And with a little luck, it will reward you.
Don't ever attempt to heat milk in your electric tea kettle. (Don't ask me how I know this, just rest assured, I know...)
*sigh*
I'm finally getting myself caught up after the artisan fair from last weekend. Preparing for this and my tea for soap trade with Rebecca pretty much wiped my inventory out of teas... so I had to do a bit more blending!
My Earl Grey Creme IS back, and on sale!
My Starry Night is BACK too!
~Anne
Happy Autumn, everyone! To be truthful, it's beginning to feel a bit more like Winter than Autumn here in the Pacific Northwest... we've been experiencing some rather chilly weather indeed! Most of the leaves have fallen, although there are a few trees till holding on to their lovely Autumn display for a bit longer... and they're still quite breathtaking!
I do love the "nude" winter look of most trees too, I must admit. I do love to see the line, the curve, the movement of the branches... it's very inspiring to me artistically.
I recently got more T-Sacs in stock! I know that one or two customers were asking about them, I'm going to have to review my archived emails to see who so that I can notify you!
Earl Grey Creme tea will be back in stock within 10 days too!
On a more downbeat note, I've had to take the 3 mini-tin samplers off the website for the time being... Not only will I be offering my sampler tins along side my full size tins at the Artisan's Fair in December, but I am also sending a large quantity of full sampler tins to Rebecca of Rebecca's Soap Delicatessen to offer at her own similar type craft fair. We traded equal amounts of tea to soap... so I'll be selling some of her delicious smelling soaps, and she'll be selling some of my delicious teas! It's a very wonderful arrangement, one I'm very excited about!
But not to worry, sampler fans, I will have the 3 tin sampler back up after the holiday season, if not before! I just need as many tins as I can get my hands on at this point!
Special Requests? Office Gift Giving? I am doing a couple of special requests from customers who want to give their co-workers the gift of tea this Holiday season. I put together little samplers -- like the samples you get with every order -- in a little package, and it makes a wonderful little gift. Pair it with a tea mug from the dollar store and you have a great gift that will remind them of you throughout the year!
Interested? Just email me at anneliberteas@yahoo.com and I'll work with you to put together something that will knock their socks off!
The Winter Wonderland tea may be put on haitus for the time being, as I mentioned before. I just can't get the flavor I was hoping for with it... so I'm going to need to work on the recipes a bit more. I did, however, get some pleasing ideas for an Autumn Harvest tea... which with a bit more tweaking of the recipe, I may just have a seasonal offering for Autumn next year!
So, that's all for now. Thanks for reading along! For those of you who catch my newsletter, I'll be posting one within the next day or so with some intriguing offers!
~Anne
After testing the first batches of my Winter Wonderland blend, I am not completely happy with either outcomes... so, sadly these will probably not be ready in time for the tea of the month for December, but possibly it will be ready for January's tea...
It's a bit of a disappointment, really, because I had hoped to have the blend ready for the Homecoming Celebration in December, as I will be hosting a table at the artisan's fair. But, oh well, I suppose I will just have to be content to serve the Breakfast Blend and the Candy Shoppe at my table...
I will also be featuring soaps from Rebecca's Soap Delicatessen at my table. I received the box of soaps in the mail yesterday, and let me tell you, if you haven't been to Rebecca's website yet, you should make your way there NOW and try some of her delicious smelling soaps. I strongly recommend the Spiced Cider Soap -- this one reminds me of those cold, wintery nights when I was a kid, and gramma would make a hot, steamy cup of apple cider. Yummy!
I also recommend the Spiced Cranberry Soap & the Peppermint Cocoa Soap. Both of these smell oh soooooo good too! I don't think I could select just one favorite!
In addition, I will have some lovely teapot cozies to sell, and some altered domino ornaments that I've been making. Let's hope we have a successful trip to the artisan's fair!
~Anne
Well, I'm sorry about that... I have neglected my tea journal once again!
I've been working on several new blends... well, one of them is not so new... It's one that I had been working on for a while a year or so ago, but, I shelved it as I wasn't getting quite the flavor I was looking for... so I thought I'd try again.
That flavor is what I will probably call "fresh cookies" or "warm cookies" ~ a tribute, so to speak, to my gramma... or more specifically, my gramma's kitchen. There are few flavors and scents more comforting than the smell of cookies baking in the oven... nothing transports me back to being a young girl, helping my gramma in the kitchen, than the fragrance of cookies, freshly baked! This blend will probably not be done until around February, because, I have another tea priority at the moment, and that is...
