Busy days.

Christina and I making the tea. 

Oh my gosh, it's been something like a month since I last posted!  A lot has been going on.

First, we had our 6th annual Cat Rescue Tea in San Jose, and it was another success!  We served about 120 people over 2 days, and raised close to $5,000 for 13th Street Cats!

I made 8 batches of Meyer lemon curd, and coordinated a bunch of other things, including jam donations, tea donations (from Satori Tea Bar and Thompson Tea Company), and put together 2 afternoon tea baskets for the silent auction, as well as collected a bunch of other tea things for the raffle for both days.  I also helped make tea sandwiches, served the lemon curd, jam, and butter, and with my friend Christina, made all the tea that was served at the event.

Upcoming interview and the Cat Rescue Tea approaching!

2013 Downton Tabby Tea place setting.
Photo: Miranda Von Stockhausen.

There are two little tidbits of information to share today:

Tidbit #1: tickets to the Downton Tabby Tea benefit for 13th Street Cats are selling like hotcakes!  Or would that be tea cakes? Or catnip mousies?  Anyway, I understand that Sunday, March 30th is sold out, and that there are only 3 or 4 seats left for Saturday, March 29th, so buy yours TODAY before they're all gone!  It will be a really fun event with delicious food and tea (if I do say so myself ...).

Tidbit #2: I was contacted a few months ago by Stephen Nelson, who produces and hosts the podcasts at Tea Rage.  He wanted to interview me for a podcast, and I thought that would be a great idea.  It's always fun to meet other tea people, and the idea of sitting down and geeking out about tea is just so much fun!  We finally met and recorded the podcast this afternoon at Satori Tea Bar in San Jose, and after some editing (lots of background noise and, I suspect, rambling on my part) the recording will be up on Tea Rage in the next few months!  I'll post the link when it's up, but I encourage you all to pop over and listen.  Despite the "rage" in the title, and the fact that Stephen proudly categorizes himself as a "tea snob" he's not snobby or full of rage in real life, and we had a really interesting "chin-wag" over pots of tea.  We talked, not only about our mutual love of tea, and the South Bay Ladies' Tea Guild, but also about ideas for future tea research and projects.  He might be buying a tea plant in the future and experimenting with growing and processing his own tea, so keep your eyes on this blog and I'll let you know when he does!  He also told me about another tea podcast series, called Leaf and Let Die, which I had never heard about; that's more of a Mystery Science Theater 3000 approach to not-so-good teas ... I'll have to give the podcasts a listen and see what it's all about.  

Cat Rescue Tea 2014 tickets are on sale now!

Downton Tabby Tea 2012.
Photo: Miranda Von Stockhausen 

It's that time again: the 6th Annual Downton Tabby Tea fundraiser is scheduled for March 29 and 30 in San Jose, and tickets have just gone on sale!  They sell out quickly, so be sure to buy yours as soon as you can.  Feel free to dress up for this event, in keeping with the Downton Abbey theme and the opulence of this restored Victorian mansion!

*NOTE: If you have a group of people attending, and you would like to be seated together, you must buy the tickets for your group at the same time (in one transaction), or we cannot guarantee your seating.  If ticket sales go like they have for the past few years, there won't be any available to buy at the door, or in the days leading up to the event!  Only tickets that have been paid for can be considered "reserved"!

Here is the vital information:

Fundraising organization: Friends of 13th Street Cats/13th Street Cat Rescue (www.13thstcats.org)

Dates: Saturday, March 29 and Sunday March 30, 2 to 4 p.m.

Location: a restored Victorian home in the Hensley District, downtown San Jose.  The address will be sent privately to those who purchase tickets.

Event details: prix-fixe afternoon tea plate includes homemade scone, lemon curd, jam, tea sandwiches and savories, nut cup and fresh fruit, tea cake and chocolate, as well as bottomless pots of tea (Satori Tea Bar's Earl Grey Creme or Smitten Kitten herbal tisane from Thompson Tea Co.).  There will be a silent auction and a raffle of a variety of wonderful items; in the past these have included: timeshare vacations, to bottles of wine, to tea baskets, to gear for your pets.  Self-guided tours of the mansion may also be available at the discretion of the owners.

Tickets:

• $40 per person, for a full afternoon tea, Veggie or Regular options; 
• $50 per person, for the full afternoon tea, Veggie or Regular options, plus 2 glasses of champagne; 
• $150 for the Countess Package, full afternoon tea (Veggie or Regular) for 2, champagne for 2, VIP table for 2, 2 VIP badges, 2 tea favors, and advance entry at 1:30 p.m.;
• $300 for the Grantham Package, which is everything included in the Countess Package, but for 4 people.  

Where to buy your tickets: the 13th Street Cats website at http://www.13thstcats.org/info/display?PageID=14639   Tickets on sale NOW!

See you there! 

