Crazy Rumors

I don't know about you, but I love lip balm. I wear lipstick and lip gloss, but I always keep a lip balm in my pocket and refresh my lips with it through out my work day. I don't know how or why, but these balms always seem to disappear, so I'm always on the lookout for more.

I saw a Facebook advertisement for Crazy Rumors, a company that makes 100% natural lip balms that are also cruelty free as well as vegan. They have all sorts of flavors from seasonal candy corn to ginger ale, in all sorts of categories such as ice cream flavors and bubble gum flavors. They also have tea flavors! That's what got me to try them.

In their tea category they offer:

Spiced Chai - "an exotic blend of savory cardamom, cinnamon, vanilla & ginger"
P-Mint Lemongrass - "refreshing citrus and cooling peppermint"
Apple Spice - "sweet apple and savory cinnamon"
Orange Bergamot - "just like a cuppa Earl Grey tea!"

These lip balms are wonderful! Reasonably priced, they go on smoothly, are not sticky, make my lips soft, and taste delicious! Of the tea flavors, I'm currently using the Orange Bergamot and I love it! Portable tea in a balm! If you use lip balms you owe it to yourself to try Crazy Rumors. Check out their website and you can order right online! Be sure to let me know which flavors you try (I know you won't be able to choose just one flavor!).

Walkers Shortbread Cookies My Favorite Tea Time Treat!

Karen here and this week the young royal family came to visit the West Coast of Canada where I live. The Royal's arrived here in Vancouver on Sunday and were only about 15 minutes from my home. Such a treat to have them visit, I am a very large fan of the Royal Family and in honor of their visit I am going to talk about some of my favorite tea time cookies.

On my table this week thanks to a friend of my mother in law, were the Walkers Pure Butter Shortbread cookies embossed with the Union Jack. These are my most favorite tea time cookie!

Call them a shortbread, biscuit or sable it really doesn't matter but the all butter shortbread Walkers cookies truly enhance the flavor of my Earl Gray Tea's. Don't believe me? I challenge everyone of you to try! These are the best cookies for dunking in your tea, they don't fall apart and the butter cookies dipped in tea take on the most wonderful black tea and floral notes.  You can find Walkers Shortbread Cookies almost everywhere here in Canada but I swear the ones that are brought back to me directly from England always taste better!
You can order on line directly from Walkers and learn more about their delightful cookies by clicking here.
You can also order them on Amazon by clicking here.

I would love to have you over for tea daily at www.acupofteaandacozymystery.com 

Tea Cup Creations

I recently saw this picture on Pinterest and repinned it. Sadly, it was just a picture, no link with credit or how to instructions. But isn't this a great idea? Wouldn't this light fixture be so cute? I know I'd live to have it!

I also saw this cute idea for a candle holder. Nice for pillar candles. This picture is from http://ideasforbeautypic.com.

Architecture Art Designs gives 40 ways to reuse tea cups artistically. http://www.architectureartdesigns.com/40-ideas-of-how-to-reuse-tea-cup-artistically/
Above is one of my favorites!

Have you ever tried getting crafty with teacups?

For Tea's Sake Teas

Karen here and this weekend I was in my local Halmark Card Store and found a display of loose leaf teas called For Teas Sake. This line of loose leaf teas was priced around $10 Canadian and had quite a large selection. I was very pleased when I was given a sample to take home and try from their line. I chose the Classic Black Shades of Earl Grey.

I was very excited to not only see the teas with their eye catching tins but to smell the testers as well.

I loved the names and two of my favorites were the afternoon escape which was a black tea with hints of black berrry. The let's get cozy tea is also on my list! This black tea contains cinnamon, orange, lemon balm, lime leaves, star anise and cardamom.

Getting back to the Shades of Earl Grey Black tea I sampled, this was a very clean tasting and not a citrus flavored Earl Grey. It was a full flavored black tea with out a strong bergmot after taste. I think this tea is priced competitively and I like that I can find it locally at my Halmark Store, you can also find it on line by clicking here.

