Cardew Club News » 2007 » June

Sip, slurp, swill, spit. Repeat. Must remember to swill, not swallow. I am starting to get the hang of this tea-tasting business, rolling it round the palate like a good claret. Except the tea is tepid - and the gurgling sounds we are making would not be welcome in any tearoom.

There are no teacups, only large metal spoons, white bowls containing a variety of amber liquids, a line of open caddies and a row of what look like the dregs from the bottom of the pot. Gypsy Rose Lee would have a field day.

Torquay’s Rowcroft Hospice is aiming to celebrate 25 years of caring - with a host of an old fashioned tea party.And Rev Glynn Millington, a friend of Rowcroft Hospice, will be helping out with that traditional cup that cheers.

He is encouraging people to sign up for a tea party and get an information pack for the hospice’s Tea at Three week running from July 1 to 7.

Over the past two years the hospice’s Tea at Three campaign has raised nearly £7,000, with local groups all over the area organising their own tea parties.

A friend recently returned from a southern vacation. She ate properly, so as to not to gain weight, even though she was on vacation. When she arrived home and stepped on her scale, she discovered that she had put on quite a few pounds. She just couldn’t understand it. She had avoided all the rich desserts, southern fried delights and only drank iced tea. What could have happened?

I asked her about the tea and was informed that, “They have the best tea in the south; they call it ‘sweet tea.’” Mystery solved.

On a hot summer day, Christy Teter likes a tall glass of sun tea.

Rather than flavor her tea with loads of sugar, as so many other folks do, she picks a little spearmint from her garden and packs it into the pitcher.

The resulting tea is light and refreshing, with a nice kick of mint, and it’s not at all hard to make.

“Just put it in there and let the sun do the work,” she says.

Minty sun tea is just one of the many herbal brews you can make yourself, says Teter, who’s been making her own herbal teas for 12 years.

Behold the wonder of a cup of tea and a warm chocolate chip scone.

Worn out after a day at Maude Trevvett Elementary School, a group of teachers dragged into colleague Linda Gobbi’s Henrico County home one recent Wednesday afternoon.

Within half an hour, the dozen or so women were tension-free and smiling.

“When you sit around a cup of tea, it’s all about relaxation,” said Beth Mennelle, vice president of sales and consultant care for Simple Graces.

Simple Graces sells specialty teas, tea accessories and tea-based personal care products in home shows, similar to a Pampered Chef or Tupperware party.

Green tea is high in antioxidants, as almost everybody knows by now.

Devotees swear that it can promote weight loss, that it has beneficial effects on allergies and can lessen the growth of germs in the mouth, preventing periodontal disease and halitosis. It’s high in vitamin C, too.

And those are just a few of the benefits ascribed to green tea.

Like almost everybody else, I aspire to live forever, or at least as long as possible, so I drink green tea. I take mine as matcha, a concentrated, powdered form that makes it possible to ingest the tea directly instead of drinking an infusion of it.

Tea parties are back, but in a new form. Home-based Victorian tea parties for birthdays or wedding showers, complete with elaborate food and huge Victorian hats, are in style.

Tea drinking has changed since tea was first served in London in about 1650. Legend goes that the first tea drinkers boiled the leaves, threw away the water and ate the bitter leaves. They soon learned a better way, steeping the tea leaves in hot water, adding milk and sugar and serving the flavored drink in small cups.