My Winter Wonderland blend. I have a couple of different recipes "brewing" as we speak, and in about a week, I will be sampling them both and seeing which I like best (well, I'm hopeful that I will like at least one!) and it will be my special wintery flavor that I blend only one time a year. I wanted something that was very reminiscent of those flavors that remind one of the holiday season -- cinnamon spice, orange, vanilla, and possibly cranberry. We shall see how the recipes work out... more on that when it's ready for production!
Anyways, so that's what I've been up to. I need to get busy now... and get my daughter off to school! Thanks for reading along!
~Anne
Hi Everyone: It's been a while since I've posted an update here, and there have been some changes!
First, my Masterpiece Chai is back in stock! And NOBODY is happier about that than I! I have missed my delightfully spicy Chai tea! I love chai lattes! And it's been quite enjoyable served iced as well as hot!
Second, I finally am offering my tea of the month club memberships once again! I'm so glad that I can offer these again, they've been very popular, and even while I wasn't offering them, I kept my existing memberships active... and have developed quite a following with it!
Speaking of tea of the month, my tea of the month for August is La Vert Pear! My batch of La Vert Pear isn't yet ready for shipment, but you can pre-order it now. It will be ready for shipping just after August 20th! Yum! This is one of my very favorite teas to serve as an iced tea. The flavor profile is absolutely refreshing and stimulating for those hot, lazy days of summer!
Well, that's all for now, thanks for checking in on me!
~Anne
I have been enjoying a lot of iced tea lately. I still love my hot tea, of course, but, when it gets warmer in the afternoon, the iced tea sure is refreshing! I've been playing a lot with the flavors of my iced teas... in other words, I've been more bold in what I'm willing to try iced! Before, I wouldn't have dared to use my chai teas or my breakfast blends in my iced teas, but, I'm getting more daring!
It kind of happened by 'chance' -- I had made a pot of breakfast blend for my morning hot tea. And I only drank one cup from my 2 cup pot (well, actually, it's a 4 cup pot, but I use larger MUGS for my hot tea most of the time, and my large mug can accomodate the same amount of tea as my smaller tea cups), and rather than wasting my now cold, brewed tea, since I was making a new batch of iced tea, I decided to just add that tea in to my tea pitcher.
And... since I had only brewed those tea leaves once, I decided to go ahead and brew them a second time, and add that freshly brewed tea to the tea pitcher too. Then, I brewed up some fresh strawberry tea (which is now sold out ... sorry!), and filled the same tea pitcher with the strawberry tea. The resulting iced tea was just amazing! The strawberry flavors mingled with the light vanilla flavors from the breakfast blend... lending it a sort of strawberry and cream flavor! So delightful and refreshing!
Since that particular batch was so successful, the next batch I tried was my Masterpiece Chai (I'm blending a new batch and I needed to sample it to make sure I was on the right track!) ... and wow! I love the spicy flavor to the iced tea. I was unsure of this at first, because I LOVE chai, but, my love had been just for the hot tea, blended with milk. But ohhh... the spice in the chai when it's chilled without the milk is very nice too!
So many yummy flavors -- only 2 iced tea pitchers! haha!
~Anne
Hello Everyone:
Just a really quick update to let you know what teas are available (and, I guess, more to the point, which ones aren't!)
Red Velvet: (June's tea of the month) I sold out of this delicious tisane this morning, not sure when I'll be restocking it!
Creamy Irish Breakfast Blend: I have one more package of this left! If this is one that you've been wanting, better get yours NOW! I won't be restocking this one until late next February.
Momoko Melon Oolong: This one is IN now, and ready for shipment. It's the PERFECT tea for this hot weather! It's so deliciously refreshing when served over ice! YUM!
Cherry Almond: This is one is so luxuriously smooth and delightful. Only 1 package left!
Formosa Oolong~Choicest: Is still on special... but not for long! I put this on temporary 'clearance' to help clear out some over-stock... and then it will go back to it's regular price.
So that's all of this update for now. Enjoy!
~Anne
Hi Everyone! It's been a while since my last post, but now that I've decided to dedicate this blog to my tea blending activities and create a new one for my art, I'm only posting in this one when there are events concerning tea!
And tea blending can take a lot longer than artwork!
But... it's well worth the wait! Case and point: My Momoko Melon Oolong Tea is HERE and ready for shipment now! This is one of my very favorites served iced... and it's rare when I can say this, but, I actually prefer it iced! Most teas are enjoyable served iced, but few are EVEN MORE refreshingly delicious served iced than served hot. My Momoko Melon Oolong is an exception... smooth Oolong flavor blended with the sweetness of summertime melons! So good!
In the Blender:
I'm currently working on my Masterpiece Chai. I expect that it will be ready by mid-July.
