I could fax a note to the delivery station and they would deliver to my work Monday. So I asked if I could fax the same type of note to the delivery station and just get it left at my home….the answer was no. I failed to see how this was different from their other option. So now I’ll have my tea Monday.

But as luck would have it I located some samples Vivek was good enough to send me a few months back. So at the shop just now I opted to make a cup of Sree Sibbari Assam – it is becoming a favorite. I love the hint of honey I get when drinking this tea. However, me being the klutz I am I knocked it over after only a few sips! Hence the title of this entry!

Not to worry I have enough for another cup! This time I will keep it far enough out of reach to keep it safe.

And a Good Friday to you!

April 6th, 2012 . Posted in Tea | 3 Comments »
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The office where I am now working gives all employees Good Friday off. Which means I too get the day off as I’m a temp and can’t get in! But I’m ok with that as it has allowed me to get tea things in order here at the house. I cleaned up my tea cabinet. Sadly some of my tea was past it’s prime so it was off to the compost pile…I don’t like to waste tea if I can help it! I shifted around teas in the cabinet. Which gave favorites easy access space and seasonal teas were sent to the top shelf for now. I also see I now have space to order some more teas I’ve had my eye on as of late. Shhh! Don’t pass that on to my husband!

I also have been working on a tea for a dear tea friend of mine for her birthday…which was almost two months ago! Thankfully we are very easy going friends and as such she’s ok with that. BUT I want to get this in the mail to her tomorrow. Trouble is, I’m not super happy with it at the moment. The good thing is having someone else try it will give me good feedback down the road! I’ve also been experimenting with some gunpowder tea I found I had in the cabinet  (amazing the things I find!). So I was toying with ways to add to the flavor of the tea this morning…that sample is also off to my friend for her tasting pleasure. Plus there are some samples of other teas I’ve purchased that I’ve been meaning to send to her too. All in all a good day for blending and tea friends.

I’ve also gotten back on my Steepster account. I’ve been really bad about keeping up with that these days. But, I’m back and I hope to change that for the better. I found after logging on the other night that I missed that tea community as much as I missed this tea community. However, life has been pretty busy these days. As Ferris Bueller once said “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” I agree and it is time to slow down a little. So expect more posts on all things tea.

I also plan to post about upcoming events in the shop at they come up. We’re still working on the details, look for news soon! I also just want to drink more tea…yes I’ve even stopped doing that. Part of it was my arm and the rest was just being plain old lazy! Well, no more! Heck I’ve even had the husband asking when I’ll be making tea. That’s right we’ve found a few he likes and now asks for!! I know I was floored by that news too!

So stay tuned!

Oh, one more thing….I’m looking for suggestions of new tea companies to try. I’ve purchased teas from the following: Verdant Tea, DavidsTeas, Teas, Etc., Upton Tea, Stash Teas, Two Leaves and a Bud, The Puritea, Harney and Sons, Joy’s Teaspoon, Teavivre, Adagio, 52 Teas, and Teavana to name a few. Are there other tea companies out there that have MUST TRY teas AND are stateside? No offense to international companies, but the shipping puts quite a dent in my budget! So I’m looking for either companies you suggest or teas from the places I’ve mentioned that are must tries. Thanks in advance!

A quick update of sorts

April 3rd, 2012 . Posted in Random | 6 Comments »

I’ve been out of touch as of late due to a few things. Yes, the new job is one of them. I forgot how tired working a 9am to 5pm or in my case 8:30am to 4:30pm job can be! I also managed to pull a muscle and pinch a nerve in my arm/shoulder/neck. What can I say I’ve got talent. Better still I managed to do this all in my sleep! So the last week I’ve been in a muscle relaxer fog of sorts. Not what I would call good times. The pain was so bad that this weekend I was in a sling and the arm/shoulder in question was my right arm/shoulder…being right handed you can see the issue. I couldn’t do much of anything. Which included making a proper cup of tea!