I would love to have you over for tea daily at www.acupofteaandacozymystery.com

Southerners are Pretty Religious, "Our Tea is sweet, our words are long, days are warm and our Faith is strong".

In a recent Gallop poll
About 40 percent of Americans said they were "very religious," meaning religion is an important part of their daily life and that they attend religious services every week or nearly every week. Some 31 percent indicated they were nonreligious, or that religion wasn't an important part of their daily life and they seldom or never attend such services.

Top 10 most religious states

Mississippi: 58 percent report being very religious
Utah: 56 percent
Alabama: 56 percent
Louisiana: 53 percent
Arkansas: 52 percent
South Carolina: 52 percent
Tennessee: 50 percent
North Carolina: 50 percent
Georgia: 48 percent
Oklahoma: 48 percent

In the poll. , based on over 350,000 interviews, Mississippians were found to be the most religious state.
85% of Mississippians answered “yes” when asked: “Is religion an important part of your daily life?” Joining the Magnolia State in the “most religious” states were other “Bible Belt” states : Alabama (82%), South Carolina (80%), Tennessee ( 79%), Louisiana (78%) and Arkansas (78%)
Vermont, with less than half of those interviewed (42%) answering the same question in the affirmative was noted as the “least religious.”
Overall, Gallup researchers found that 65% of all Americans said religion is important in their everyday lives.

Other than God and church services , if you weren't already aware, Southerners are pretty religious about a few other other things...mainly Manners,

(College) Football and Sweet Tea !

PATRICIA NEELY-DORSEY
Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia-A Life in Poems   
" a celebration of the south and things southern"
"Meet Mississippi Through Poetry, Prose and The Written Word"
www.patricianeelydorsey.webs.com

New Tea Exploration with Davids Teas

Now that I'm more "into" teas, I love looking at new tea types and eagerly buy more and different varieties. While I buy a lot of fine tea, pure camellia sinensis from tea estates, I also enjoy fun flavoured teas and tisanes. I truly believe you can love it all!

While looking through my timeline on Facebook I saw an ad for Davids Teas. Yes, Big Brother knows I'm a tea lover. If you read this blog, you know that Karen is a huge fan of Davids Teas, which is local to her, and has written several reviews. So I clicked on the link and was brought to their Honeycrisp Apple tea. The temperatures here are just starting to cool and I'm so looking forward to autumn, my favorite time of year.

From their website:

"Is there any activity more whole heartedly autumnal than apple picking? Not that we can think of. And when it comes to apples, the Honeycrisp is king. Juicy, sweet and full of flavour, it’s a fall treat we look forward to every year. And this refreshing, fruit-packed tea is just like biting into a fresh Honeycrisp straight off the tree. Whether you drink it straight up or spike it with a splash of bourbon, it’s the perfect way to bring the orchard home. Oh honey!"

OK, they had me at "spike it with a splash of bourbon"!

While Davids is a Canadian tea company, they do ship to all of North America, so I'm in luck. And, to get free shipping I plan on ordering more than just the Honeycrisp Apple. Perhaps some Pom Cider, keeping with that fall apple theme. I love grapes...and it is harvest time, so maybe some Grape Freeze. Or perhaps English Toffee...made with Pu'eh? That will probably make it in the basket. A more traditional tea, for me at any rate is the Wild Black Yunnan, no funky flavours here. And how could I possibly not try their Lapsang Souchong Star?

Do you order teas online? Have you tried Davids Teas? Are you adventurous when it comes to teas, or are you a purist?

Thay Tea A Beautiful Tea Lovers Oaisis In Ucluete BC, Canada

This past weekend I found myself several hours and miles from home on Vancouver Island and staying in a tiny oasis on the West Coast of Canada called Ucluelet (You-Q-Let) or Ukee (You-Key) to the locals. We went for an amazing family surfing weekend in near by Tofino, put on by SUPA (Surfs Up  For Autism) and Rip Curl   we had a blast. While we were staying in and exploring Ucluelet I came across a wonderful tea shop called Thay Tea. 