Tea of the Month:
June's tea of the month is Red Velvet Tisane! This is a favorite of mine served iced too! Nice and fruity! It's a blend of Pear & Blood Orange ~ sweet and juicy ~ and naturally caffeine free!
July's tea of the month will be my Momoko Melon Oolong.
Other Specials:
I'm having a Clearance Special right now -- 30% off the regular price of the following teas:
Cherry Almond Tea ~ Smooth, Luxurious, and just the right touch of sweetness make this a tea that's difficult to resist! but you better hurry, at the time of writing this, I only have 1 order left!
Creamy Irish Breakfast Blend ~ Creamy Caramel Vanilla Flavor blended with the traditionally bold flavor of Irish Breakfast. It's so good! Hurry -- just 1 left!
Formosa Oolong - Choicest ~ This is the PERFECT Oolong! I have plenty of this available, but only a few packages on sale!
That's all for now! Thanks for reading along!
~Anne
Hello Everyone! I can't believe over a month has passed since my last entry!
Here are some updates on what I've been up to in my world of tea:
Red Velvet: My Red Velvet Tisane is back in stock! I apologize for the delay on this one, I was out of one of my ingredients, and it was on back order from my supplier. This is one of my favorite tisanes to enjoy as an iced beverage, so it's perfect with the warm weather that's approaching!
Potpourri: My Potpourri Green tea is also back in stock! This is an amazing tea -- the flavor is just so delightful! Roses, Jasmine, Laurel & Lemon Myrtle are blended with Gunpowder Green tea. These unique flavors blend together so unexpectedly well! The second pot (reusing the leaves) is even more delicious than the first!
I've sold out of a few teas too:
Sweet Caramel O'Mine: Sadly, I don't know if I will be able to restock this one. The company that carried a component of my blend has discontinued it, so I will need to do some additional research to recreate it. With any luck I will have it back in stock by September or October, just in time for a comforting cup of hot tea!
Masterpiece Chai: This one I will not restock until closer to early fall.
Anyway, that's all my updates for now! I hope you are having a tea-lightful day!
~Anne
Well, my stock of Creamy Irish Breakfast is now replenished! I have enough to get me through St. Patrick's Day... at least, I think I do! This will be the last batch that I blend this year though, so you better hurry to get your supply before it sells out!
Now for some bad news... a spammer got ahold of my email address and sent out a mass mailing... I only know this because I got a TON of "undeliverable" emails and spam filter type emails. I hope that this won't last for long... but if you've emailed me recently or sent me a comment, and I've not responded, please PLEASE please resend it. I apologize for the inconvenience, and I did try to filter through the THOUSANDS of spamish emails to find any comments, order or other things pertaining to the business that I could.
It was not pretty!
Anyway... enough of that!
Tea of the Month club members can expect to see their teas arrive sometime this week, the last of the packages will be heading out today and tomorrow.
Some things to look forward to:
March's tea of the month is, not surprisingly, Creamy Irish Breakfast Blend! This is a bold, delightfully creamy and delicious tea... don't miss it, I blend it only one time a year... and this is it! Once this supply is gone, it's gone for another year!
April's tea of the month will be my all new Allergi-TEA! I suffer from terrible allergy symptoms every spring... so I created this new blend with an herbal specialist, and came up with a tisane that tastes great and works WONDERS with allergy symptoms! No more OTC medications that keep me in a state of suspended grogginess!
Well, that's about all of my updates for now... please check back often and see what's happening in my little tea shop!
Well, I'm almost all caught up with orders, so if you are waiting on an order, it should arrive by next week, the end of the week, at the very latest.
For my tea of the month customers, I'm sorry, but I did sell out of the Creamy Irish Breakfast Blend, but fear not! I've blended more, and I will have your teas shipped out to you before St. Patrick's Day so that you can celebrate your St. Patty's Day Breakfast in grand style! This will be my last batch of the Creamy Irish Breakfast blend for this year, so if you haven't ordered yours yet, be sure to get it while it's in stock, after this next batch is gone... it's gone for another year!
I've also had a lot of positive feedback regarding the Jasmine Knots! The flavor is just phenomenal! It's been the tea that I've been pouring from my tea pot for several days now, I just can't get enough!
So, that's about it for now. Expect to see the next newsletter right on target, released on the first of March! Have a great afternoon!
~Anne
WOW! I've already nearly sold out of the Creamy Irish Breakfast tea! I can't believe how quickly it's sold! Well, gosh, since it's WAYYY before St. Patty's Day, I guess I'm going to have to blend up another batch! One more batch ~ and THAT will be it for the year!
Anyways... I've got several orders to fill, so I better get busy! :)
~Anne
Hello Everyone!