I’m pleased to report it is now on the mend. The meds, stretches and heating pad things have been working their magic. So I’m finally getting around to trying some teas blended up for Collar City Teas by Madam Potts over at Mad Pots of Tea. She also blends up personal teas, but she also is more than happy to work on teas for small businesses. Which I must say is awesome. She worked up a NovelTea for me a few months back and it was awesome and just what I was looking for. Now we’re out to create something completely different! So stay tuned as we work together to refine the blends.

Sadly I’m also behind on a birthday gift of tea I have in the works for a dear tea friend. But that too is coming along nicely! As in I hope to have it to her next week! More on that one later, but I’ll say this much it is a touch spicy! Which is odd since I don’t usually like spicy in much of anything. So that’s where I’ve been and what I’ve been up to the last two weeks or so. What’s new with you?

Tea and Then Some

March 21st, 2012 . Posted in Random | 2 Comments »

I’m happy to see it hasn’t been as long as I thought it was since my last post. But for me it has still been a long time. For that I apologize. But I’ve been busy. Some of this busy can be attributed to working on a tea blend. All I can say is it’s going. I’m not sure where, but when I figure that out you’ll be the first to know.

I have also been working a regular 9 to 5 job. Which I LOVE! The folks I work with are awesome! Seriously I lucked out here. I hope I never have to leave. I’ve also been writing some in my personal blog. But the latest and greatest news is I’m working on a screenplay. I’ve had the idea kicking around in my head for a while. It was time to get it out into the world.

I also realized Scrip Frenzy begins soon and this year I will OWN it! Which basically means I will actually finish it! I really thought my husband and mother would laugh when I told them what I was up to. I mean it is crazy but they were crazy supportive about it. In fact my Mom has already told me she will be the one coming with me to the Academy Awards. :) Not sure how my husband will feel about that. But thee we are.

I’ve also been drinking lots of tea. I just haven’t been blogging much about it. But soon I promise. In fact I’m going to try and blog at least twice a week here and on the personal blog. Fingers crossed!

Yes, sometimes I drink coffee

March 12th, 2012 . Posted in Random | 3 Comments »
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I can almost hear the *gasp* from some of you. But in my defense I only ever drink it at work and NEVER in my mug created by The Devotea as that would be blasphemy! For example this morning I’m going with a Starbucks breakfast blend (we’ve got a Keurig in the office). I also have a killer migraine that I am trying to kill with caffeine. If I could get them to buy a nice water boiler/tea kettle I’d drink more tea here. But it is really impossible to get water the correct temp in either the Keurig or *gasp* microwave. So coffee it is! To be fair most mornings I do stop into a local cafe for an iced green tea or English Breakfast. But most mornings…I go for a coffee.

Sure I COULD make tea at home before I left the house, but there never seems to be enough time to make it properly in the morning. If I can’t make it right I won’t have it at all! The simple solution here is that my husband should get me the Breville One Touch. However, the price is still rather high so I don’t think that will be happening any time soon. BUT when it does you will all be the first to know.

I know this post is rather random, but it happens to be what popped into my head this morning. So I figured I’d share it.

Do any of you drink coffee? If so what do you reach for?

When Tea Shop Attack…

March 10th, 2012 . Posted in Tea | 2 Comments »

Yes, last weekend while in the shop I was attacked by a coffee table! I’d post the picture, but it is a litte gross and some of you, ok all of you are probably enjoying some tea right now…so I’ll spare you that. But I will say this it hurt. Actually it still hurts and looks rather gross.

I’ve also had the misfortune to get minor burns when attempting make someone a nice cup of tea. Nothing like the feel of boiling hot water on bare skin to wake you up in the morning is there? Who knew tea shops could be so dangerous?

Well, some of my dear Tea Trade friends do. They’ve been spinning a tea tale of their own here on Tea Trade (click here to read more). If you read it (and you SHOULD) you will find…I’m afraid you’ll just have to read it to find out! But you will be highly entertained!

