Cleaning continues and more

Hi all,

I'm continuing my tea declutter. As of last post I'd tried an Upton Tea 1st Flush Darjeeling that I fell in love with again. If only that hadn't been the last cup of it! Since then I've gone through 8 more teas. (You can track them regularly on the Tea Pages Facebook page or Twitter feed.)

Keeping:
House of Tea Sonarie Assam - but giving away about half
Mark T. Wendell Assam - Again, giving away much of the tin, but keeping a bit for me.
Tealuxe Serene - A really wonderful tisane.
Tea Zone Dragonwell - Keeping, but giving away about half the bag.

Sharing:
Rishi Peppermint Rooibos - A nice tea, but I didn't feel I needed another mint tea.
Andrews & Dunham Ceylon - Nice, but I have other Ceylons I love.
Adagio Dragonwell - Fine, but a bit mild for me. Preferred the Tea Zone.

Threw out:
Twinings English Breakfast

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AFTERNOON TEA EVENTS
I was asked to let readers know about an afternoon tea event to be held at St. Thomas' Episcopal Church in Dover, NH on Saturday, March 5 at 2 p.m. There's more information available here.

Now through March 26, the Concord Museum in Concord, MA will be offering "Tea & Sweets" on Friday and Saturday afternoons from 2:00 - 4:00. Attend tea and see the special quilt exhibit or come for one of two meet the chef events. Refreshments are provided by Cambridge School of Culinary Arts and the tea is from Tea Forte. (Disclosure: I have done several paid writing jobs for Tea Forte.) Tickets are $20 ($15 for museum members) and include museum admission. More information is available here.
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BOOKS

I have fallen terribly far behind in talking about books that some very lovely, kind tea folks have sent me. My apologies. Today I want to talk about a great book put together by Babette Donaldson, author of the Emma Lea book series: http://emmaleabooks.com/

"Start Your Own Family Tea Time" is a brilliant little booklet that has great ideas for sharing the tea experience with your kids. In the first few pages, Donaldson (with the help of some of her contacts in the tea world) suggests a range of themes for a special event and other tips for making tea time a unique experience for your family. I loved the idea of bedtime tea - complete with jammies, blankets, and pillows. In other sections she talks about how to make the experience healthier, less expensive, and easier. Finally, the section that resonated the most with me was "Making It Memorable." In our family I've made it a rite of passage that when a child turns four, he/she gets his/her first real teapot. My son knows it is a special time for us when I take his teapot out. I liked the suggestion in the book of using the time to look at photo albums together and to discuss our memories together. "Start Your Own Family Tea Time" is about 18 pages in all and is available here.

That's all for now! Have a great week everyone and we'll see how much tea I can move out of the cabinet over the next seven days.