Happy Holidays!

Peace and joy to you!

Afternoon Tea at Clockwork Rose Tea Emporium

Clockwork Rose Tea Emporium

Two friends and I spent a recent Sunday afternoon enjoying afternoon tea at the Clockwork Rose Tea Emporium in the historic part of Beaverton, OR. It's a charming venue, with weekends already booked out through the end of the year. (You can email to be added to the waiting list.)

The tea room is fashioned in the Steampunk style. It's interesting and whimsical, and makes me wonder why I hadn't seen the natural affinity of these things before. It's a light touch, with interesting artwork positioned throughout the space. From the website, "Steampunk is a sub genre of science fiction or science fantasy that incorporates technology and aesthetic designs inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery."

What I can say in current time and space is that the food is abundant, fresh and delicious; the tea choices are worth getting excited about (they exclusively serve Harney & Sons); and the service is attentive. 

Afternoon tea is $30, and for that you will enjoy a bottomless pot of tea with salad, sandwiches, savories, scones and desserts. I took a fair bit home.  Some special diets can be accommodated, (vegan, gluten free, etc.), with advanced notice.

Wife and husband team Maggie and Harold are the designers and proprietors of the tea room. Their tea journey began on a trip to Ireland, where at a B&B they asked for coffee and were offered an old box of instant. They chose tea instead, and that choice led them on a path that ended at 12412 SW Broadway Street, Beaverton. 

I look forward to returning soon!

NW Tea Fest 2017

 A fantastic year at the NW Tea Fest 2017!  We celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the event in a larger venue, allowing for new vendors and instructors.  I've been fortunate to attend 7 out of 10 years, and my love of tea has grown with each year. Here are a few highlights from 2017:

Ephemeral filter, from the skeleton of a Bhodi tree leaf

Miro Tea

Ingrid explains the Indiegogo Campaign for a Global Tea Exchange

from Young Mountain Teas

(I've donated!  Consider an investment in tea's future.)

Brewing in the Wu-Wo tea ceremony, gifted with glorious sunshine

Celebrating friends - Shiuwen and staff from Floating Leaves Tea

The vendor floor, and Portlanders drinking tea

Zuo Wang Tea

Oolong Owl Blogger Char

Aged white tea that Char brewed up

Excited to taste teas from Colombia, too!  More on that to come.

I was a panelist in a Blogger forum, and co-taught a class on Bowl Style Brewing.  Fun!  And thanks to my co-instructor Ana!

Congratulations and thank you to Julee, Doug and the team that has made this event fantastic for 10 years.  Lifting my teacup to many more!

Totem Teas

I recently spent a lovely afternoon drinking tea with friends. I'm hard-pressed to find a way I'd rather spend my time. In this gathering, Phillip, of Totem Teas, guided us through his current selection. Phillip's business model is to sell teas he's excited to drink. It's a great plan! He also sells very fine incense.

I enjoy hearing about people's tea journeys, and Phillip's began with a passion for Japanese teas. Below is his first teapot, well-loved and used. 

We tasted a number of teas together, making our way from a light Lishan oolong to a deeply oxidized Bai Hao.  Note the lovely multi-colored leaves below, one hint of a good  Bai Hao (Oriental Beauty).

All very good teas! I was particularly drawn to the Floral Mountain Tie Guan Yin. I found this to be a liminal tea. It had the light, top notes of the modern, competition styles (Anxi, greener) but with a depth of roasty groundedness (more like my preference, Muzha style). Another point of interest for this tea - it hails from Ali Shan.

Now let's talk incense.  I used to avoid it. It made me sneeze or gave me a headache. Then I discovered the amazingly delicate pleasures of Japanese incense. I was hooked, and my love of incense has grown. Finding the type of incense I appreciate isn't an easy thing from the US, and I'm delighted to recommend Phillip's line. He's got some really nice incense here, folks.

I appreciate the well-curated line of teas and incense from Totem Teas. Buying teas via the internet is always a risk - you don't get the benefit of sampling. What I can say is that you're in good hands with Phillip's choices.  

Eclipse Viewing and Tea

I was lucky, here in Portland, to be in 99.2% coverage during yesterday's solar eclipse.  I enjoyed the viewing from a park near my home.  I went old-school with a pinbox projector.  I also brewed tea grown near Sun-Moon lake in Taiwan.  ;-)

Old Growth Tea, Black, from Sun-Moon Lake in Taiwan

Sun and Moon cups

As the eclipse was beginning
Due to the optics of the pinhole projector, the image is inverted

Crescent shadows through the trees

The twilight was beautiful, and I was lucky to see the shadow bands dancing on the sidewalk.

Did you enjoy tea with the eclipse?  Tell us about it!

Tea Fest PDX: A Great Celebration for Us All

Wow - last weekend's Tea Fest PDX was amazing!  Raising my teacup to the core planning team that worked for over a year to bring this to fruition.  So many invisible tasks and challenges to meet. We are grateful! To the people who kept this dream alive over the years, thank you! To the volunteers who ensured the event ran well, you are awesome! To the NW Tea Fest team that not only loaned us equipment, but also came down to offer guidance and cheers, we are in your debt. 

Here are some photos.  Can't wait for next year!

The Vendor Showcase

Such an interesting mix of vendors!

Jennifer Petersen, local author and tea mentor

Richard Brandt, Portland potter who specializes in teaware

Babette Donaldson, promoting her endearing books and Sip for Peace coming in January, 2018

Reps from Brew Dr. Kombucha

Classes

Pearl Zhuo Zhang, Red Rob Teahouse and Cafe, Gong Fu tea ceremony

Marjorie Yap, Chado demonstration

Yoga, meditation and tea on the lawn, taught by Anja Sofia Churchill

Tea Tastings

David Galli, PDX Tea

Laurie and Charles Dawson, amazing tasting tea! 

Steven Odell in his custom tea van, Rabbit Moon Tea Arts

The Crowd and Staff

Jennifer Brenner (Tea Fest PDX leader) along with NW Tea Fest coaches,

and other friends

I loved seeing these women dressed in their beautiful Regency costumes

Friends dressed in Japanese kimono

These last two photos bring me to my final thoughts. Tea is a friend to all of us. Such diversity represented at this conference - in age, gender, clothing choice, ethnicity, tea preference, and much more. Tea brings us to commonality across these differences. What a truly beautiful thing.  

The 9-Year Old Plans a Tea Party

I have so many tea-time memories with my niece!  I can chronicle her life in tea stories.  Such a blessing to me, and hopefully her!  Here's a look into our latest adventure. She's 9 now, and we wanted to host her school teacher and 2 friends for tea. We used the tea set, above. It's one that I snagged long before she was born, in anticipation.

Her diet these days is focused on healthy choices, and so we were working within a no sugar and gluten free plan. I was (in my head) wondering how we would do this. She had no such concerns. Onto Pinterest she went, and in no time, we had a plan!

We started with the creative veggie tray, above. The snails, below, are my favorite.  We used almond butter in the celery. 

Mini cheeseburgers with all the fixings were a hit with the kids!

And so were the mini pepperoni pizzas, made on a bed of zucchini.

For dessert, we used stevia to soften the bite of unsweetened chocolate, and we dipped strawberries and bananas. I was surprised how well the kids took to the bitter edge of the chocolate. No problem!

And we finished with fresh berries in whipped cream. 

Here we are, my tea party partner!  LOVE!

Summer Solstice 2017

 Happy Summer Solstice 2017!

"I am summer, come to lure you away from your computer...come dance on my fresh grass, dig your toes into my beaches."  ~Oriana Green

Some recent photos from a trip to San Diego.