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Back to inspirations
Tea Time
The tea is ...
5 000-year of history, its origin, its conquest of Europe, the different kinds of teas and the Chinese, Japanese, British, Russian and Oriental traditions and also many other things. All that comes to my mind when I hear that word.
I suggest you to read the book written by Annie Perrier-Robert "The Tea" which is very well illustrated.
I am a large consumer of tea. Since I was small I always loved to take a big cup of tea in the morning and in the evening. I spent a lot of time with my parents and my friends drinking a cup of tea
I could write a book about all the meetings that I made while drinking a cup of tea and about all the topics we have discussed.
Indeed, the first thing people are asking you when you enter in a Russian house: "Would you take a cup of tea?"
But this month I have been inspired by the famous English "Five-o-clock Tea". But what a great idea, to take a cup of tea every day at five o'clock in the afternoon. That tradition is now copied throughout the world and it is still more respected in England.
But do you know that, it was the wife of King Charles II, the Portuguese Princess Katarina Braganskaya, which has received, as a dowry, a chest with tea leaves, which at that time in the seventeenth century, were still very rare in Europe . At the Court, people welcomed the taste of the young queen and the tea quickly became the drink of Buckingham Palace.
However, the tradition of the "Five-o-clock Tea" was invented by the Duchess of Bedford. In addition, the Queen Victoria has always been a big fan of tea and even wrote a book, which sets out the basic rules of tea etiquette.
And during a trip to London, I had visited several of these places with one of my childhood friends who lived there at that time. Now this tradition is mainly associated with tea rooms of major hotels and with, of course, the Court of her Majesty of the Queen.
At that time, I had asked to my friend among these Salons which are the most remarkable. And here is the list that she had given to me ...
(Please note, that list is her personal opinion. And if you give me any other tea rooms in London or England, I will be glad to put them also in that list here)
The Dorchester
TheBerkeley
TheMileston
StJames
Ritz
This tea is served with English traditional pastries known as "scones†and “crumpets" with strawberry jam and butter cream. In addition, they offer little sandwiches (named like that because of their size), with fresh cucumber without skin and as well as with ham and cheese. In addition to the cups and the teapot, we give small plates, dessert forks, a knife to cut the scones, tongs for sugar and a milk jug. And the most important thing to know: the tea is poured into the milk, and not vice versa.
Do you know the origin of the word "porcelain »?!...
Marko Polo was after spending 24 years in China, returned to Venice, bringing with him some China porcelain tableware.
Venetians had never seen something like that and so beautiful. They do not even think it was been done by a human being. They have long thought that these are shells that Venetian had called - Porcellino (pig) because of the pale pink color of his skin. That is the origin of the word porcellana in Italian and porcelaine in French and porcelain in English.
The history of the porcelain is quite impressive. With the secret of its production, many legends had grown up around it. It was invented in China about 6000 years ago. But it will still take thousands of years before we can produce porcelain as we know it today - white and so thin that is almost transparent and very light.
In this basket, porcelain, "I put invisibles papers from Heidi Swapp which I have already talked after my CHA trip.
These products are very versatile. You can ink them, color them in any colors and give them the appropriate style according to your taste or to the project you to make.
Here are some pictures I took at the booth of Heidi Swapp at the last Winter CHA.
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