Clipper's Organic Decaf English Breakfast Tea

It is not easy to find a decaf organic english breakfast tea! A couple of years ago we were searching and searching and finally found one on a trip to the UK. It was in a charming box on the shelves of the Notting Hill Whole Foods Market. The company that make this tea is called Clipper and funnily enough they are based only thirty five miles from where Dave grew up. 

Sounds of the Teapot

NPR did a recent feature on their show New Sounds that was all about sounds from the kitchen. Obviously our favorite had to be the song titled 'Totally Steaming'! This is a recording from sounds that you'll commonly hear from a teapot. Fast forward the music player above to 1:30 and start listening to this great recording by Andy Statman.

Afternoon Tea at The Plaza

With a relaxing vibe, a two story dining room with stain glass ceiling, and a genuinely friendly staff, the place to go for afternoon tea is at the Palm Court in The Plaza Hotel. As a wedding gift from Dave's sister and brother and law (we saved it for our one year anniversary), we indulged in the 'Fitzgerald Tea for the Ages'. The menu is inspired by the cuisine of the jazz age and the era of The Great Gatsby. 

As Sarah ordered the afternoon tea, Elvis, the waiter already knew what she was going to say. When questioned he said it was because almost everyone orders the afternoon tea, the Plaza's special blend, when they come for "afternoon tea." It made perfect sense, and we couldn't resist the trend. We also tried the Zimbabwe decaf tea because on the menu it stated that it was, "the best decaffeinated tea in the world." It was very nice as well.

We left on a sugar high, and unfortunately forgot to buy any loose leaf tea, but this gives us an reason for a second visit. 

To-Go Flasks

To-go flasks are a tea necessity, especially in a city like Manhattan where it's go go go. Two of our favorite flasks are pictured above. The flask on the left is very light and the outside ridges prevent the cup from getting too hot to handle. We found that one at Whole Foods. The flask on the right is the Thermos brand and we've had it for a number of years now and is still going strong. It keeps the tea hot and sealed very tight, Dave often takes this one to work.

We love to hear about your what tea flask your using right now.

Happy Brewing,

Dave & Sarah

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Tea Gifts for Christmas

 2102 Tea Presents

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas Day!

We are so thankful for the gifts that we received from our family and friends. There were plenty of tea related gifts that were hiding under our tree. You can see them in the picture above. We are so excited about trying out these new teas and tea accessories. 

Happy Brewing,

Dave & Sarah

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Breville Kettles

$78.28
We've owned the Breville Kettle, pictured above, for about six years and even though it still works perfectly every time, we were exploring what else Breville has to offer in terms of tea kettles. The Breville Variable Temperature kettle, below, has five pre-set brewing temperatures for green, white, oolong and black teas. Getting the water temperature right is crucial for making the perfect cup of tea. 
$127.28
Pictured below is the Breville Tea Maker. This sounds like a dream come true, that is if you dream of waking up to a perfectly brewed cup of tea. You can programme the kettle to start brewing the tea at a certain time, inputting the required water temperature and steep time the night before. 
After the water gets to the perfect temperature, the kettle lowers the basket with the loose leaf tea inside and knows exactly when to lift the tea out of the water so it's brewed to perfection. You can also use this kettle without the basket to simply heat the water to the perfect temperature if that's what you want.
$249
With Christmas around the corner it might be time for us to invest in a more high tech Breville Kettle. But we are undecided. Maybe you can help us make a decision by using the comment's section in the upper left corner. 

 

Happy Brewing,

Dave & Sarah

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Harney & Sons SOHO Tea House and Shop

IMG_4979

Christmas time is here and while in the busy shopping neighborhood of SOHO in New York last Sunday we took refuge in a beautiful expansive tea shop, Harney & Sons.

We got off of our tired feet and discovered a delicious green tea. This green tea hales from Japan and is called Tencha. It tastes like steamed white rice and nori seaweed. The taste is so clean and delicate, it somehow mimics the taste of an amazing piece of sushi without any additional flavoring, it just comes out of the ground like that!

We wouldn't normally pair this tea with scones, but we were hungry, so there you go. Sometimes you have to compromise when your feet are tired from Christmas shopping!

Happy Brewing,

Dave & Sarah

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IMG_4973

Harney & Sons
433 Broom ST, New York, NY 10013
(between Broadway and Crosby ST)
www.Harney.com 

The Mayflower's Tea Pot

Grandpa

We traveled to Sarah's home town, Houston, Texas for Thanksgiving this year. While there, we came across this fine looking teapot owned by Sarah’s Grandpa.

Scribed on the bottom of the teapot explains that this is a reproduced Elder Brewster Tea Pot made by Richard Briggs Boston. The original was brought to America in a ship called The Mayflower in 1620, a ship full of English and Dutch tea-loving adventurers that departed England on their way to America.

Grandpa's Tea Pot

Happy Brewing,

Dave & Sarah

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English Breakfast Tea Storm Shortage

*We are pleased to say in Greenwich Village we are back to normal with power and internet, power took one week to be restored and internet took over two weeks to be restored. We ended up missing one blog here on Two Cups of Tea, but we think that's not too bad. 

Tree down from super storm sandy 

Hurricane Sandy swept into downtown Manhattan and swept out again taking with it Manhattan's supply of English Breakfast Tea.

We brew a cup of English Breakfast Tea at home each morning, but without power for a week following the storm we decided to buy a cup up North (above 23rd ST) where they had power and fresh milk. 

We tried most notably Dean and Deluca in the New York Times building on 42nd Street along with other smaller establishments and were turned away each time. Their supply of English Breakfast Tea had been emptied! We concluded there must be a lot more English Breakfast Tea drinkers like us desperate for their morning ritual.

We thought fast paced New Yorkers need their coffee but as we found out they also like their tea! 

Below is a picture from Greenwich Village (without power) looking North to the lighted Empire State Building in the distance. 

ESB during Power Cut

Happy Brewing,

Dave & Sarah

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