Amy’s Blog

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Hi all,

It’s been a long time since I’ve blogged.  It’s hard to keep up in this techie world with blogging, tweeting, texting and the ancient form of communication these days-e-mail!  I feel a bit behind.

I’m finally practicing what I preach. I’m slowing down, enjoying life and a cup of tea.  It’s amazing, when I make myself a small pot of tea, I actually have time to enjoy it hot and finish the entire pot.

In the days of the hectic tea room world, I would make myself a big pot in the morning, drink 2 sips and then rush around to get things done.  By the time I remembered about my tea, it was cold-which was no problem, I just poured it over ice. This tastes great, but  I really enjoy a good cup of hot tea-yes, even in the summer!

These days my schedule has changed radically.  I make myself a pot in the early morning, sit outside on my patio, listen to the birds and enjoy my tea.  It makes such a difference, I can’t believe it.  So for those of you who are skeptical, take 10 minutes to yourself and drink a cup of tea. It’s a great way to start your day.

Hi all,

I’m so excited about the World Tea Expo this year. I feel like a kid going to Disneyland in 3 days. Today is my day off and for once I am not doing tea things today. I have a million things to do to get ready to leave-mow the yard, laundry, etc. So I’m not doing tea things today. Yeah-right! What am I doing now? Anyway,  I decided to make a cup of tea and write my blog.  But when I went to make my tea this morning, I discovered I was out of almost everything-except Zhen Qu.  I thought, no that’s for special occasions.  Then I realized, I don’t have anything else so this must be the special occasion.  I’ve been so busy lately that I haven’t refilled my stock of tea at home. So Zhen Qu it is!  I love this tea. It’s a black Yunnan tea but a very special one.  My tea broker, Devan Shaw has it specially made. He pays a special group of tea makers money to drive to a certain area in China a few hundred miles away to process the tea in their style.  The result is fantastic!  It’s a Yunnan but has interesting floral notes. It’s such a pretty tea as well. It’s very fluffy and almost fuzzy with golden tips.  I discovered it right before the expo last year.

I can’t wait to see all of his teas this year.  His booth is one of my favorites. I always make a point to sit and listen to James Norwood Pratt conduct his tea tasting and talk at Devan’s booth. Last year I also met Rajah Banerjee at his booth who owns the oldest tea estate in Darjeeling. He was fascinating!

So who knows what the Expo holds for me this year!  I know I will be super busy with 2 booths, teaching and judging but I definitely plan on learning more about tea!

Stay tuned for more tea talk!

Hi all,

I just looked on the KCRA A-List as the winners will be announced this week.  I’m so amazed that we have 239 reviews from loyal customers.  Even if we don’t win Best Tea House, we’ve won in my mind!  Thanks so much for all of your sweet comments.  If I’m ever having a down day, all I have to do is read those and my spirits will be lifted. You all are the best! Thanks so much for supporting and believing in us!

Amy

I’m so excited! My tea plants finally arrived!  They were ordered from North Carolina and sent out on April 3rd. They were supposed to be here for the big Tea Sipper event last Friday.  I received a letter from California agriculture saying they were denied entry to California and sent back.  Then today for some reason, they arrived on my door step!  I really thought they were dead as it’s so hot and they have been in a box since April 3rd.  But, they were green with new sprouts on the ends and they look fine.  I immediately planted them in pots and set them out on my patio out of direct sunlight.  Hopefully they won’t go into shock.  But they are here!  As soon as I give them a chance to recover I’ll bring them in for a special tea class. What a wonderful day!!!

Hi all,

I’m very excited (and nervous) about tomorrow!  Tomorrow is our big kick off day for the International Tea Sippers Society.  And not only that, I’ll be on Fox 40 around 7:45 -that’s the nervous part.  They wanted me to talk about medicinal teas, but that is something I know nothing about.  I told them, tea is very different from herbal tea.  True tea comes from the camelia sinensis plant, if it doesn’t come from that plant, it’s not tea!  So hopefully I’ll be showing them the 5 types of tea and telling them how to make it.  Then I’m off to the tea room to meet my special guests, Norwood Pratt, Jennifer Sauer and Mitchel Noble.  That will be the fun part.  I’m really looking forward to hearing everyone speak.  Hope to see many of you there!

Amy

I’m so excited about April 17th!  That’s our big kick off day for the International Tea Sippers Society.  When I put together the speaker schedule this week, I was absolutely amazed.  We have some great speakers and great topics! I have them lined up every hour from 11-7.  In addition Kisty Rose from In the Mix 916 will be providing our music.  What a day!  We are going to film it and put the footage on a video clip to show at the World Tea Expo May 2-4th.  My goal is to have 500 members of the International Tea Sippers Society by then so we can promote it to all of the tea businesses across the U.S. We want 10,000 members by December 2009.  If anyone knows any press connections to get them to this event, let me know!

Many of you have been asking about the new cookbook.  I’ve been busy working on a new cookbook, but it’s a bit different than the previous years and is geared toward a different audience.  This time I decided to do a large quantity cookbook, perfect for tea rooms, caterers and social groups such as churches.  There aren’t many cookbooks out there with recipes which make large quantities.  So I decided to branch out and try something new.  If you’re looking for a recipe which will make 100 chicken sandwiches or serve soup for 40, this will be the book for you.  If you’re just doubling a recipe, then it’s not usually a problem.  But when you have to come up with a shopping list for 100 people, you can spend a lot of time trying to figure things out. You may end up spending extra money as well buying more for “just in case, ” or have to run to the store at the last minute because you didn’t buy enough.  This cookbook contains many of the favorites of the last 5 cookbooks as well as new ones.  It is written in step by step format including prep work of items which can be made ahead of time.  It should be off to the printer by Monday and back in time to be exhibited in the New Showcase Display at the World Tea Expo in May. I will make them available as well at the tea room for those of you interested.

As I sit here today working on a new cookbook for the World Tea Expo event, I typed in “turbinado sugar” an ingredient for Dena’s (my baker) famous Creme Brule Tea Recipe.  I wondered what the heck is it?  I know it’s large course granules of sugar that we sprinkle on top of cookies and scones, but where did it get its name?  So I decided to look it up on wikipedia. According to them, it is “made from sugar cane extract. It is produced by crushing freshly cut sugar cane; the juice obtained is evaporated by heat, then crystallized. The crystals are spun in a centrifuge, or turbine (thus the name), to remove excess moisture, resulting in the characteristic large, light brown crystals.” I was also pleased to find that in the United Kingdom it is called “demerara” sugar, a name I had heard of but didn’t know what exactly it was. So for those of you curious like me, there’s your answer.

Men Going to Tea?

Yes, men will do anything for their wives, even go to tea.  Yesterday for Valentine’s Day we had our largest turnout for men in one day-in all of our 5  1/2 years!  One such man, even had flowers sent to the tea room earlier in the day so they were waiting for his wife when they arrived.

Most had not been to our tea room before.  They joked, “Where are the ribs?”  By the end of the evening, however, we had converted quite a few of our new recruits to tea.  They were surprised that one’s stomach could be satisfied with “tea food.”  I even saw to go boxes leave the building. All in all everyone had a fabulous time. Our live entertainment for the evening was a duet from two of my staff-our baker, Dena Macklin and our tea maker, Ploy Kitjawat.

My husband Pat even came to help-he did the dishes after it was all over. What a great Valentine’s present! Yes, romance is still alive.

Hi all,

My mother sent me a YouTube video this morning on tea.  It’s a small movie clip from 1941. I found it very entertaining and all of the tips are still valid today.  To see the video, click here. I hope you enjoy it!