In this issue:

• Mother's Day Afternoon Tea
• New Teas
• New Art
• Getting Ready for Summer

Mother's Day - You Know She Loves Tea!

Looking for something elegant for Mother this year?  Well, you know she loves tea!  So, we've created a special Mother's Day Afternoon Tea for her and family, complete with traditional scones & tea sandwiches, tasty spinach tarts, sweets, your choice of tea - served in fine china - and to wrap it all up, a special Mexican Spiced Cake.  Reservations required, so please call 713.522.8868 to book a table, or send us email at info@tehouseoftea.com .  Afternoon Tea will start at 4 pm.  If you are interested in a more casual lunch for Mom on this special day, we still recommend booking a table.  Call us in advance, and place your lunch orders so we can prepare for the rush!

Speaking of Afternoon Tea, did you know there's a difference between Afternoon Tea and High Tea?  Yes, in the British tradition, Afternoon Tea, also known as Low Tea, is earlier in the day, and consists of lighter fare as well: delicate tea sandwiches, scones with clotted cream, cakes and pastries.  High Tea is a full meal, taken later in the day, and consists of meats, eggs or fish, and sandwiches.  High Tea is served on the main, "high" table, while afternoon tea is served on a lounge, or lower table, hence the names.  We also like to think of it as "higher"  or "lower", i.e., later or earlier, in the day, to keep our Teas straight :)

There's also Cream Tea, which is simpler: scones with clotted cream and jam.  Of course, all these Teas are served with tea too: quality, loose leaf tea presented and consumed in fine china.  It's a chance for the house to show off its best!

This week a new visitor dropped in, and asked if we could serve a quick Afternoon Tea.  Certainly, we prefer reservations, but on occasion we can pull off an impromptu tea, and we were happy to oblige this time.  Out came the linen, then some of our finest china, and  finally some quickly prepared, but delicious, pastries and tea sandwiches, as well as the customer's choice of tea and scones.  After the tea, the customer stated that she's had afternoon teas all across the country, and declared, "this is the best High Tea we've ever had in the nation!"

We'll forgive the High Tea/Afternoon Tea confusion, as we were distracted by our own blushing!!  We certainly expect there to be some very, very fine Teas across our fine country, but we were pleased with the compliment.

New Teas

• Blooming Teas.  Two new exciting "blooming" teas have been added to our selection.  The first is Red Pearl, a white tea scented with jasmine, sewn around a red chrysanthemum flower.  Then, there's the very exciting Dancing Blossom, a green tea scented with jasmine, concealing a brace of lily flowers.  When it's steeped, the brace unfolds and the flowers seem to climb out of the tea leaves!
• Five Dragon Oolong - a quality, amber oolong from the Wujian Region of China.
• Dunsandale TGFOP EX/SP Organic - A Nilgiri region tea, fresh from the Blue Mountains of India; robust, yet smooth.
  
• Himalayan TGFOP - another high mountain tea; this tea is Darjeeling-like, with a golden liquor.

New Art

This month's art comes from the photographer known in the blog universe as "Phototainable". 

Edward Habgood is not a native Texan, or American; he arrived from Great Britain across the ‘big pond’ during the summer of 2004.   Photography has been an essential part of his life since his early teen’s during which time he begged and borrowed family cameras to shot portraits, coastal scenes and studio macros. He learnt the art of patience in the darkroom developing his own work in black and white. As a geologist with his first camera, an Olympus OM1, he explored Chile capturing the incredible landscapes of The Salar De Atacama and high Andes with the vivid, saturated tones of color slide film.

However, a busy schedule in geoscience research meant that visits to the darkroom were limited and photography and his OM1 were relegated to a lower priority. All this changed with the advent of digital photography which provided Edward much greater accessibility to the full photographic process allowing him to regain total control of his work, bringing the darkroom to the desktop computer. In short digital photography has re-inspired Edward. This first exhibited series of work titled ‘Explore’ represents an exploration through the lens of The Greater Houston area and Gulf Coast. It captures the urban, the influence of Mother Nature on the city, and our winged friends who we share both the urban and the wild with. From bold cityscapes to the uniquely Houston, the challenge has been to interact with, and capture our everyday environment in a distinctly different way.

Several of his Houston area photographs are on display at Té this month, and are available for sale.  Phototainable has an interesting perspective on the Houston scene, so come check it out!

Getting Ready for Summer

Summer, and hot weather, is fast approaching.  Hey, we're already into the hurricane season, thanks to Andrea!  Along with the hot weather comes some new, exciting tea blends.  Check out our exotic, refreshing, Lychee Jasmine Green tea, already available :)  New, refreshing, cooling, weight loss inducing teas will be blended and served as the summer progresses, so drop in for a refresher some time ... or come in to suggest your own blends!  Who knows, you might get a new tea named after you  ;)

Connie is looking for tea culture articles, for sharing among our customers and publishing on our website.  How does your culture, or family, celebrate tea?  What kind of traditions do you regularly follow?  What ritual do you make for yourself when preparing and savoring tea?  If you have thoughts you'd like to contribute, please share them with Connie at the store, or write to info@tehouseoftea.com .  We will attribute all contributions that we publish, so don't be shy!

Motheringly yours,