Trick or Tea

pumpkin candles from Pottery Barn

One of our favorite holidays is Halloween, and we were thrilled to discover that The Ritz-Carlton Cleveland hosts a Halloween-themed tea, entitled Trick or Tea! 

The name alone makes us want to attend this tea, and it supports a good cause, Coats for Kids, as well.

The Ritz-Carlton Cleveland Calendar of Events

Emerald Necklace Inn Tea Room

Cleveland, Ohio

Best Tea Selection

My parents' recent visit provided the perfect opportunity to sweep my Mom off to a newly discovered tea room in Cleveland.

The Emerland Necklace is a lovely Inn with a tea room that serves tea daily. The tea room offers four different tea services to choose from. We selected the Emerald Afternoon Tea. Other options include the Mary Gillis Afternoon Tea, Lilia's Children's Tea and a Princess Party. The Emerald Afternoon Tea included a pot of tea, cup of soup or salad, scone and bread plate, quiche with fresh fruit, three tea sandwiches, and Chef's elegant dessert assortment.

Entrance: The Emerald Necklace Tea Room has its own entrance separate from the rest of the Inn. Lovely plants and landscaping decorate the exterior leading into the tea room gift shop.

Greeting: Upon entering the gift shop we were greeted by a lovely tea room attendant. Our table was ready as soon as we arrived.

Service: The service was pleasant and punctual. Our tea was brought out shortly after we sat down and the food service followed.

Presentation: The table was laid out beautifully with all the tea necessities. The table contained sugar cubes, devonshire cream, lemon curd, jam and salt and pepper shakers.

Table decor: Our tea pots and tea cups were mixed floral patterns. I enjoyed the knife which rested on its own special plate. Our tea pots rested atop lovely white ceramic tea warmers. There was a two-tier server that held our breads and sandwiches.

Aesthetics: The quaint tea room was adorned in lovely florals with pictures of tea cups and such lining the walls. There was a lovely assortment of tea pots and cups throughout the room. The tea room featured a decorative mantle creating an inviting faux fireplace-look. The tables were dressed with lovely light pink cloths.

Tea Quality: I had the Lady Helen's Royal Tea which I enjoyed with cream and sugar. My mom selected the Cream au Caramel Roobois. Both teas were fabulous!

Tea Variety: Upon sitting down for tea at The Emerald Necklace Inn, guests are provided with a lengthy tea menu. I did not count all of the teas available but I would assume their extensive list would please most tea palates.

Food Quality and Variety: We were first served a lovely tomato soup and toasted bread, followed by tea sandwiches which included: tomato and cheese bruschetta, chicken apple salad and the traditional cucumber sandwich.  After the sandwiches, we enjoyed the bread and scone course. The bread selection included banana, rasin, and a blueberry scone. We then enjoyed a vegetable quiche with seasonal fresh fruit. Finally we had the dessert course which included: chocolate covered cherry, fortune cookie, lemon mandolin, brownie, cheesecake, and a pizzelle with whipped cream and strawberries. My mom and I both loved the pizzelle!

Music: There was no live music, but nice instrumental music played in the background during our tea.

Lighting: There were lit candles on the tables, overhead lighting and natural light coming in from the windows.

Bathroom: The bathroom located next to the tea room gift shop was styled with adorable tea decor. There was also a framed article discussing the proprietor of the Inn.

Takeaways: The tea room allows you to purchase from a large assortment of takeaways. They also sell an extensive variety of tea.

Price: Low

http://emeraldnecklaceinn.com/

TWT :) Lindsey

Gong Fu Tea

Des Moines, Iowa

With fall officially commencing last Friday, we've been observing that the hours of daylight are slowly beginning to decrease. This prompted us to share our favorite tea that provides that extra boost of energy we sometimes need in the fall and winter months, Organic 500 Mile Chai.  The tea's name originates from the many late night truck drivers stopping at small chai stands along India's highways asking for a very strong and sweet brew to help them drive long distances ("for another 500 miles"). Organic 500 Mile Chai is a blend of small leaf black tea, dried ginger, cloves and cinnamon.  
 
We discovered this delicious tea at one of our favorite tea shops, Gong Fu Tea.  They offer a broad selection of fine teas, including one of our staples - Spice Tea, as well as lovely teaware.

http://www.gongfu-tea.com/

Pars Persian Store

Chicago, Illinois

It seems lovely fall weather has arrived providing us with the perfect reason to enjoy even more tea! We've been busy refilling our tea tins and wanted to share one of our favorite neighborhood tea shops, Pars.  Unfortunately, Pars does not have a website which means that if you do not live in Chicago you will just have to add this to your list of reasons to visit this great city :)

Pars carries much more than tea (everything from specialty foods and spices to home goods and more) but we go there for their wonderful (and inexpensive) selection of loose leaf teas and tea accessories.  They have shelves lined with containers of tea - the equivalent of a tea 'candy store' - complete with the scoop to fill your bag with as much tea as you can afford to take home! Some of our favorites include the English breakfast tea and green flowering teas (which are individually sold so you can take home a variety to sample).

Peter Rabbit Tea

We were thrilled to become first time aunts in May, and could hardly wait to plan a baby shower tea party in honor of our sister, Nicki, and our new nephew, Sam :) With a shared love of Beatrix Potter, we had such fun designing our tea party around this theme.

