HA! You say, what does that have to do with flowering teas?

I admit that while I like tea alot I am not a tea snob. I dislike words like bouquet unless they are talking about flowers, and you guys know that I have had it with hearing that a coffee is chocolaty and nutty. Grr. You should be able to say, hey this tea tasted good…it smelled great and it reminded me of mint juleps..or whatever.

Now, if you are a tea snob please don’t get offended. I am a snob in other areas, like architecture and antiques. I personally know the difference between a Roycroft and a Greene and Greene. But tea? I want it to taste good.

The flowering teas always seem like a great idea for Mother’s Day but really they are not, in my ever so humble opinion, that great. They are very grassy tasting for the most part, and often they do not open properly so you have an odd lump of plant cells in the center of your clear glass teapot. I once waited for several hours for one to open up. It was Numi, too.

So, if your Mum likes flowers, by all means, get her flowers. If she likes tea then get her tea. If you have money get her both but don’t try to do it all in one juxtaposed mess. Because then the cheap figurine that your sister buys her at Wal-mart is going to rack up brownie points as everyone waits for the tea to turn into a flower.

This is the formal parlor. It is always clean, and it is the room that I take company to. You know the people who come to the front door rather than the kitchen door. People who MIGHT want to drink flowering tea. I love this room. I sent Marc to visit his brother in Mass, for 3 days so I could stencil the walls. Yep..that is not paper, it is hand stenciled. The woodgrain is faux grained, too. I worked round the clock (lots of coffee) until he got back. But he liked it.

If YOU came to tea we would probably only pass through here. As I said, it is for company.

Image:Morguefile

Image:Marye Audet

Post from: Kettle and Cup