Planning a Little Tea Party

Hey guys!

So in celebration of me completing my Early Years Teacher Status I thought what better way to celebrate than to have a Tea Party with my closest friends. I wanted to post some ideas and create a little mood board including some cute ideas for a party, such as colour themes and décor. I love to look at other blogger’s party ideas so if you have any links to cute decorations feel free to comment and share!

I love the whole idea of an outdoor tea party theme, with lots of bunting and lots of flowers to create a bright and pretty area that’s relaxed and laid back. It needs a vintage/floral/bright theme running through it and a lot of summery colours and shades, as well as vintage tea cups and teapots! I’m inviting about ten to fifteen people, so something quirky and also relaxed is what I’m thinking of, it will have some lovely personal touches as well.

Here are some ideas for my party:

 

Now that I’d found a great theme for my party I need to get some invites out, otherwise said friends wouldn’t be coming. I need something fast and preferably something easy, and that’s how I came across paperless post. The idea of online invites is genius to me, a lot of my friends are online as well so it makes sense. I can’t believe the range of invites they have, and I have found myself browsing the website looking through all their beautiful designs. Check them out here!

Here are some examples of some of the wonderful designs:

The website is so cute and a good resource to inspire my party ideas too! It has some more quirky ideas rather than the bog standard ones you normally find, you can personalise your cards or invites and they even have the option of buying them or they have a range of free ones too if you have a budget for your party. I love them!

So if you have a party coming up let me know about it, and share your ideas I would love to see them. And check out https://www.paperlesspost.com/cards/section/invitations for some cute and quirky invites!

I look forward to hearing all about your party 🙂

Love Sophie x

Teaday Tuesday!

Hello everybody 🙂

As I was in the health shop I came across this little treasure and I’m so glad I decided to try it!

One of my favourite flavours is coconut, so you can imagine my glee when I saw this tea sitting on the shelf much like a queen sitting in her throne.

It’s Green tea with coconut!

As described on the packaging, this tea is an ‘exotic combination of green tea and coconut with delicate lychee’.

When I first brewed the tea, I wasn’t hugely impressed by the scent it gave off, I couldn’t detect the coconut it had promised me. But like all tea, the taste is always so different to the smell.

What I found was this tea was soft, smooth and full of different flavours, all so delicate they weren’t overpowering.

I loved that I could taste coconut ever so gently, and I could taste the lychee which was very subtle. This tea made me feel warm inside and comforted, like I had a big fluffy blanket warming me right to my insides. Normally I stick to green tea in summer but this is definitely an all rounder.

I can even say that this tea has so many health benefits which all tie into green tea.

Just a couple of benefits of green tea:

• metabolism speeds up
• contains antioxidants and so detoxes your body
• soothes acne
• natural caffeine gives you energy

So give it a whirl, it’s worth it! And so cheap at £3!

Let me know if you have ever tried a tea with a coconut flavour, I’m intrigued to see if there are more gooduns!

Love,

Sophie xx

Teaday Tuesday

Hello everybody!

Firstly let me say thank you to the lovely people who read this, I started this blog as a way to write about what I love, particularly to keep me sane through my postgrad. It’s purely based on my own interests so to see people read my posts is really lovely. Enough of the sop now, I promise 🙂

On to the tea!

So this week has really taken a turn for the worse; frosty mornings and short days surrounded by darkness. I have spent a fair few hours in the cold waiting for trains, playing outside with the children at nursery and walking the dogs, and one thing that makes it more bearable is a lovely steaming drink to warm my cockles!

This week I have been loving Tesco Finest’s Vanilla Chai tea.

I first discovered this tea in Australia. I’d popped round to my gorgeous friend Nichole’s little place in Bronte and we were having a girly chill night. She made me a cup of tea (in the microwave, she didn’t have a kettle ha) and instantly I was in love. With the tea.

Today I chose to enjoy this tea as I was snuggled in bed reading The Hunger Games yet again, along with cuddling my lovely dog Molly. Heaven.

This tea is best without milk, and is definitely better from a teapot, as most teas are. It’s a very fragrant tea, and I would say it has a bit of spice to it which is why it’s perfect on a cold Winter’s night. The vanilla flavour is very subtle but takes it to a slightly sweeter taste, to take the edge off the spice.

If they bottle the smell of this drink, or made a candle with the scent I would buy it in a flash; to me it smells like Christmas time: cinnamon, star of anise, a distinct Wintery scent.

I would recommend this tea to those who like a herbal black tea, maybe you like green tea, or even lapsang souchong.

If you have tried this do let me know  what you thought 😀

Love,

Soph xxx

Teaday Tuesday!

Hello everybody!

A lot of people say that Tuesday is the worst day of the week. The novelty of Monday is over and the weekend looks so far away you can’t even imagine. The fun and well deserved rest of the weekend is all but forgotten and so continues the long slog of the rest of the week.

I totally feel that, but as a very positive person, I love a Tuesday, because I get to drink a delicious tea and write about it! I’m  currently curled up on the sofa with my little chum Molly, the fire is roaring and my tea is steaming.

I went for a very traditional Afternoon tea. This particular tea is from Whittard’s of Chelsea. I  must say that they are my favourite brand of tea thus far; I have spent many hours of my time browsing the shelves and trying out all of their teas.  This particular one was bought for me by one of my besties Amy, she knows my love for tea!

I won’t go on about the complex flavours and scents of this tea. I will just say it is quite light, very warming, yet the flavour is quite rich, with a hint of a smokey, slightly honeyed taste. This to me is the epitome of an Afternoon tea.