Earlier this week, I secured the domain for www.eccentricpastiche.com. I hope to eventually start a basic website where I can talk about 'zines & my art... and sell my 'zines & art. But for now, it's just a forwarding URL which will redirect you to my tea website.
To go along with the new domain, I thought that I would secure the blogspot too. So now, the task at hand is to refocus this blog to make it a tea journal -- less about my art and more about my tea... and the new blog will be about my artistic & 'zine-istic endeavors.
So... let's start talking about tea!
Tomorrow, my creamy Irish Breakfast will be ready to roll!
I missed this tea! It's so good!
I will also soon have Jasmine Knots in stock. I am still considering how I might package these... right now I'm thinking I'll just sell them in 1 ounce portions in my small sampler tins. But, that may change!
Anyway, more updates to come!
Hi Everyone:
Yep, well, I'm behind on everything right now! I've not worked on a new newsletter (sorry!)... and I really need to. I guess I'll work on that right after I'm finished posting this journal entry. I do have a few tea updates, but first a few words about what I've been up to... in case anyone's interested.
My postage scale died late last week. This makes it very difficult to send out packages, since I need it to be able to actually prepare my packages for mailing. Oh sure, I suppose I could just take them down to the post office the old fashioned way, but, that really leaves much to be desired from my business end of things, since I then loose the ability to track the packages with simplicity. :( So being the stubborn being that I am, I must have another scale.
Fortunately, I do have another scale.... it's just buried amongst my art supply rubble in my studio (aka the garage). So... that's what I've been up to since Friday... I've been working on organizing my studio space so that I can actually move about in there... also, it's a very necessary thing since we're getting a new dryer in next week and we'll need to wheel it in to the garage... which would be absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to do in it's current state.
Anyways, I should be finished with the art supply portion of the garage by Friday, and then the rest of the garage will be finished by Sunday, so that on Monday we can do the dryer thing.
Now... on to the tea time updates!
I'm currently 'sold out' of my T-Sacs, as some of you probably have noticed. I will be getting them back in next week, probably on Wednesday. Sorry for the delay on those, but since I have a minimum order for the supplier on those, I couldn't order them until I needed other things from them and had room to store those other things.
I will also have my storage tins back in stock at the same time.
IN THE BLENDER:
In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I've been blending my Creamy Irish Breakfast Blend. This tea will be available for sale in LIMITED quantities beginning February 19th. I only make one batch of this tea every year, and it goes FAST... so if you're wanting it... you better get it while it's here! Once it's gone, it's gone for a whole year!
I've also finally reached a decision about a Jasmine Green tea. I absolutely adore jasmine green teas, especially the pearl type teas. About a year and a half ago, I discovered a fabulous jasmine green tea that was 'knotted' rather than rolled into tiny balls. The jasmine flavor of this knotted tea is far more pronounced than that of the jasmine pearls. Unfortunately, the tea is also quite a bit more costly than the pearls, which are also costly, so that was definitely something I had to take into consideration when making this decision. So... I've decided to carry the Knotty Jasmine tea to see how it sells... if it sells well, I will make it part of my permanent tea line. I will have the Jasmine Knots available for sale late next week, so watch for them!
also... just a little bulletin for my Tea of the Month Club members... I'll be sending you a freebie gifty of the jasmine knots... it's my belated holiday gift to you! :) I was on back order from my supplier for these knotty little knots!
Anyway, that's all for now... thanks for reading along!
~Anne
These were all done on guitar picks. I had traded for a bunch of guitar picks about a year and a half ago, but never got around to trying my hand at altering them... so I decided to use them as the base for my charms. The flowers are cut out of German paper scrap, and then I used a gloss lacquer to coat it, and then sealed it with acrylic sealant. Here are a couple more......
As you've probably noticed this one's a bit different. Most of the charms look like this second one, with a flower in the background and a butterfly as the main image, with the word "fly". Only two of them did I make with just a rose.
I'm really happy with the way these turned out. It's funny, when I first started doing these, I thought that they wouldn't be 'enough' with just the rose, that they needed the butterfly and word to complete the collage look... but now that they're all finished, I think I actually prefer the simplicity of the rose picks.
Anyway, so now that they've been 'airing' out for a couple of weeks, I think they're ready to head on out to the swap hostess. I am so looking forward to seeing the rest of the charms sent in from this swap!
So that's all for now!
~Anne
Hi Everyone!
I used a pond leaf handmade paper as the base cover... I liked how the pond leaf impressions sort of look like fans, adding to the overall Asain theme.
For the second journal cover, I used a kit that I got from Altered Pages. I don't think she sells these particular kits anymore... but I just loved the colors and the gypsy theme of the collage sheets in the kit, and thought they worked well with the composition book cover.
