A few weeks ago, Tori of Torizworld, blogged about the annual Mad Tea Party at A Fanciful Twist. I took a look at some of the past parties and they were absolutely delightful. I would have loved to join in this year but we are headed to Oklahoma City in just a bit for the Bricktown Reggae Festival. I won’t be around to host a tea party but I encourage you to take a look at Tori’s, as well as the round up of parties on A Fanciful Twist’s site. They look like great fun.

In lieu of a party, I decided to show you how we do tea around here. I’ve been drinking tea since I was a baby and I shared the habit with David and the kids. They all love it, too, but in my case it borders on obsession. That’s okay, though…there are worse things to be hooked on!

Here is where it all starts:

I love my electric tea kettle. The metal container you get a glimpse of on the left holds my organic Earl Grey teabags. Those are my usual, day-to-day choice and I buy them a case at a time from Amazon via their subscription service. Can’t run out of tea now, can we?

The red metal basket contains an assortment of different teas. To the right of the tea kettle is a jar with loose, apricot tea. To its right are three tins of wonderful teas: Earl Grey, Paris, and Darjeeling. These are loose teas. You can just barely see a little white, ceramic sugar bowl with a tiny spoon sticking out. I keep organic sugar in this for my tea. It’s sitting on a canister for coffee beans and the coffee grinder is to the left of the kettle. Yes, we drink coffee around here, too. That’s David’s choice first thing in the morning while I wouldn’t dream of starting my day without tea. 

Next up is a picture of the cabinet above my “tea station”, shown with the door open:

Sharing space with cocktail supplies are extra boxes of tea. As I said, we cannot risk running out so I keep plenty on hand, plus some different varieties for guests. My mom likes Lipton so I keep some on hand for her. That is what I grew up drinking until I discovered Earl Grey. 

Now let’s move to the library:

I have a number of cups and saucers which have been given to me over the years. Some are displayed in the upper part of my china cabinet.

And others share space with my books:

I would suspect most serious tea drinkers have a very specific way in which they prepare and enjoy their tea. I’ve got mine down to a science. First, the water (freshly drawn, of course) must be fully boiling. It is then poured over the tea and allowed to steep for the proper time (three minutes for my usual Earl Grey in a tea bag). Unless I’m making just a single cup’s worth of loose tea, I like to make it in my Klean Kanteen. This is a BPA-free, insulated stainless steel bottle that will keep the tea piping hot for hours. In fact, it will remain too hot to drink directly from the bottle for quite some time. I like to drink from pretty china cups so I pour a little at a time into one. This allows me to consume 16 ounces of steaming hot tea slowly without it getting cold. Perfect, huh? 

Here is a picture of my set-up. English bone china cup and saucer kept filled from an insulated bottle – perfect blend of old and new, don’t you think?

So go make yourself a cuppa then check out Tori’s tea party, as well as the others linked at A Fanciful Twist.