Tea is making a comeback
Afternoon tea is coming back into fashion, according to the UK’s biggest supermarket chain.
Tesco reported increased sales of Earl Grey and other speciality teas, cream cakes and teapots.
The tradition’s revival follows years of decline due to the popularity of American-style coffee shops, the chain said.
Demand for cream cakes has risen by 85 per cent in the last year, while sales of teapots, cups and saucers are up 110 per cent.
The chain’s cake range buyer Liz Cobbold said: “We are seeing the dawning of a new era of this great social tradition.”
Practical Living: It’s tea time
Tea is the number one consumed beverage in the world. In the United States, however, coffee still reigns, but tea is picking up some significant steam mostly because of its much publicized health benefits.
Bonjour has a new collection with a French flair. The Tres Amies teapot collection makes brewing a part of that experience. The three hand blown glass teapots cost $50 - $60 retail.
Because many teas today include berries, other fruits and flowers, the Parisian-inspired collection allows the user to watch loose teas bloom into a brew.
Historical Teapots Explored at Coalport China Museum, Ironbridge
The Coalport Teapot Exhibition will take place from April 30 until November 2 2007 at the Coalport China Museum, near Ironbridge, Shropshire.
Providing visitors with detailed insights into the tea drinking culture in Britain during the 18th and early 19th centuries the exhibition highlights how Coalport China was at the forefront of this.
On offer will be a varied selection of teapots of all shapes and sizes displaying the full range of patterns used on Coalport porcelain in the early 19th century.
Queen’s teapot sold for £1m
A Chinese teapot that once belonged to Queen Elizabeth I has been sold at auction in Hong Kong for more than £1m.
The 10-inch porcelain teapot, decorated with songbirds and trees, was purchased by British-based antique dealers Littleton and Hennessy, on behalf of an overseas collector.
Auctioneers Sotheby’s said the teapot eventually went under the hammer for £1,079,000.
The teapot, which had been expected to fetch nearer £785,000, was given to a Chinese emperor during the Ming dynasty in the 1500s.
Alastair Gibson, of Sotheby’s, said: “It is a wonderful, exotic and historic piece which would have blown people’s minds.”
Tip me over, pour me out
“Teapots are like mirrors,” tea specialist Anna Somerville says.
When people come into her store, Acquired Taste Teas, “they’re looking for a mirror, a teapot that will represent them,” she says. “It’s not about possessions or showing off. It’s about who people are.”
Somerville stopped by the Alberta Craft Council this week to admire some of the teapots featured in Brew-haha, an exhibit opening Saturday that features more than 50 works from artisans across Western Canada.
Tea Market Intelligence Resource Centre
Sri Lanka will be supporting a state-of-the-art Tea Market Intelligence Resource Centre set-up by The Plantation Development Project under the Ministry of Plantation Industries. Its purpose will be to benefit tea manufacturers and exporters by collecting and analyzing data on the tea industry.
The Sri Lankan Tea Industry is a large industry and they are becoming increasingly aware of consumer needs and how this varies in different countries throughout the world.
