Hello!

Hi Tea Lovers!!




How have you been? It's been awhile since I've updated you all. I currently live in California, however I'm moving to my home state of Michigan at the end of the month. If only I could have moved in the Spring- moving in the wintertime is very unpleasant. Here in San Francisco it's been very rainy lately. Nobody likes moving heavy items in the rain. No offense to Californians, but they really are not good drivers - add rain and it's a disaster!!




I still drink tea. There's a place in Burlingame, California that my boyfriend and I go to a lot and it's a beautiful tea house that does afternoon tea with traditional tea sandwiches, scones, and lovely Madelines. I usually get Black vanilla bean tea with milk and sugar with cucumber sandwiches.


Oh, before I forget to tell you. I have a new promo code for Canton Tea Co. You can use my promo code as many times as you want for 10% off your entire order. Don't worry- if the products you want from Canton are on sale, the promo code for 10% off still works!!!

Leah2017 is the new 10% off promo code for my Tea blog readers!!!!!!  Get some amazing tea from Canton Tea Co today. PS- I love their Matcha- I had a matcha latte today.


What is your favorite go to winter tea? Do you ever have tea lattes? I love a good tea latte in the winter time.


Have you seen what I'm doing with my life recently? I made a business out of my artwork. I'm having a blast. If you like art, please visit my page. Here's the link. Below is a painting I did called "Viva"

Thanks for stopping by!

Leah

Tea art and Lovejoy's Tea Room in San Francisco

Hi tea lovers!


This weekend my boyfriend and I went to Lovejoy's Tea Room in San Francisco for a rare treat. I discovered the tea room online by accident a few weeks ago  and wanted to go, but noticed there were no open reservations for 3 weeks. We put our names in and the day finally arrived, we drove up to the city from the peninsula and got really lucky with the parking and walked right into a tea wonderland. Every space in the building was decorated with tea related items. I must have seen 300 teacups in that room. The decor was amazing, but the best was yet to come!!

I ordered vanilla lavender black tea and oh my goodness it was amazing. In fact, I can't stop thinking about it. As well as the tea I had the "savory tea" which includes two finger sandwiches and a scone with cream and jam, the good ole English way. My boyfriend was not impressed when I put cream on both sides. Apparently, in England you only put cream on one side, then jam on the other and you put the two halves together like a sandwich.

The sandwiches I ordered were probably the best sandwiches I've ever had in my life. I'm not exaggerating, either. I had coronation chicken- which is also a common British sandwich made of chicken in mild curry mayo. If you're American and reading this you probably just thought "gross." That's what I thought too, until I tried it when I was living in Wales and I became slightly obsessed. The combination of that, lettuce and soft bread is absolutely delicious!

I also had a salmon, cream cheese and caper finger sandwich and those were really excellent as well. My boyfriend had horseradish and roast beef and turkey with English mustard. I didn't try the turkey, but the roast beef and horseradish was pretty good.

After we came home from the tea room I felt really inspired so I decided to paint a tea pot. It turned out so well that I think I'm going to put it on my etsy store. After I painted this I decided that I wanted to do more tea related art in the future. What is something you'd like to be painted? Let me know what you think of my painting!! PS if you like the painting below, you can buy it Here!!

Spring Giveaway Results!

Leah's Spring Tea Giveaway

International Giveaway!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway



Hi friends! Since I had so much fun last time with my giveaway, I thought I'd do another one. I have two prizes this time. The first prize is a hand painted tea bag by artist Ruby Silvious (find her website here). She has donated this beautiful work of art for other tea lovers to cherish and enjoy. The second prize is Matcha green tea. I'm doing this giveaway with Rafflecopter, which makes it easier for you to enter and easier for me to find a winner. I've done a short interview with Ruby about the amazing prize she's donated. Below is the prize that can be won and then let's have a look at the interview...then to the giveaway process!

Copyright Ruby Silvious

Above is the stunning painting done on a teabag that can be yours if you win the giveaway! Now to the interview with the amazing artist, Ruby.

Leah: How long have you been creating art?

Ruby: As early as five years old, when my Japanese great grandmother taught me how to fold my first crane. On the paternal side, I was inspired by my father, who was a self-taught artist and calligrapher. I remember drawing a portrait of my youngest sister when I was 15.


Leah: When did you start experimenting with painting on teabags, or pistachio shells, as I've seen?

