Blog - Page 5 of 15 - Anna Tea Shop

the little gold teapot

Hello Tea Friends!

Happy Back to School day! A day that has looked different for our family business over the past 22 years. The opportunity to enjoy a new beginning with rejuvenated energy. And with our retail brains we aren’t afraid to pretend it is officially fall. Permission to start looking ahead and dreaming of cinnamon, pumpkins, and cooler weather.

In addition to fall, we are super-duper looking forward to our new tea cans AND the new teashop location! Although we can’t make the official announcement where the new location is just yet….it appears as though we might be a little closer to our original location when Anna Marie’s first opened in 1994!!

Through the years, our happy little gold teapot seemed to follow us where ever we went. Al hand-sketched the original gold teapot over 14 years ago one Saturday night after a big tea party. We love the crooked lid and funny handle. Today, the updated happy gold teapot rests over hand-sketched drawings of a tea plant and beautiful herbals such as rooibos. Sketched by a young graphic designer – who also happens to be a new mom. 🙂 We can’t wait to show off our new tea cans!

Stay tuned as we get closer to unveiling our new packaging and finalizing the new location. Until then enjoy your own ‘back-to-school’ moment and toast a cup of tea to health and family!

By Selena S.|2016-08-17T14:46:11-05:00August 17th, 2016|Drinking Tea, Family Stuff|Comments Off

August brings a harvest of Tisanes

August. Last month of summer…do you ever get that feeling inside like a restlessness? A little feeling that says…”Hey there… it’s time to try something new!”

Maybe it’s that old back-to-school feeling even when you are way past the back-to-school years. Well in our little tea world we get that same feeling.

In this last month of summer what feels fresh and AND REFRESHING?

We often reach for something simple like sweet dried apples and tart hibiscus blossoms brewed together and chilled in a tall glass. Or an herb like mint – only this time the mint is poured over freezing ice…

Strawberry Kiwi Herbal Chilled it is a crisp tart brew. Simply Peppermint Herbal is a big family favorite. Yes, enjoyed year round but wow…! Chilled in the summer this light colored brew is absolutely the best digestive tea after any meal. In this heat sometimes any meal feels heavy. FYI – No sweetener needed. 🙂

Yes. August is the perfect month to discover your favorite chilled tisane (pronounced tee-zahn). Tisane, French for herbal infusion, is typically caffeine free. Herbal infusions are blended with a wide variety of flowers, berries, roots, seeds, peels and leaves. Tisanes will not include leaves from the Camilla sinsensis plant or tea plant. Popular herbal infusions often include healthy herbs and flowers such as chamomile, ginseng, rose petals, hibiscus, peppermint, Valerian, lavender and jasmine.

We look forward to serving Provence Rooibos at our Tea in Paris tea this month. A yummy herbal rooibos infusion which proudly boasts blueberries, red and black currants, rosehips, rose petals and delightful note of culinary lavender! Tickets are still available for the 2:30pm Tea in Paris August Tea Party!

Embrace August for what she offers most…A refreshing infusion of both bountiful herb harvests, fresh beginnings, and refreshingly new flavor favorites! Enjoy tisanes in your tall chilled glasses and short tea mugs. Healthy, good and quenched.

By Selena S.|2016-07-30T15:12:12-05:00July 30th, 2016|Drinking Tea|Comments Off

Tea-Spice Blend Recipe

Cooking with Tea. A superior way to add flavor without adding extra sodium or other unwanted ingredients. Here is a multipurpose spice blend recipe from The Daily Tea. Delicious on many different things but especially meats such as chicken and pork. Mix up and start experimenting with your favorite flavors!

Tea-Spice Blend

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground anise seed
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground clove
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground mustard seed
2 tablespoons finely ground Lapsang Souchong tea

Mix all ingredients well; store in a sealed jar or tin. For a sweet and savory blend add 2 teaspoons of brown sugar.

By Selena S.|2016-07-12T13:20:05-05:00July 12th, 2016|Living Well Recipes, Recipe Box|Comments Off

Getting ready for Fairies in the Garden

Every July we have two days of super fun with little ones and fun fairies of all ages! It’s sort of like planning and running a grand birthday party for all our guests. The Fairy Tea Party is traditionally similar each year – 3 Fairy Crafts, A Fairy Tea Party with books, A Fairy Walk and few more fun fairy ideas. One year we even celebrated someone’s 101st Birthday at our Fairy Party!

Order Tickets: 2016 Fairies in the Garden Tea Party

Some years the girls enjoyed dancing in a Fairy Ring – other years have brought different silly fun ways to enjoy the imaginations of little ones (and even us older ones get a chance to have silly-fairy-fun, too!