We paired our menu items with our
favorite Beatrix Potter characters.
(Lindsey's boyfriend kindly drew
impromptu illustrations on our
tea party signage)

A darling Beatrix Potter cupcake kit
with cupcake paper liners and toothpicks
was the perfect decoration for
Mr. McGregor's carrot cupcakes.

We were not brave enough to attempt making our scones
from scratch, so we purchased Sticky Fingers cranberry
scone mix - the next best thing! We did spring for
homemade devonshire cream though :)

Our menu included one of our
favorite childhood recipes: mud pies
named in our nephew's honor.

Our tea buffet

We purchased an eclectic mix of tea cups and invited guests
to take their tea cups home with them as a tea party favor.

We personalized the tea cups with each guest's name.

Our baby shower tea favor included a tiny tin of Muggswigz
Earl Grey tea.  We decorated the tins with green jute ribbon
and Peter Rabbit gift tags.

Our father, master gardener and
landscaper extraordinaire, designed
baskets that perfectly complemented
our Peter Rabbit theme.

Thanks to Etsy's vendors and Pottery Barn Kids for their lovely selection of Beatrix Potter decorations :)

The Amherst Rose: Afternoon Tea with Jane Pettigrew - Day 2

The second day of our weekend of tea featured an afternoon tea buffet followed by a tea tasting and discussion of how to brew a proper pot of tea.

  

 

 

We can not think of a better way to spend a leisurely weekend then with two consecutive days of afternoon tea! The second day of our tea weekend was the perfect sequel. The tea buffet was so beautifully prepared and displayed that we almost hated to eat any of the delicious looking treats. After being served tea and filling our plates from the buffet, our tea host, Mary Jane, passed around mini tea cups and introduced us to her Zojirushi tea kettle. The Zojirushi immediately won us over and has now been added to our list of must-have tea accessories.

While Mary Jane prepared our first tea, Jane Pettigrew handed out Tea Tasting worksheets that listed the teas we would be sampling: Camellia Joy white flowering tea, Huang Shan Mao Feng green tea, Dong Ding oolong tea, Tregothnan English tea, and Charleston Tea Plantation black tea. There was room on our handouts to take notes on the following characteristics of each tea: Appearance of Dry Leaf, Appearance of Liquor, Aroma of Liquor, Taste of Liquor, Appearance of Wet Leaf, Aroma of Wet Leaf, and a Comments Section in which we noted the proper brewing time and water temperature for each variety of tea.

As we sampled the tea, Jane Pettigrew provided us with a background on each tea that included the process used to prepare the leaves which establishes the tea's classification: white, green, oolong or black tea. All of the teas were delicious, and we were extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to sample the first flush black tea from the Charleston Tea Plantation, which is owned by the Bigelow family. We learned that the Charleston Plantation has a walk-through tea factory which allows you to see the process in which the tea is prepared as well as a trolly tour of the tea fields. We can hardly wait to plan our visit!

http://amherstrose.com/

The Amherst Rose: Afternoon Tea with Jane Pettigrew - Day One

The first day of our weekend of tea featured a five course afternoon tea followed by a discussion of the social history of tea.

 

The Amherst Rose is a charming home that hosts private tea parties and scheduled tea events. We were fortunate to be able to attend a weekend of afternoon tea at The Amherst Rose with British Tea Specialist, Jane Pettigrew.

When arriving at The Amherst Rose you immediately see the beautiful gardens surrounding the brightly painted property. You enter through the front door into a delightful tea shop selling various tea accoutrements. Upon our arrival, Mary Jane, owner of The Amherst Rose and host of our tea weekend, greeted us personally and made us feel very welcome.

When we entered the tea room itself there was one long central table surrounded by smaller tables. Resting at each place setting, was a small canvas with a picture of a tea cup personalized with each guest's name. A gift bag was placed on each chair containing lovely tea accessories.

We were seated at the long central table and were immediately served a homemade vanilla cream and rosewater sparkling soda. We enjoyed chatting with fellow guests who had traveled from Canada, Michigan, Pittsburgh and various other locations for the tea event.

We were served a five course tea, of which we enjoyed every last course. Some of our favorites included the pork tenderloin sandwich, Kensington Palace scones and garden medley quiche.

Our Five Course Tea Menu:

Vanilla Cream and Rosewater Sparkling Soda
French Vanilla Cupcake with Rosewater Frosting

Three Cheese Soup
Kensington Palace Scones
Lemon Curd and Double Devonshire Cream
Strawberry Rose Preserves

Tarragon Chicken Salad on Croissants
Cucumber and Dilled Cream Cheese Rounds
Garden Medley Quiche
Herb Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Savory Sauce

Double Chocolate Raspberry Truffles
Turkish Delight
Petite Creme Brulee
Rose and Pistachio Gelato
 
After finishing our five courses, our tea host, Mary Jane, introduced the guest of honor, Jane Pettigrew. Jane then began her discussion of A Social History of Tea. Jane's presentation was very lovely and informative. We enjoyed learning how tea was introduced in Britain and America, and how it became, and continues to be, a part of both countries' culture.  Some of our favorite tidbits we learned included the origin of the word tip (to insure promptness), and "noonshine" which was one of the original names for lunch.
 
After the presentation, Jane Pettigrew was available to autograph her books, which were happily sold in The Amherst Rose's gift shop.

http://amherstrose.com/