Tea Where Orchids Grow - My Cottage Garden

Tea serves as an international passport, even though government officials sometimes mistake it for another substance. When tea drinkers meet, there is an excitement similar to meeting a new cousin at a family reunion. Once we become acquainted, we then spend talking time talking about where we fit within our huge tea family. Yes, tea is a journey and it will take you places.

Walking Between Familiar and Unfamiliar
Isn't it odd how we can walk a familiar track and yet discover new ground? Occasionally we receive the opportunity to visit places that hold bittersweet memories. Before our departure, we may feel some trepidation about retracing our steps and/or perhaps even repeating our past mistakes. However, we choose to get on board with our baggage and go. Why? The desire to go forward outweighs anything that would try to keep us from wasting a customized ticket. Regardless of the outcome, some trips are non-transferable.

Upon our arrival, we realize that something's shifted. Maturity, as a paintbrush, added experience to those memories and covered them with a different patina. The place itself may not have changed, but the ticket holder holds a different perspective. This discovery makes the trip over familiar territory worth it. It also becomes an opportunity to appreciate the distance covered, to determine the next destination, and to start traveling in that direction. All aboard!

My Cottage Garden (Lakeland, FL)

The day I met shop owner Deborah Birdwell at My Cottage Garden and listened to her personal tea journey I became connected to another tea-appreciating human being. It was a true sipping celebration. Our sharing conversation over tea truly felt finding a long lost relative.

My Cottage Garden looks and feels like a comfortable Victorian living room. Although the actual tea service discontinued two years ago, Debbie graciously offers to make a pot of tea to any customer caring to sample the wide selection. There was a Ceylon there with my name on it.

Speaking of home comforts, this plate of sweets reminded me of how I grew up receiving company:

The tea store is located at 325 North Kentucky Avenue in historic downtown Lakeland. Surrounded by antique shops and other boutiques, this cozy spot offers its own treasure trove especially for fellow unapologetic tea aficionados.

Despite popular technology, the telephone remains the best contact method here and Debbie Birdwell herself gives directions at (863) 688-9686) to anyone trying to find My Cottage Garden. For those travelers seeking tea, I offer this helpful landmark:

Behind the orchids, there's tea. May all your travels end in tea. In other words, bon voyage (have a good trip)!

Cherchez Le Blend - François Payard Bakery

Once upon a time on the Upper East Side in the Land of Gotham, there lived a prince pastry chef who provided a consistently excellent and affordable three-course, French-style afternoon tea. People came from far and wide to visit this tea castle where time seemed to stop once one's feet crossed the threshold. This magical place was called Payard Patisserie & Bistro where the tea sandwiches were miniature masterpieces, chocolate flowed like water, and macarons blossomed abundantly.

This tea tin shown once held the signature Payard Blend, a black tea blended by Harney & Sons and a fine tribute to Franco-American relations. Its memorable flavor profile prompted me to turn my memories into a newly refilled tin. So began this tea adventure.


It Takes A Village

Athough the Payard Blend is available with a different label online, I decided to use my local advantage and save myself the shipping costs. Going to François Payard Bakery seemed like a good idea: save shipping, get some exercise, and remedy an empty tin. Truly there are few things sadder to an unapologetic tea aficionado than an empty tin, n'est-ce pas?

Accompanied by my ever faithful travel companion, also known as an unlimited MetroCard, I eagerly navigated Greenwich Village to 116 West Houston Street between Thompson and Sullivan Streets [Subway: Broadway-Lafayette (B, D, F, M)].This is the site that welcomed me:

Be not distracted by this tempting display of pastry par excellence. Focus. Remember today's mission is tea. Carefully reading the labels on all the tea tins, however, I saw no Payard Blend. No Payard Blend?! Where's the Payard Blend? Alas, the elusive Payard Blend tea was not at home.

Culinary Consolation

Instead of dragging myself over to the Plaza Hotel and drowning my sorrow at the FC Chocolate Bar, I attempted to console my disappointingly empty tea quest with a temporary diversion: lunch. The turkey and Gruyere cheese sandwich on pretzel bread paired with a rich, hearty lentil soup greatly improved my disposition.

What tea does one choose after priming the taste buds with such great anticipation? Please don't get it twisted: this was no time for tisanes. A thoroughly enjoyable Earl Grey carried the day. While I sipped my senses suddenly became alert to the chocolates and macarons surrounding me. A jumbo cranberry macaron beckoned like a siren and answering the call, I discovered it pairs quite nicely with Earl Grey black tea. As for the chocolate, where there is François Payard, there will be chocolate.


Happy Beginnings

This summer chef Payard returns to the Upper East (1330 Third Avenue) to open a venue reminiscent of the once beloved Payard Patisserie. That means that my Payard Blend tin hopefully will be filled soon. In the meantime, we'll eat macarons, dream in chocolate, and drink tea.