This small but impressive tea shop carries pure, organic and ethically sourced loose leaf teas as well as tea wares and hosts a small tea bar area. As black tea and creamy Earl Grey Teas are amoung my current teas of choice I brought home 50 grams of their  Organic Double Cream Earl Grey. This tea has a very smooth and has a subtle bergamot flavor. It is a full, rich creamy vanilla black tea that I truly have enjoyed.  I drink my tea black and this tea has a lovely balance and perfect for afternoon tea.

While visiting the store I asked about ordering and was pleased to know they have a wonderful website and that they even split the shipping costs on their tea for their customers. So even if you can not get to the Vancouver Island Oasis known as Ukee, you can bring some of Ukee home for your afternoon teas. Learn more about Thay Tea by clicking here to visit their website.
If you happen to find yourself on Vancouver Island or are planing a trip to visit Tofino or Ucluete make sure you stop at Thay Tea. 

I would love to have you over for tea daily at www.acupofteaandacozymystery.com 

Tea Ramblings

While it's rainy on the west coast for Karen, it's still scorching hot on the east coast for me. I'm beyond ready for autumn and the cooler temperatures that it brings.

I have been drinking a variety of tea. Yesterday I enjoyed some hot tea at the soft opening of my friend Niraj's new Tea Bar, Leaf: Himalayan Imperial Second Flush. When I returned home I had some of the iced tea I had made the other day: Raspberry Rendezvous by London Fruit & Herb Company. It's actually a tisane of hibiscus, apple pomace, blackberry leaves, raspberry juice, raspberries, rosehips and more. Today I went for dinner with a friend and had the house made iced tea. I'm not sure what it was other than unsweetened black tea, but it was cold and tasty. And now I think I'm going to have a tea popsicle. I got another variety of the Brewla tea popsicles. This time I found The Hero: cherry pomegranate and red tea. This is another tisane and tastes more of cherry than anything else, but tasty and only 45 calories, so a nice snack, especially on a hot day.

What about you? Do you mix up your teas, or tend to stick with one type for a period of time? What have you been drinking lately?

Afternoon Pick Me Up With Pukka Gorgeous Earl Grey

September is a week old and the rain has returned here to the wet west coast making for perfect tea and reading weather for me. My neighbor and her son stopped over and brought me tea on September 2nd and today I am sharing my review of Pukka Gorgeous Earl Grey Tea.

This fairtrade tea is new to me and it was such a delight to dive into!
The packaging and the name of this tea do it justice. First few sips I was impressed with the clean and almost velvety taste of Earl Grey. It is delicate and only a hint of equally balanced flavors of the Dunsandle and Darjelling black teas.

Cup after cup of this delicious tea was a delight and the perfect lift in my afternoon spirits. Learn more about the Pukka Brand and their Gorgeous Earl Grey by clicking here. I will be tucking a few bags of this tea in to my tea wallet and taking them with me where ever I go, that way I am never with out a truly perfect tea.

I would love to have you over for tea daily at www.acupofteaandacozymystery.com 

Tea Quote - C.E. Murphy, Urban Shaman

“In Ireland, you go to someone's house, and she asks you if you want a cup of tea. You say no, thank you, you're really just fine. She asks if you're sure. You say of course you're sure, really, you don't need a thing. Except they pronounce it ting. You don't need a ting. Well, she says then, I was going to get myself some anyway, so it would be no trouble. Ah, you say, well, if you were going to get yourself some, I wouldn't mind a spot of tea, at that, so long as it's no trouble and I can give you a hand in the kitchen. Then you go through the whole thing all over again until you both end up in the kitchen drinking tea and chatting.

In America, someone asks you if you want a cup of tea, you say no, and then you don't get any damned tea.

I liked the Irish way better.”

 C.E. Murphy, Urban Shaman