The Tea Scoop

Happy Halloween

Here are a few ways to celebrate the day, tea style.

1. Think tea party pumpkin. Or at least, carve a teacup into one of your pumpkins. It might not be scary but it will be different from every other pumpkin on the block. 
2. Dress up like a box of tea.  Just paint a cardboard box like a box of your favorite tea. 
3. Drink a cup of pumpkin spice tea, if you have any on hand.  
4. Make chai pumpkin spice pancakes.  Simply use chai tea instead of water with your favorite mix and add a tablespoon of pumpkin spice. 
5. Make tea punch and serve it in a cauldron. 

Have a spooky and wonderful Halloween!

Recently on the English Tea Blog...

I've written about various accessories one can use to steep tea and teas to accompany your Thanksgiving meal.

I encourage you to go read, of course!

All Hallows Tea

I love Halloween. A lot.  Don't get me wrong, I love the hustle and bustle of the wintery holiday season, Christmas cookies, and warm family gatherings. But I start looking forward to Halloween at about the same time to stores do, around my birthday in early August.  That's probably the only holiday that I don't complain about the stores getting into it too soon. I suppose it's just the big kid in me that just refuses to grow up. Or my inner theatre person.  Or something.  

In any case, I had this brilliant idea of having a Halloween tea.  I wrote about it over on the English Tea Blog, "Afternoon Tea with the Ghouls."  I have to admit, I went a little overboard admiring stuff on Martha Stewart's website. I just really like crafting, so crafting and Halloween together made me super duper excited.  I liked the alternative to a regular Halloween party.  

In the same vein, I'm trying to get tickets from the Strathmore to attend their Halloween-themed tea. There used to be an accompanying show, "The Dastardly Duke of Darjeeling," but that appears to have been nixed. In any case, I really would like to go, so I can write a review for you all, but they only take reservations over the phone, they have to be prepaid, and the people never answer the phone.  They are great about calling back, but only during office hours, when I am usually in a classroom teaching and very much unable to answer the phone. I'll keep you posted. 

St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I would just like to state the obvious, that today should be started with a nice hot cup of Irish Breakfast, brewed so strong "a mouse could trot on it." I'm also going to break blog tradition and recommend a non-tea related beverage: Guiness. But if you want to include tea in your St. Patrick's Day celebrating, go with a Hot Irish Whiskey

Enjoy your day responsibly! And enjoy being Irish for a day.

National Tea Month

So, I'm a little late finding this out, but according to the Tea Council of the USA, January is National Hot Tea Month. What do you know?

So what if the month is more than halfway over? It just snowed in Northern Virginia, and there's snow on the ground many other places as well, so what better beverage than hot tea to warm you to your toes? No calories, lots of health benefits, and full of comfort.

So go on, celebrate!