Ohio Tea Company Peppermint Sticks

Christmas Day we had some wonderful snow.  It was a white Christmas for sure.  I decided to have some of my Ohio Tea Company tea.  They did a new blend this year, Peppermint Sticks.  It came in their winter pack.

https://www.ohioteaco.com/Winter-Variety-Pack-_p_1938.html

My sister made me scones for Christmas, I was excited to have them with my morning tea.

The tea has broken up peppermint candy sticks in it.

Earl Grey and I enjoyed watching it snow.  I had the bonus of having the tea to drink.  This tea is full of peppermint flavor.   The notes are wonderful. I had several cups.

I am giving this 5 tea cups.  I love the peppermint in this tea. It is soothing and get has a little kick with the peppermint.  It is a black tea so there is caffeine in the tea as well.  I would recommend this tea if you like peppermint.

A friend also gifted me some Peppermint Sick tea for Christmas.    I decided to use my french press to make a cup for work. 

When I make tea in the french press, I put the tea above the press so that I can lift the press when the tea is done steeping, that way I don't over steep it.  Or I put the loose leaf tea a tea bag to steep.

This tea is really great on a cold day and with the peppermint in it, it reminds me of Christmas.

Tealyra Coconut Milky Oolong

This tea was a gift.  I got it for Christmas in our work Christmas exchange.  Yes, we made a list of what we wanted, lol!

https://www.tealyra.com/loose-tea/oolong-tea/flavored-oolong/coconut-milky-oolong/

Taiwanese milk oolong, dried shredded coconut

I then got this unique tea pot for $5 as well.  This tea pot is like no other tea pot I have seen.  It also steeps tea.

There is a basket that holds the tea.  Then there is lever that goes up and down that moves the basket of tea up and down.  Once the tea is steeped, you pulled the lever up and then it folds off to the side to keep the basket up inside the lid so that the tea does not over steep.  It is super clever,  I just adore this pot.

You can see below that the basket it up in the lid and out of sight....and the lever is folded so it does not lower again.  

Here you can see the basket is being lowered into the tea pot.

I add the tea to the basket, close the lid add hot water and steep.  This is an Oolong tea so you want to have the water around 185 degrees.  You also want to steep 2-3 minutes. 

I don't use my tea cups too often, not because I don't love them, but because they don't hold much tea.  I do enjoy using the tea cups when I put tea in a teapot....it seems so refined, lol.  Plus, you can refill the cup often from the teapot.

Oolong tea is really good with Chinese food.  Oolong is the most common tea served in Chinese restaurants.  The darker roasted oolong.

I am fan of this tea.  Oolong is my favorite tea. And this one has great coconut notes.  And it might seem odd, but there are buttery notes and even a bit of floral note. Taiwan is one of the largest producers of oolong- this is quality tea.  I also am a big fan of the rolled oolong that unfurls while it's steeped.

Manning Bowman & Co. Tipping Teapot

I found this Tipping Teapot the other day at an antique shop.  It is the most I have paid for a teapot, it was $40.  But,  I love it and I think it was worth it for me. 

This one in the picture reminds me a lot of the one I purchased.

Not sure the age of these teapot.  Late 1800's or early 1900's.

I think it is just adorable.  It seems to have all the parts included.  It has the base, the kid for the burner and the teapot. 

I am trying to get it cleaned up enough to use. But, it seems pretty clean already.

I found these two on line when I was looking to see how much mine might be worth...

                

HSANHE coffee house with people

                             

Yes, it is another coffee/Tea shop. But these one came with two people.  Some times I wish I was 6 again and play with these figures.  Just sit and play and pretend they are real.  

I loved that as a kid- pretend times with my barbies, my dolls, my smurfs.  I created stories and really felt at times they were real. I wonder if that is what lead to my writing- creativity and pretend play time as a kid.  I still have an active imagination. 

 https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32997758858.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.36bd4c4dT3zcrm

Earl Grey wanted my attention while I was putting this one together.

This set was easy to put together.

Another great set.  I love the stickers that came with this one too.  Even the coffee cups got stickers.