Saturday, September 4, 2010

A History of Social Tea Time with Jane Pettigrew

Hello TEA Friends,

I first met Jane Pettigrew, tea historian, writer, and former tea room owner, back in 2004 at the World Tea Expo (then called "Take Me 2 Tea") in Rhode Island (see picture below). She was captivating to watch and listen to: a petite, pretty woman with close-cropped cut blond hair and a charming English accent, her enthusiasm for tea was truly inspirational.

At that time, Barb's TEA Shop was only several pages of notes and outlines in a three-ring binder. After meeting and talking with Jane, her knowledge and encouragement sent me home with plans to go from paper to real world in a few short months.

Jane Pettigrew has written 13 books - most of which I own, including my personally autographed copy of " A Social History of Tea" and my well-worn, "Tea in the City, Paris", which was given a real work out when we visited the City of Lights two years ago this month.

This year, I again, along with my daughter and BTS Creative Director, Rachel, met Jane in June at the World Tea Expo in Las Vegas. She was just as pretty and engaging as when we first met her in Providence and as she spoke about tea rooms in England, we were reminded what fun it is just to hear her recount stories with her enchanting style and humor.

Any tea time with Jane Pettigrew is always historic and we at BTS are great fans. We're sure you'll find any of Jane's book's, including her most recent "Tea Classified" which was voted best new publication 2009 at the World Tea Expo, tea time well spent.

Jane Pettigrew also conducts Tea Masterclasses every month in London, England. For more information on her classes and a full list of all her books, check out her webpage at janepettigrew.com.







2 comments:

The Antiques Diva™ said...

Ohhh... a masters class on tea in London!!! How exciting... I was just in the UK and wish I would have known about this before my last trip! Oh well, will be there again!
By the way, should you ever make it to Berlin the Ritz does a tea tasting for a shockingly good value of 36Euros - you should definitely add that to your repetoire. If you'd like details on that class I can ask my friend Jill (of Chef in Berlin) to email you more about it as she's the one who told me about it!
Cheers!
Toma

Barb's Tea Shop said...

Toma,

Hoping to visit my daughter next year when she does a study abroad. If I ever have the opportunity to make a visit to Berlin, I would LOVE to have tea at the Ritz. Yes, please forward any info so I may add it to my "wish list".

Also, looking forward to your upcoming on-line vintage store /brocante! The quality & variety of your merchandise always make on-line browsing fun and interesting! - and you have plenty for tea enthusiasts, too!

To tea and shopping!

Barb