Tinley and Cooper’s Fairy Houses

The inspiration to host an annual Fairies Tea Party was born from several different ideas. But, one idea came a darling book we read one summer called Fairy Houses by Tracy Kane. A story about a little girl who spends the summer building a cozy fairy house in a nook of a tree. The fairy house she built kept her imagination creating all summer long little things she could add to her fairy house. Wren, Molly, and Haden had one summer building Fairy houses at a fishing cabin in Arkansas – and this year I was so excited to have my great niece and nephew – Tinley and Cooper join Wren and I in building their own fairy houses in the nook of that same old Arkansas tree.

2016 Fairies in the Garden Tea Party held on July 8 and 9 at 9:30 am. Tickets are still available for both days – but order quickly!

By Selena S.|2016-06-29T14:46:05-05:00June 29th, 2016|Events, Family Stuff|Comments Off

Flower Power Tea

Jasmine, Rose, Hibiscus. Blooming flowers of summertime. Beauty in the garden and tasty flavors in our cuppas! Next week, July 8-9 we look forward to our Fairies in the Garden Tea Party. A party that shifts focus from just tea…to flowers & tea. Truly a joy to watch the innocent imaginations bloom as we take our Fairy Walk in Brenda’s Gardens! Also, a good mid-way point of our year providing opportunity for mothers, grandmothers, and little ones a time to stop and ‘smell the roses.’

Lavender. Cornflowers. Sunflowers. Calendula (Marigolds). It is amazing how many of our premium loose leaf teas are carefully blended with flower buds and petals. Blended in to add flavor and eye appeal. The flower petals or buds are brewing right beside the tea leaves – opening up flavors and fragrance. Blooming flowers which soothes so many of our souls both inside and out. Chamomile. Safflowers. Outdoors in the gardens and inside our cups of tea.

Flowering Herbs are also an important part of special premium loose leaf blends. We offer several herbs that make great add-ins to flavor or enhance another tea such as Simply Peppermint and our newest – Stevia Leaves. Loose leaves are brewed just like a tea. The sweet liquid can be used as a healthy sweetener added to hot or iced teas. Here’s a great list of other herbs and flowers on GardenKnowHow.com. The article includes brewing directions and even health benefits. More Flower Power to you!

The Earth laughs in Flowers. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

By Selena S.|2016-06-29T13:59:12-05:00June 29th, 2016|Drinking Tea, Events|Comments Off

Frozen Tea Cubes

Summer-Time, Tea-Time, Soul-Time…

This month we are looking forward to our outdoor, relaxing-on-the-veranda Shabby Chic Porch Party. Summertime really is a special way of drinking tea. New flavors burst out when tea is poured over ice. Chilled tea is a forgiving tea – not quite as demanding. Easier to brew and one we don’t have to think about as those leaves unfold. So summertime Tea Time really is more soul-time. Slow down and brew up some iced tea to share. Add some herbs. Or yet…get creative with your cubes! Flavor combinations are endless.

Choose two flavors – make one into cubes and one into the drink. As the ice melts the flavors will blend. Be sure to buy your trays early and start freezing several batches of cubes.

When making the tea cubes brew the tea as normal and freeze in ice cube trays. If you don’t have a lot of time or don’t want to make tons of frozen tea cubes you can double or triple the strength of the brewed tea. Then pour into ice cube trays and freeze. (double or triple the amount of tea used – same amount of water) Then use one or two frozen tea cubes along with regular ice.

Frozen Tea Cube Flavor Combos:

Earl Grey Supreme cubes and Vanilla A La Creme black tea
Cream Tea cubes with Apricot black tea
Earl Grey La Creme cubes with Kenilworth Estate black tea
Blueberry Black Cubes with Strawberry Cream Green tea
For extra strong peach…Peach Tea Cubes with Peach Tea
Apricot Black Tea Cubes with Peach Apricot Honeybush

By Selena S.|2016-06-22T14:02:35-05:00May 31st, 2016|Drinking Tea, Tea Drinks|Comments Off

How to Create a Tea Bar

Welcome to Summer – Iced Tea Friends!

Here in our Anna Tea Shop tea world we often anticipate the seasons as different flavors rather than changing weather. With the calendar firmly planted in June our highly trained taste buds already crave our yummy fruit teas and tisanes. Welcome Iced Tea-Time!

A Tea Bar is one of those almost-too-easy ways of turning any gathering into memorable party. Herb Iced Tea and Frozen Tea Cubes are simple yet super fun ways to jazz up your Tea Bar. Mix and match tea flavors with your menu and don’t be afraid to try just about any combination. One reason so many people brew and enjoy iced tea is that it is easy and the minute details of the traditional perfect cup of tea simply fade away as that tea is generously poured over the ice cubes.

