Teatime

My tea clock, which I received as a bridesmaid gift from a friend years ago

I've enjoyed drinking tea since I was young (always, always, though, with milk and sugar added!). But since I was eighteen, with a developed adult palate, I've usually tended to go for tea's much more intense counterpart, coffee. It just has a stronger flavor and delivers that caffeine blast so much more efficiently than tea. But I still go through an occasional "tea phase" when I just savor the more subtle and delicate flavor of tea. And I've been in rather a tea-drinking mood lately.

I love the whole "tea culture." I think - and not to insult any of the many tea-drinking men out there - there's just something so charming and feminine about it.

As a testament to my love for tea-related objects, behold my teacup collection!

(except the bottom shelf which is so tiny that it can only hold Tom's shot glasses, miniature statues of St. Therese and Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and a bunny figurine that looks like it's carved from a carrot!)

My collection used to be larger, but when I moved into this house, I forced myself to cull it down to only what would fit on this shelf (well...plus just a couple others, kept in the kitchen cabinet for daily use.) I've picked these up over the past seven years or so.

I'm pretty picky about the teacups that I get - I have to really LOVE them to let myself buy them. I like them to have bright colors or lots of things going on in the design. Almost half of my teacups were purchased new, from the store Anthropologie (which has the most beautiful things, but at which I can only afford the less-expensive items like dishes!). The rest were thrift store finds (unfortunately, antique stores tend to charge way too much for teacups, so I rarely buy them there). Also, I really strive to only get ones that have a matching saucer.

All of these from Anthro

All from Anthro

Orange one from Anthro, blue from thrift store.

Various thrift/antique stores. Dark blue/white one is from IKEA. (the cup on the right had no matching saucer, but I found that blue-striped one a couple years later, and paired them together)

Thrift store

My lovely antique cow creamer! Tom gave me this for Christmas.

Thrift store

Thrift. The cup and saucers on the left were bought almost a year apart, but match almost perfectly!

This one, believe it or not, was one that Tom brought into the marriage! It's an antique from WWII Britain. When he was a kid, he loved planes, and some (female) relative gave this to him.

I stash all my tea in the back of a drawer, behind the batteries and the catnip. It's the perfect size for tea boxes!

I really dislike ALL herbal teas, green tea, and white tea. Only black tea for me. And no Earl Grey! Chai is my all-time favorite, which is why I have three boxes of that.


My trusty tea kettle, which used to belong to my parents. It doesn't have a whistle on it, which is somewhat regrettable. But it looks pretty on my stove, and boils water just fine!


Lipton's Chai is probably one of the best I've found. And it's great, because they sell it everywhere. Drinking out of a huge latte mug today.

One of my favorite teas of all time, Twinning's Four Red Fruits Black Tea. They stopped making this about two years ago, and it makes me very sad. This is my last box, and I've been saving it, and drinking it only very very occasionally. Once it's gone, it's gone forever! Oh, and picture here are the three large teacups that I keep in the cabinet (also from Anthropologie).


So, readers: What types of teas do you prefer? Any interesting tea-drinking habits to share?