Afternoon Tea Talk for your next Bridal Shower. . . or other special event

If you are planning a bridal shower and looking for a fresh alternative to the lets-get-it-over-with-shower-games, consider a Tea Etiquette Talk* from Barb's TEA Shop. Treat your guests to an informative and entertaining tea talk and avoid those tired wedding-themed brain teasers and quizzes.

Make your bridal shower an elegant afternoon tea affair that needn't exceed your budget. Barb's TEA Shop will create a program based on your needs. We can provide everything from tea consultation to full-service tea brewing and pouring for your guests.

Let Barb's TEA Shop take the guesswork out of which tea to serve and how to prepare. Based on your menu, we can offer a variety of teas, at a range of prices, and brew and serve to your guests on-site. With Barb's TEA Shop, afternoon tea with freshly brewed tea is easier than setting tea bags on the table, but, so much more elegant.

When planning your next shower, contact Barb's TEA Shop and let's talk about what would work best for your special bride, guests and venue. You can select from the full package or any individual component:

Full Package: Tea Etiquette Talk, 2 varieties of loose tea, teapots and teapot warmers, tea preparation and wait staff.

But, don't feel you need to wait for someone to get married. The same afternoon tea package is available for your next group event: book club, girls night out, couples evening or church group.

Contact us today: 248-840-4356
barb@barbsteashop.com
barbsteashop.blogspot.com
barbsteashop.com

*Barb Gulley is a Tea Etiquette Consultant, with training from the Protocol School of Washington. She is an authorized tea etiquette consultant from PSOW.

Tranquil Teas for the Holiday Season at Faith Lutheran in Troy

The first of four Tranquil Teas for the 2010 – 2011 season was held last Thursday and Barb’s TEA Shop was invited to present its “Afternoon Tea Etiquette” program to a sold-out group of 50 guests. The tea events are hosted by Faith Lutheran Church on selected Thursday afternoons and each has a seasonal theme presentation accompanied by tea and tasty sweets.

Guests will enjoy the detail in décor as a meeting room is converted into a tea room with tablecloths, three-tiered trays, and silver tea pots. October’s event brought the beauty of a Michigan fall day indoors with tablescapes accented in vibrant yellows, oranges and gold. Attendees were served freshly brewed loose tea by friendly hostesses, and, if all the tea is wonderful as the Darjeeling sampled last week, future guests are in for a real treat. Candle lit tables and tea garden displays added to the tea room ambiance, and, like the Drake Hotel in Chicago, you will even remember the lovely accents in the powder room.

We had a wonderful time and met so many great women. Thanks for inviting BTS to be part of the Tranquil Teas at Faith Lutheran.

Upcoming Teas (times for all teas are 1:00 – 3:00 pm)

December 9, 2010 Christmas Reflections Tea
Featuring: Sue Czischke

February 10, 2011 Valentine Tea

April 7, 2011 Daffodil Tea

Featuring: Master Gardner, Suzanne Huening

Teas are $7.00 per ticket in Room 10/11/12 at Faith Lutheran Church, 37 635 Dequindre, Troy, Michigan. Deadline for purchasing tickets is the Sunday before scheduled tea, but please note, tickets are selling quickly. Bring your own teacup or a disposable one will be provided.

For more information contact Kathy Briscoe at kabriscoe@wowway.com.

Barb G. in the center, between Kathy B. and Sue C. along with all the other beautiful women of Faith Lutheran.

How to Make a Mint: Show me the Monet

Hello Tea Friends,

Now that it is officially Fall in Michigan, it's time to clean up the garden, bring the tea plant indoors and store away summer memories for another year. Our mint and chamomile plants thrived in our newly cultivated tea garden/vineyard up north, as did my prized Camellia sinensis. Another bonus to our improved grounds this summer was the Pemberly Pines pond, which, only in its second year of existence, showed signs of approaching our source of inspiration, Monet's amazing water lily pond in Giverny.

A little over two years ago, my husband and I went to Paris and took a day trip to Monet's home in Giverny. It's here we learned how the artist spent much of his time creating a real life masterpiece of rows upon rows of brightly colored flowers around his estate and manipulating a local water source to benefit his own personal pond. (The latter was made famous by Monet's water lily paintings.) We were also told on our tour that Monet enjoyed not only painting in the landscape of his own design, but taking tea there as well.

So, this summer, we picked homegrown mint, brewed fresh herbal tea, and sat back in Adirondack chairs near the pond to watch our one water lily in bloom sur le jardin de thé, just like our favorite French impressionist artist. C'est magnifique!

Herbal Mint tea (derived from various google searches and our own personal tastes):

6 mint tea leaves per cup

Add boiling water to mint leaves and steep for 3 - 5 minutes

The refreshing lift of fresh mint tea will soon be replaced by warming chai lattes and the pond will soon look more like Monet's La Pie, Effet de Neige than a free flowing pool of water lilies. We're packing it in for the summer, but looking forward to the Fall pallet of vibrant colors from nature's brush; another masterpiece to take in with a hot cup of hearty tea.

Monet's water lily pond, France ******************* Pemberly Pines pond, Michigan