food:: i’m a tea girl

Every few years, Frankie tries to get me to like coffee.  It just ain’t happening.  Love the smell, can’t handle the bitterness no matter how much vanilla syrup and sugar I add to it.  No offense coffee people, I just can’t aquire the taste.

But tea?  That’s an entirely different story.

It’s my elixir that sometimes makes me think I could be a superhero and fight crime.

When you live in a thoroughly OCD home like mine, you are always in search of caffeinated perfection.  Frank has all his gizmos and brands and roasts and cups figured out because he has been at the coffee game for like 40 years.

As for me? I’m still in search of my holy grail of tea.  I didn’t start drinking it until about 10 years ago.  I am still finding brewed perfection.  There have been many miserable flops.

Clear glass teapots and small children do not mix.

The cup that sparked in the microwave when I tried to re-heat it.

Rushing to try many new flavors only immediately forgeting the namebrands, never to be enjoyed again.

You get the picture ~ only crap an OCD tea person would give 2 hoots about.

But I digress.  I just wanted to show you a couple of awesome new finds and share some tea inspiration with you.

This lovely handmade cup was a Christmas gift from the even lovelier friend, Miss Cortini.  She shares my vision of finding the perfect tea and perfect tea accessories.  While I am normally a tea must be enjoyed in bone-china girl, she totally scored with this one.  The handle is made so you can hold your cuppa and warm your hands.  (The lip of the cup isn’t all spilly or 10x the size of bone china.) 5 stars.  Seriously.  She found it at Clay In Motion’s website ~ handmade in the USA.

As for my new fancy panda charmed tea ball, it’s made in China but I can’t for the life of me find a local or handmade one.

My semi-new, I-think-I-posted-it-somewhere, handmade tea pot (and its new infuser) that reminds me of the colors in my Mother’s kitchen when I was a child.  I love Hannah Turner Ceramics in the UK ~ I found her through my facebook page and she was lovely to purchase from.

These are just my vintage tea tins that manage to cheer me up, every single day.

And to the finding of tea…I have now found 2, count ‘em 2, amazing little tea shops locally that feel like exclusive oases the moment you walk through their doors.  Score.

My enjoyment of my daily cuppa (or 3) has improved with these ~ I think I am bordering on perfection 🙂

Now, I included some names; but please know that I am not writing sponsored posts and I share only because I like their products ~ I don’t get paid for this $hit y’all.  But if you are on a similar quest for tea perfection, check ’em out because they are tried and true in my book.  I still feel that old-school share and share alike is nice.  It’s like sitting down with me for a cuppa and exchanging recipes & such, because I like you.