Announcing _Tea Lands of China_ tonight on PBS

Victoria Boyert at Satori Tea Bar.
Photo: D3 Productions

The documentary Tea Lands of China follows Victoria Boyert, owner of San Jose's Satori Tea Bar, and Mark Rozell, a manager with Verve Coffee Roasters in Santa Cruz, on their journey to Hangzhou and Yunnan in China to learn about Longjing and Pu’erh teas.  Longjing, better known by its English name, Dragonwell, is a type of green tea, and pu’erh is an aged green tea that is pressed into discs and stored in caves to develop its characteristic earthy flavor and aroma.  Boyer and Rozell learned how to pick, process, and brew these teas, tasted food made with tea, and met the people who have cultivated and processed these teas for generations.

The one-hour long documentary will broadcast at 9 p.m. on Channel 200 in the South Bay, and PBS’s KRCB 22 in Sonoma County on Tuesday, May 7, and at 2 p.m. on KQED World on Saturday, May 11.  Keep your eyes on this blog for the results of a personal interview with Tori Boyert about her experiences!

Copyright 2013, Elizabeth Urbach

Like what you read?  Leave a comment below, click on “Subscribe” above, visit the San Jose Tea Examiner page on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter @SanJoseTea or Pinterest!

For more information:
“Tea Lands of China” documentary web page
“Tea Lands of China” on the KQED website
"Tea Lands of China" trailer on YouTube
“San Jose’s newest tea shop: Satori Tea Bar”

It's the deadline for the ATB Award nominations!

Photo: Graeme Weatherston
FreeDigitalPhotos.com

Well, as usual, I've waited till the last minute to submit the nominations for the Tea Bloggers' Choice Awards!  Here are the nominations I'll be submitting today: 

Flavored black tea: Satori Tea Bar's Lady Londonderry 
Unflavored black tea: Taylor of Harrogate's Yorkshire Gold blend
Flavored oolong tea: Lisa's Tea Treasures' Louis XIV's Favorite Blackberry Jasmine Yin Ho blend
Unflavored oolong tea: Red Blossom Tea Company's Orange Blossom Phoenix Mountain Oolong
Flavored green tea: Celestial Seasonings' Candy Cane Lane blend
Unflavored green tea:  Koyto Obubu Tea Plantations' Genmaicha
Flavored white tea:  Republic of Tea's Orange Blossom 100% White Tea blend
Unflavored white tea:
Flavored pu-erh tea:Unflavored pu-erh tea:
Unflavored pu-erh tea:
Blended herbal infusion:  Twinings' Lemon Ginger tisane
Single-herb infusion: Stash's Oregon Peppermint 



Here are some other blogs that are also submitting nominations.  Check them out!

The Tea Enthusiast's Scrapbook
Tea For Me Please
The Sip Tip
Black Dragon Tea Bar
The Devotea's Tea Spouts
Joy's Teaspoon
Scandalous Tea
Tea Happiness
Notes on Tea 

Spring teas in the San Jose area.

Me making the tea in the kitchen!
Photo: Joanne Santner

Well, I started getting over my bad cold (still not completely better, though!) just in time for last weekend's 4th annual Cat Rescue Tea to benefit 13th Street Cats.  All the tea was donated by Satori Tea Bar in San Pedro Square and Peet's Coffee & Tea downtown San Jose and at Santana Row.  We served around 150 people over two days with a completely homemade afternoon tea menu in a lovely Victorian mansion in downtown San Jose's Hensley Historic District!  I'm so tired and my feet are sore, but it was worth it!  This was our first time using a larger venue -- our original venue is also a lovely Victorian house but we can only seat 35 at a time in the house, whereas this house sat 60 at a time -- and yet we sold out every seat in advance and had a waiting list!  Didn't think that would happen right away when we almost doubled our space!  We're already planning for next year, so keep your eyes on this blog for the notice when tickets go on sale (sometime in January or February of 2013) ...

Celebrate 100 years of California women's right to vote!

Chicago Woman's Suffrage parade marching
costume, 1916.  Library of Congress.

California was one of the early western states that paved the way for the national amendment, and California's woman's suffrage amendment was passed on October 10, 1911 after many years of work and education on the part of the state's suffrage supporters.  This wonderful centennial anniversary is being marked all over the state throughout 2011, and the celebrations are especially numerous this month, the anniversary month of the event.  The South Bay Ladies' Tea Guild will be celebrating in San Jose this coming weekend!  Gentlemen and well-behaved children welcome to attend. 

Date: Sat., October 8; noon march, tea at 1 p.m.
Location: march from the Knox-Goodrich Building @ 1st and S. Santa Clara St.; tea at Satori Tea Bar in San Pedro Square.
Cost: $7 per person (for a "Votes for Women" sash and to pay our re-enactor); pay for your own tea and refreshments.
Suggested Costume: day dress from the 1840s through 1911, "suffragettes."