Tea Time
Winter is fully upon us. With the holiday season passed and a new year beginning, the rituals and celebrations can be replaced with intimate time with friends and family. Come in from the cold with warming tea service. Whether hosting a large high tea, or nestling into a corner on your own, make tea a healthy ritual and an everyday special occasion.
If you serve tea as a signature guest offering, or if you drink it throughout the day as you work from home, streamline the process by keeping items out and available--aesthetically awesome, of course. In my own kitchen, I keep a tea box of selections and a thermal dispenser for pumping hot tea out at a moment's whim as I work from home and play with my children.
Recreate your cozy living room in an outdoor lounge area surrounding a fireplace (or pit). Blocked from cold wind, this is a perfect space to tuck away and drink. To keep tea warm in cold weather, fill a thermal (I love my Zojirushi) dispenser with piping water. Warm the cream before coming outside.
Use a kitchen peninsula such as this to bridge the hosting duties you are completing in the kitchen with your guests who are relaxing on the other side--place the food and tea out as a buffet, and be on hand to refine and refill as necessary.
Q