Releasing Our Inner Pooh - The Tea + Honey Store

Exploring a city on foot gives the walker an opportunity to see the metropolis up close and personal. The bigger the city, the more ground there is available to discover. Every place, whether urban or rural, has its own charms and every step we take is a decision towards discovering them.

For those individuals who ignorantly say that cities like New York lack trees, I merely inquire when was the last time they walked through Central Park? Surely at least one tree may be found on the 843-acre public park. This photo shows a few trees that I noticed during a recent walk and they do not appear to be saplings. Perhaps the person is unable to see the trees for obsessing about concrete. Nevertheless, excuses prevent discoveries. It is time to keep walking.

Blooming Where You Are Planted

Productivity produces evidence. When trees produce buds, blooms and blossoms, it is a visual expression of life springing up from the roots. The blossoms announce that there is work in progress and the fruit is on the way.

Additionally, blossoms stand out among green leaves and their uncommon quality attracts those who recognize their worth, i.e. bees. Honey, the collaboration between bees and blossoms, is a sweet example. I imagine Alan Alexander Milne's character Winnie-the-Pooh would be quite pleased at discovering such productivity.

For the Pooh in You - The Tea + Honey Store (New York)

As a rule, I prefer to keep my palate sharp and to add nothing to my teas and/or tisanes. A tisane (pronounced "tis-an"), or herbal, is an infusion which  does not contain the actual camellia sinensis tea leaf. Curiosity, however, motivated me to try boosting my immune system via adding local honey to a rooibos tisane.

Rooibos (pronounced "roy-boss"), is the red bush herbal grown in South Africa.When it came to selecting and purchasing honey, I visited Nicolas Sampedro and my friends at The Tea + Honey Store on the Upper East Side. Please note: the Grand Central location is closed.

My first ever non-tea purchase at The Tea + Honey Store was Hamptons Honey Wildflower Blossom. I am happily conducting my experiment. Regardless of how the experiment turns out, I have blossoms, some honey and a bear as reminders for me to keep producing. Life is indeed sweet. Cups up!

To Chef With Love - Tea and Dessert

Strawberry Shortcake with Vanilla Ice Cream

Warning: This post is rated "D". Viewers are asked to use discretion as I plan to discuss in full and graphic detail desserts that contain sugar, cream, butter and chocolate. All calorie-counting obsessives and fad dieters are strongly encouraged to stop reading beyond this point. The author accepts no responsibility for any subsequent urge to consume desserts immediately after viewing these images. Again, viewer discretion is advised.

Raising Cane - A Case for Sugar

Taking My Lumps in Style

Sugar is a powerful two-edged sword that must be wielded carefully. Chemically speaking, our bodies convert sugars like glucose and lactose to fuel daily operations. Our DNA contains the sugar deoxyribose (pronounced dee-ok-si-rahy-bohs), so it would seem that our human frames are wired to receive sugar. Like any other finely tuned equipment, however, our bodies are affected by whatever we choose to add to our individual systems. Avoid adding any substance that keeps your system from functioning well.

Although I take my tea without sugar, I have relatives who routinely take a little tea with their sugar. Every family has its lumps, doesn't it? Being the tea aficionado I am, I encourage them to take the first sip without sugar to get the tea's true flavor profile. Oolong tea being the exception, I'll provide sugar and control the lumps. I'd rather see them consume pure cane sugar than substances carried about in innocuous-looking pastel-covered packets. Quality trumps quantity.

"D" Is For Dessert

Chocolate Lava Cake

Desserts are serious commitments. Dessert makes or breaks the meal. It is the finishing touch, the pièce de résistance, which elevates a very good turkey club sandwich to one of the most memorable meals ever consumed. When offered a menu, I routinely first check the dessert selections and then consider the preceding courses. When it comes to dessert, a strategy is essential.

This Chocolate Lava Cake dessert lovingly prepared by Clint Lafabvre, executive chef at the historic Lakeland Terrace Hotel, was an utterly delightful surprise. Chef Lafabvre clearly speaks my culinary language fluently. It's joy to meet a man who instinctively understands subtlety and nuance are far more effective tools in wooing tastebuds than overpowering them. Lifting my spoon in anticipation, I mentally made these sensory notes:

• Presentation - simple yet elegant
• Sense of mystery - a warm, chocolate pudding center hidden beneath a generous pouf of cream
• Color - one perfect strawberry, a cluster of blueberries, and drizzles of chocolate sauce
• Texture -  moist, firm, flourless chocolate cake provides a rich foundation
  
• Taste - Chocolate, sugar, cream and fresh berries each fully represented and balanced each other

After savoring the very last morsel, I wondered if it was possible to become engaged via dessert. This dessert was that serious. This conundrum requires some tea contemplation. Let's drink tea!

Liquid Satisfaction - Tea and Chocolate

Being a connoisseur means that an individual invests considerable time and knows much about the subject matter. When it comes to tea and chocolate, well, I've decided to be a lifelong learner. Thankfully, they pair well together so it makes studying tea and chocolate a delicious culinary endeavor.