Have you ever experienced any mishaps in a tea shop? Let me hear them.

Adventures at the mall…

March 3rd, 2012 . Posted in Tea | 4 Comments »
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I headed out to the mall this afternoon to pick up a few things including a gift for my Dad’s “16th” birthday. For Dad I selected the greatest hits of Fleetwood Mac. Also my Dad always had a thing for Stevie Nicks so perfect gift for a “teenager” right? I also picked him up a few treats he enjoys at the market: microwave popcorn, propel powdered water packets, and Dunkin’ Donuts coffee. All the things he loves. His party is a little late due to some crazy snow we had the day of his actual birthday party.

So we’ll be having it tomorrow after my niece’s 8th birthday. We’ll be bowling for the afternoon. Should be good times. I can’t wait for her to open her gift from the Mister and me…Lego Friends – Olivia’s House. She LOVES Legos and I think that is awesome. Who am I kidding I can’t wait to help her put it together!

Right back to the mall. I stopped into Teavana against my better judgement. Let me tell you first off the Teavana in our mall is VERY small, roughly the size of a postage stamp. Yet there were no less than 7 employees inside the shop! I honestly think each and every one of them stopped me to ask if I needed anything. This was slightly annoying. But it gets “better”…

When I finally made my way to the counter I mentioned I wanted to see a few green teas. The first tea pulled off the shelf was their most expensive Gyokuro Imperial Green for wait for it $20 per 2oz! There was no way I was getting any of that. So then I asked to try out the Gyokuro Genmaicha. It was a pretty reasonable at $12 for 2oz. He did try to sell me closer to 3.5 oz to which I said “no thanks:. I also asked for a flavored green: Sakura Allure Green Tea. I’m enjoying a cup right now. According to Teavana’s website:

Elegantly cut bamboo is the base of this enchanting green tea blend, enhancing the clean refreshing taste of cherry, pineapple, mango, rose and hibiscus. The Kyoto temple’s Sakura blossoms in full bloom make the spiritual coupling of floral and fruit come alive as rose and hibiscus intertwine with lively cherry, mango and candied pineapple. SUPERFRUIT ENHANCED

Bright and lively cherries and hibiscus blend with soft rose and mango

I’m finding the hibiscus isn’t really there in this cup thankfully. I’m not a huge fan of hibiscus. So it is really nice it takes a back seat here. But I will say there isn’t anything that stands out with this tea either. I should mention I picked up a cup of the Genmaicha to go and it was interesting to say the least. Toasty with a nice green tea finish. I will say it must be an acquired taste, but I’m willing to give it a few more goes. If it turns out to be a no go I have a few friends I can ration it out to. I know they’ll enjoy it.

The rest of my mall trip was spent people watching…that’s a story for another time…but I will say this: I really dislike the mall!

Where I’ve been…

March 3rd, 2012 . Posted in Tea | 4 Comments »
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I’m sorry for the post delays. But I was called again by the temp agency I worked for back in November to work at another assignment. What can I say I took it! I had to, business is VERY slow downtown this winter. Plus we just bought the house in December and bills need to be paid. Oh and we didn’t win Megamillions or Powerball so I really had to get some income coming in. Good news is I still open the shop on Saturday’s and that still appears to be when we get a great deal of our business.

The good news is I LOVE my temp position and they love me enough to make it M-F full time. In fact they really seem to want to hire me on for good. I’m working for a non-profit agency and they do good work and I even feel good about going to work…unlike how I felt at my last full time gig. But that’s a story for never.

In other news I’m looking into hosting some awesome events here on Saturdays like tea tastings and even a class or two on blending your own tea. So far people seem to be very interested in both. Plus I’ve got a program coming up in June at a local museum on herbal tea blending. So I’m keeping my hand as it were in the tea business. I also promise to blog more. Suggestions on topics welcome. :)

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