Enjoyed best with a mince pie ❤

Let me know what you think, have you tried this one? What is your favorite tea brand?

Love,

Sophie xxx

Tea Day Tuesday!

Hello everyone ❤ Hope you’re all having a good week! I can’t believe it’s Tuesday again!

So this tea is one I discovered in Sydney. I had spent a day strolling around Bondi Junction doing some shopping and I managed to get myself lost. After wandering for a while I noticed a shop called ‘T2’, and call me strange but walking into that shop was like walking into my own home. I was surrounded by walls and walls of boxes of tea, all different flavours, smells, colours. It still comes into my mind in the clearest memory, and all feelings associated with it are my happiest ones. I tried so many samples and I spent a LOT of money in there, but this tea is by far my favourite.

It’s called ‘Sleep Tight’ and the ingredients are lemonbalm, jasmine blossoms, lavender and rose petals.

The tea itself is supposed to help promote restful sleep. And boy they got that right. All the elements of this tea are soothing and calming, and while it doesn’t make me fall to sleep any quicker, I find that I wake in the morning after a solid sleep feeling well rested. Sometimes if I’m feeling slightly under the weather I’ll add a drop of honey and it soothes my throat and helps me get that good night’s sleep I desparately need.

The tea is best brewed with water at 100 degrees, and I normally brew for 3-5 minutes. The smell of this tea is mainly lavender, and the sweet flavour is just enough without being sickly sweet. I would recommend this tea to those who like the earthy flowery tones in their tea.

Check out T2’s website and have a gander at all their lovely teas!

Let me know if you have any lovely teas this week and send me the links so I can have a read 😀

Love,

Sophie xxx

Tea Day Tuesday!

Hello again!

Wow hasn’t that week gone quick! It’s time for another Tea day Tuesday woohoo!

This week I decided to try an Earl Grey. This particular Earl Grey I bought from a lovely little stall at the King’s Road Market in London during a visit earlier in the year. The shop is called Yumchaa, they have a website so give them a little look here. I spent ages at the stall smelling all the different types of tea and fell in love with each and every one, but this one really stood out to me.

The tea is called ‘Earl Grey Blue Star’, and it has bergamot, cornflowers, blue mallow flowers and keemun* black tea. I brewed it for roughly two minutes, and although some tea lovers like a splash of milk in their early grey, I decided to have it without, purely to get the most out of the flavours.

*Keemun black tea is a hugely popular tea from the Eastern province of Anhui, a traditional mellow Chinese tea.

Before pouring the water in I had to take a little picture of the tea itself; the little blue flowers and the little buds are so bright and it looks magical before it’s even brewed!

Once brewed, I have to admit I took some time to breathe in the beautiful scents; I’d had a stressful drive back from work and for some reason the aromatic flowery smells just relaxed me. It has a sweet fruity scent; you can really pick out the citrus smell, and the flowery vibes come out in little pockets, it’s lovely. Just by the smell, it’s a great Autumnal tea.

So how does it taste?
I can really taste the bergamot, it’s mildly flowery but it isn’t over powering. I got a very slight nutty hint, which resides from the keemun tea. I would say another minute to brew wouldn’t do any harm and it might bring out a little more flavour. Although this tea has enough body to have a splash of milk, I prefer it without.

To say I was a tad stressed when I arrived home, you wouldn’t know after I’d finished my tea. I immediately felt relaxed and could feel the tension leaving my body with every sip. They say Earl Grey is a happy tea; a tea that brings out your best mood. I think they’re right, whoever they are.

To all the tea lovers out there:

Have you tried this tea? What did you think?

What is your favourite Autumnal tea?

See you next week ❤

Sophie xxx

Tea Day Tuesday!

Hello again!

As I was drinking a lovely cup of tea, I was thinking about all the things I love about tea; not just this particular mug, but most cups I drink! I love to try all types of tea, and it is definitely one of my biggest loves. And so, Tea Day Tuesday is born. I thought it would be pretty cool to review/talk about a different tea every Tuesday, I know a lot of other bloggers  love tea too so my ideal result would be to recommend lots of types of tea and also become part of a community of tea bloggers!

I will eventually write a lovely long post about my love for tea and my favourite tea shops/cafes etc, but for now I’ll write a little bit about the tea I’ve had today.

 

So this tea I got from The Cake and Bake Show. While we were there my friend Laura and I went to a tea tasting class, hosted by Alison Appleton, where we had the chance to taste all kinds of tea, and learn a little more about how it is made and where it comes from. One particular tea really stood out to me, and this one is called ‘Marie Antionette’s Tea‘. This tea is a Chinese black tea made with bouquet of rose, jasmine, ginger, vanilla and cardamom. This tea was made with one heaped teaspoon and almost boiled water. It was then brewed for three minutes.

 

I absolutely adore this tea. It smells amazingly fresh, sweet but not sickly; it’s great to have whilst reading a book, knitting or to have with a piece  of cake.

Flavour wise this tea is refreshingly sweet, I can taste a hint of vanilla, and a light fruity undertone as I  drink it. Although this tea comes across as a summery one, I’m really excited to drink this tea wrapped in a blanket reading my favourite book, with lovely Wintery candles flickering around me. I couldn’t really taste the ginger which is probably a good thing; I’m not really keen on ginger! The main sense of flavour I got was light, fruity, summery, and sweet without being overpowering.

 

Let me know if you have any favourite teas I could try, and if anybody has tried this tea let me know what you think!

 

Soph xx