Build-your-own-Tea Bar:

A couple of weeks ago we hosted our Girl Graduated party. We rented a tent, hung lights, and used our real vintage Shabby Chic tablecloths. We kept the menu pretty simple yet we had so much fun with it! With the help of the amazing world of Pinterest we created our own version of a Burger Bar, Popcorn Bar, Grandma’s Dessert Bar, and of last but not least – our Tea Bar. My tea bar consisted of two beautiful glass drink dispensers – one held chilled Strawberry Cream Green and the other chilled Peach Apricot Honeybush. Mini chalkboard with twine hung from the lid (Hobby Lobby) with the tea names, a vintage style diner sugar holder (Dollar Tree). All set out on a red and white checkered table cloth. A Tea Bar can be as simple or as extravagant as you want. Just start with a few of your favorite flavors. Shop our Best Selling Iced Tea Blends and let your wheels start working!

By Selena S.|2016-06-01T10:25:45-05:00May 31st, 2016|Drinking Tea|Comments Off

Herb Iced Tea

Herbs are loved almost as much as tea leaves around here at Anna Tea Shop. Each one of our families has some sort of an herb garden. When you attend our summer time tea parties the savory tea sandwiches are pretty much over the moon in flavor all because of that amazing fresh herb twist!

Brewing tea with herbs is not only delicious but oh so healthy. Herbs naturally add flavor without any extra sugar or artificial flavors.

Mint and peppermint are yummy and most people enjoy them with iced tea. Basil is a delicious herb although, we haven’t met many herbs we don’t instantly fall in love with. The recipe below can be made stronger or weaker by changing the amounts of basil and tea leaves. Don’t stop with just basil. I can’t wait to try my fresh Lime Mint this summer with some freshly brewed Buckingham Breakfast!

Recipe for Herb Iced Tea

6 teaspoons of rich premium loose leaf tea – Kenilworth Estate, Buckingham Breakfast, or Nilgiri
A handful of rinsed fresh basil leaves
2 quarts of water
Scoop tea leaves and basil leaves into a large T-Sac. Tie off with string.
Cold brew overnight in the refrigerator. Sun tea is good too – but the safer recommended method is to cold brew in the refrigerator.

By Selena S.|2016-05-31T16:26:05-05:00May 31st, 2016|Drinking Tea, Tea Drinks|Comments Off

Midwest Tea Fest, Alice Movie, and Girl Graduated

2016 Midwest Tea Fest

Hey Tea Friend…How are you doing?

Over here at the Anna Tea Shop you’ll find us finishing up the crazy waves of May! Is it possible that May was even busier than December? So never a better time to stop and think – or rethink the small ways we are taking care of ourselves! To boost energy, metabolism, and clarity of mind reach for a cup of Matcha every day. Stop, slow and enjoy brewing up premium loose leaf tea. If you are loosing steam it is probably time for a cup of tea!

Being a part of KC’s very own Midwest Tea Fest is such a blessing to us. Meeting up old tea friends, new tea friends and other fabulous tea vendors. We introduced our new Tea Fix and began shipping those out that same week.

(use coupon code: first tea fix and save half off your first month!)

This week we were excited to be a part of the premier showing of Disney’s new movie, Alice Through the Looking Glass, handing out nearly 300 tea samples at the Union Station. And yes, celebrating with our Girl Graduated from Liberty High School. Yep, this month has been a whirlwind – sort of like joining Alice in our own wonderland. Always a good time to reach for a tall glass of tea!

Premier showing of Alice Through the Looking Glass

Girl Graduated.

By Selena S.|2016-05-31T11:28:27-05:00May 25th, 2016|Events|2 Comments

Midwest Tea Fest – Kansas City’s affinity for tea

People love their affinities. Call us hobbyists, collectors, or connoisseurs. Affinities encompass – the accouterments, pursuit of, hidden treasures, and sharing & expanding of knowledge. We enjoy our affinities and the satisfaction that comes with a shared experience with others who have the same affinity as our own. That satisfying place where we can say “Yes, these are my people!”

Tea Drinkers…come and find your people on Saturday, May 7. The 2nd Annual Midwest Tea Fest. Kansas City’s very own shared affinity for all things ‘Tea-ing‘ in the Midwest. How we drink our tea, why we drink tea, the accouterments, tea sippings, and simply connecting with others who share your affinity for tea.

All types of tea, all types of tea drinking life styles, all types of people. The tea community – gathered together in one place sharing the experience of “tea-ing” in Kansas City.

The Teashop Family is excited to be a part of this amazing event in Kansas City! We will be in our Anna Tea Shop booth sampling 20 of our favorite teas through out the day. Look for Brenda over at the Cafe Tea Tastings and Two special Tea Presentations. We look forward meeting new faces and embracing old tea friends. A place where we say “Yes. These are my people”.

Anna Tea Shop’s Presentations:

Flavoring Your Tea Naturally at 1:00PM and Lifestyles of “Tea-ing” in America at 3:00PM.

By Selena S.|2016-04-28T13:21:05-05:00April 28th, 2016|Drinking Tea, Events, Family Stuff|Comments Off