Ruby: Two years ago, I read about a community in South Africa that produced handmade products out of used tea bags. The idea of reusing something that I was tossing out everyday, and creating something beautiful with it, fascinated me. By then I already had a collection of pistachio shells that I had been doodling on with markers when I discovered the common denominator. I've been working with recycled and discarded materials ever since. In addition to teabags and pistachio shells, I also paint on egg shell shards and origami-fold paper bags and crumb wrappers into mock brassieres. It's been fun!


Leah: How can people see your art if they're interested in purchasing it?

Ruby: Local museum shops in upstate New York carry my tea bag designs. You can also purchase my art on my website: www.rubysilvious.com


Leah: Why do you want to giveaway a piece of your art to the other readers?


Ruby: People have this notion of what traditional art should be. By bringing new life to everyday, familiar things, I hope to inspire new forms of creativity.


Leah: What's your favorite kind of tea? How many cups of tea do you have a day?

Ruby: I am, by no means, a tea connoisseur. Twinings' Earl Grey tops my list of favorites, with Ambessa's Choco Nut Blend a close second. I drink 2-3 cups a day and I prefer bagged tea - for obvious reasons!

Thank you so much to Ruby for donating this amazing work of art and for answering the interview questions. For those wondering, last giveaway winner Gary is very pleased with his prize. He sent me this photo of him with the tea a couple weeks ago:

Leah

Carne Griffiths: Interview with the man who uses tea instead of paint

From embroidery designer to innovative, highly recognized artist, Carne Griffiths is no stranger to blazing his own path in the world of art. Join me as I get a small glimpse into Carne's life as an artist.

See below: his work "Fall" and following that, the interview

Leah: How do you use tea to make art? What inspired you to use tea, coffee and alcohol in addition to ink?


Carne: I incorporated the use of tea and other liquids into my work in 2010/11, it was an accidental occurrence at first but developed into something that I pursued and actually helped with my handling of colour. The addition of tea is normally thrown from a brush onto the page - I work with freshly brewed tea and the energy and direction of application is of primary importance - I tend not to 'paint' with the tea as this disturbs the delicate patterns that the tea makes when mixing with the inks on the page.

Leah: What inspires your work?


Carne: My work is inspired mostly by nature.  I left a 12 year career as an embroidery designer initially to undertake an exploratory year of painting - this lead to where I am now.  So the influence of embroidery design and nature's part in this is quite evident in most of the pieces that I make.


Leah: Is using natural ingredients such as coffee, tea and alcohol related to the chemicals in acrylics and oil paints and not wanting to get ill?


Carne: I actually ingest quite a lot of the materials I work with now, so although it wasn't a reaction to chemicals in paint - it would certainly be a problem if I returned to any chemical materials.. it has become such a habit to remove liquids from the brush by mouth that I'd be in for a nasty shock if I turned to oil painting.


Leah: Do you drink tea as well? If so, what kind do you prefer?


Carne: I do drink tea and coffee while working - coffee for the high energy boost but I like to drink tea when working for long periods on detailed work - it helps keep a level of work and reduces the up and down spikes that result from too much coffee!  I enjoy wrapped teas, and specialist teas - I have a beautiful clear glass teapot that was a present from my wife - the whole ceremony of making a cup of tea is important but I also like the fact that it is an everyday occurrence and can be taken in stride with the work.

Leah: What is your favourite work so far that you've done in 2015?


Carne: I think my favourite painting so far this year is the Tempest.  It is also one of the most recent works I have completed - it involved a wider spectrum of colours and the use of a number of teas both loose leaf and tea bag!


Carne's work, The Tempest is below:

To see Carne's website click here

To find Carne on Facebook click here

Here's one of my favourites of Carne's work: Flower of Life

Leah

Tomorrow: Carne Griffith's guest post

Stay tuned! Tomorrow night I will be interviewing Carne Griffiths about his art made from tea, coffee and alcohol. Above, his work entitled "Speechless" is shown.


See you then


Leah

Carne Griffiths

Hi tea lovers!

I recently reached out to a member of the art community, Carne Griffiths about making a guest post on this blog. Who is he, you ask? Well, he's a well established artist here in the United Kingdom that uses tea, ink and alcohol to create beautiful art. Needless to say I'm so honored and excited to have such a fantastic guest to be the first to guest post here on my blog!

Please have a look at his website: Carne Griffiths where you can find photos of his art. 

Leah