Passing The Cacao Bar

It's amazing how my walks around New York's five boroughs usually terminate in food and tea shops. Walking remains my primary form of exercise towards increasing my oxygen intake and all the other good food I intake. Additionally, my doing Pilates sessions regularly help me walk gracefully and maintain an abdominal core conducive to exploring tea and food establishments.

Yes, tea and chocolate rank very close to oxygen as items which add vigor to my life. One day while taking in some oxygen, I developed an intense craving for full, rich, dark chocolate. Wait to exhale?! The desire grew more insistent with every step. Finding a suitable place to satisfy a chocolate desire became my quest. Who knew exercise would have such an effect on the psyche? After considering several therapeutic options, I remembered The Cacao Bar at MarieBelle Chocolate, located at 484 Broome Street, has food, tea and chocolate in abundance. Relief was literally at my feet.

Experiential Education

Although MarieBelle carries a great tea selection, drinking chocolate is a must-have for every first time visitor or tea aficionado craving chocolate. It's also a fantastic place to learn more about chocolate.

Chocolate originates from the seeds of the cacao tree, usually found in tropical climates. These seeds are dried, cleaned and roasted to produce cacao nibs. The nibs are then ground into cocoa mass, rough but pure chocolate. Once liquified, chocolatiers like MarieBelle take the chocolate liquor and transform it into wonderful beverages. For example, the "Spicy" drinking chocolate pictured here features 60-70% Colombian cacao blended with chipotle and ancho chile. How does it taste? Every cup speaks for itself...

Rites of Passage - Tea and Commencement

Lady Mendl's Tea Salon (New York, NY)

Rites mark our significant life events. They provide a clear signal for all observers that the familiar and comfortable season has reached its natural conclusion and another new season has begun.

Although subtle cues may preview a work-in-progress, rites officially proclaim major shifts: weddings, graduations, or someone's first afternoon tea. Recently two brilliant young ladies and I shared tea at Union Square/Gramercy Park's Lady Mendl's Tea Salon to commemorate their respective milestones.

Bucket Lists and Final Requests

Diligently pursuing homemade chicken and dumplings and peach cobbler led to my discovering my name included on the college senior  bucket list. Shocked yet intrigued, I wanted to know how "having tea with Ms. Hamilton" merited such an honor. The expression bucket list, popularized by the same-titled movie starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson, is a wish list of things someone would like to accomplish before dying, i.e. "kicking the bucket". Thankfully, this list detailed their desired must-do items before graduating and departing New York City.

I consider my inclusion on this bucket list a singular honor simply because there's quite a bit a college student can do in New York. These soon-to-be graduates chose to pause their senior thesis writing, wedding plans, and graduation preparations to receive the rite of afternoon tea. Truly, this tea clearly marked the end of a season.

Herbert Von King Park (Brooklyn, NY)

Time for New Beginnings

Spring is the season which unveils what fall planted and what winter covered. The weather shifts often as each element, e.g. rain, sun, and snow, attempts to navigate the essential seasonal changes. If we are wise, then we learn to appreciate every season for its own characteristics rather attempt to prolong a season which has passed.

Regardless the season, tea continues to smooth whatever turbulence we encounter in our lives. So, let's drink tea and keep things in perspective. Enjoy the season because one day it too will pass. Cups up!

Regal Cupping - Tea at The Painted Teacup

Opening an otherwise uninteresting e-mail inbox, my heart leaped at a recently received invitation. (No, it wasn't to fly to London in time to attend the Royal Wedding. It was an invitation to tea.) Suddenly, the day seemed luminous and I didn't notice the date coincided with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's wedding. Tea makes every day a special occasion. Needless to say, I gladly accepted and made plans to meet great company at The Painted Teacup.

The Painted Teacup (Upper Darby, PA)

Located just outside of Philadelphia's city limits, The Painted Teacup is a Victorian-style tearoom featuring a small staff who delight in making each guest feel like a peer. Even though I didn't wear the faux sapphire ring they provided (pictured), I did appreciate the Royal Wedding-themed tea. The Painted Teacup's decor manages to strike a good balance between being full without seeming cramped.  The overall atmosphere is intimately comforting.

More than tea themes, The Painted Teacup's tea selection features familiar brands like PG Tips, Twinings, Tea Forte' and Stash Tea. Additionally, house blends such as Queen Elizabeth, which combines Assam, Ceylon and Kenyan black teas, are served daily.

Savories Worthy of Sovereigns

Our entire table remarked over just how tasty every morsel was. There were four courses, including an appetizer and a separate dessert plate. Among the savories, the Broccoli Cheddar quiche converted new fans, so I only managed to "help" one person finish hers. The Painted Teacup's attentive staff made sure that our teacups remained full throughout our meal. Considering our copious consumption, this was no small feat.

Tea is a celebration. The Painted Teacup understands this and it showed in every sip and nibble. To seal the memory until the next visit, tea-inspired gifts tempt you at the checkout. This is a tearoom where we resolved to pause often. Cups up for a tea well done!