Todd & Holland Tea Merchants: Forest Park, Illinois

If you love tea, you only have to visit Todd & Holland once to know that you'll be back.  It is a tea-lovers paradise. 

In my adult life, I have sought out tea moments. I've visited tea farms, been to tea tastings, had high tea in England and sipped blends in the tea salons of Paris.  If you think of life as college, I sometimes I feel like I've minored in Tea.  Not a bad way to live, I say.  I'm probably the only one of my friends that longs for a temperature-specific tea kettle that lets you select the perfect temperature for brewing "Green Tea", "Black Tea" etc. 

*sigh*

Anyhoo, I say all of this because I know about or have tried just about everything in this shop and I approve!  What a selection.  The variety of tea they offer is mind-boggling.  Pretty teapots and mugs are everywhere - displayed in a way that gives them the attention they deserve.

The photo (above) is of their tea station.  You are to help yourself to one of several different hot or iced teas (in pretty glass mugs) that you can enjoy while you shop.  Love it!

You can also see in the background that they have a gorgeous selection of dish towels too.  Their dishtowel choices were lively, interesting and fun - a far cry from the dismal choices I have seen lately in other home stores.  I liked everything about Todd & Holland. Bravo, Aberdeen, for insisting we stop and shop.  

When you click the link to visit their website, I encourage you to watch the video tour of the store.  It is informative and can give you a true sense of their tea selection. I particularly enjoyed trying the "sniffing jars" in person.  They have a small jar of each tea displayed with the packaged tea for sale.  You can shake the jar and then open it and take in the aroma of that particular blend. It is a great idea and gives customers a better sense of what each tea is like.

I found what I was looking for: Japanese Matcha (powdered tea leaves) that I like to add to smoothies.  The powder is loaded with antioxidants. And I bought a mesh tea strainer with a bamboo handle (there were at least five sizes to choose from!).  I brought it home and it fits perfectly inside my glass teapot.  Score.

If you are ever in the Forest Park area of Chicago, you must treat yourself to a cup of tea and a wander through Todd & Holland.  I guarantee that you'll find something you need.  

Glass Teapot Collection

My glass teapot "collection" has been reduced by one this week.  I had it on the shelf below the melange of Tupperware containers and when things got a little top-heavy, everything seemed to fall out of the cabinet at once.  I know you've been in my shoes.  Things happen and glass breaks.   

I am hoping that I can find another glass teapot at Homegoods. It was a few years ago, I found this teapot there for only $11.  You see, I like to give each person their own teapot when they come to my house.  At book club last month, the four of us sat around the table eating cookies and drinking tea, each with a different type brewing.  It is an easy way to make people feel special, so I've got to find another! The hunt begins!

Sasaki Tea Set

Does eBay get you too?  I thought I was strong, but when I came across a set of cup and saucers to match my long-lonely Sasaki Teapot, I caved.

I was telling someone about how I have loved this teapot for years, by saying that "I have been me for a long time."  What I meant was that when all the other girls were asking for curling irons and clothes, I had to have this teapot. I was 19 or 20 years old at the time and the last thing I needed was a pale pink teapot, but oh how I loved it.
My parents did get it for me that year (my birthday?) and I have displayed it on a book shelf or in an open cabinet in my house ever since.  But actually using it for tea instead of art was never an option because the pattern was discontinued and I didn't have any cups!
I love the website "Replacements," but it never occurred to me to look for more pieces (I looked just now and they have some!).  Then I stumbled upon this set of 2 matching cups and saucers on eBay and I pounced. 

Sometimes you have to turn any old Thursday into your 19th birthday again, don't you think?   

12 Days of Valentine's Day: Day 11

The luxury of having a real conversation.

That is my wish for you this 11th day of Valentine's Day. Make a cup of tea and call up an old friend. Is she busy? Settle on a time that both of you can talk in the next day or so.

No texts, no status updates, no "drive by" moments...a real conversation full of love and friendship.

You may not be able to see her smile, but you'll be able to hear it.