Afternoon Tea - Tea by Two, Bel Air, MD

One of the perks of attending a Mid-Atlantic Tea Business Association meeting, is that typically the event is held at a member's tea room. It provides the perfect opportunity for tea room owners to enjoy the labors of a fellow tea room entrepreneur.  After the program and tea tasting, members were invited to visit the gift shop while the tea room was magically transformed into service for Afternoon Tea.

Requests for tea choices were made from an extensive list of loose leaf tea ranging from a variety of white teas, greens, scented greens, oolong, black, scented black, puerh, herbals and decaffeinated teas. Quite an impressive tea selection!
Afternoon Tea began with a generous portion of the Tea by Two House Salad with mixed spring greens topped with craisins, sugared almonds, and their tasty house vinaigrette.

The three tiered tray was paraded into the room and placed in the center of each table. Time stood still as everyone snapped photos of the fabulous display of dainty tea time treats. The bottom tier held a Toffee Scone with lemon curd and sweet cream. 

The middle tier highlighted the Tea Sandwiches which included a very fresh Cucumber Sandwich, savory Garden Vegetable topped with a tomato half, Carrot & Cheddar on Multi-grain bread and Curry Chicken Salad on a buttery croissant. Everyone remarked how tasty and fresh the sandwiches were.











And dessert included Strawberry Ganache Cake, Blueberry Cheesecake Tart and a specialty MATBA Sugar Cookie. All very yummy, indeed! And quite pretty, too.

Special thank you to Janet and Erin for a delightful and enjoyable afternoon.

Mid Atlantic Tea Business Association Seminar

Members of the regional tea business association MATBA gathered at Tea by Two in Bel Air, MD, a tea room owned by long time friends Janet Meyers and Erin Bradley and original members of the association. The April seminar typically features a special guest speaker, and for this meeting we welcomed Anupa Mueller of Eco-Prima Tea and Silver Tips Tea based in West Chester County, New York.

The first session of the meeting was a discussion about the Food Safety Modernization Act and how it affects the tea business, including the small tea entrepreneur. Anupa walked us through this important topic imparting valuable knowledge with an equal dose of levity, sharing the process as it pertains to her business and ours with the main focus on prevention rather than reaction. Following that program, Anupa conducted a tea tasting featuring Darjeeling teas from the Makaibari Estate in India. 

We were able to taste a Makaibari First Flush which offers a lovely, cool taste with a little sharpness in the back of the throat. Following that, we sampled a Second Flush which produces a liquor that is thicker, sweeter, with more of a floral component. Typically, this is the American consumer's choice. And finally, we sampled a Risheehat 2017 forced plucking. This tea has a sweet nectar with no noticeable sharpness.

First Flush, Second Flush, Risheehat

Susanna Reppert and Anupa Mueller

Special thank you to Deb and Mike Raab of Tea-for-All for organizing and coordinating this informative and interactive seminar. The Association continues to grow under their faithful guidance and behind the scenes efforts. Swag Bags were filled by fellow members and included an amazing assortment of tea samples from green through black, flavored or not, and even a Matcha flavored Kit Kat Bar!

Another thank you to Janet and Erin for hosting the seminar and sharing their gracious hospitality and culinary talents with the group. The next post will feature the fabulous Afternoon Tea we enjoyed.

And thank you to all the members that journeyed from NJ-NY-MD-PA-WV to make this a successful meeting. Without the active participation of the membership, the Association would be non-existent.

MATBA April Seminar - Morning Reception

Members of the Mid-Atlantic Tea Business Association gathered at Tea by Two in Bel Air, MD for the annual April Seminar this past Monday. Members from NJ, PA, MD, and WV began arriving early morning. The event always begins with a welcoming reception, and the spread before us was a feast for our eyes.

The buffet table held blueberry bread, crustless spinach cheese quiche, miniature chocolate chip scones, and a grape salad with sour cream and brown sugar topping. The perfect way to start the morning! Iced tea and water were available, as was a wide variety of hot pots of tea, from a hearty Assam to a pleasant Ginger Peach, the options were many. The difficult decision was selecting the beautiful English china tea cup!

Shen (manager), Erin, and Janet (owners)

MATBA meetings provide an opportunity to gather with fellow tea professionals for great networking opportunities, to share ideas, discuss current business issues, and reinvigorate. The association has been around for almost 12 years, not only are we like-minded entrepreneurs, but we have all become friends.

If you want to learn more about MATBA and their members, Like us on Facebook!

Happy Easter!

Awake, thou wintry earth -

Fling off thy sadness!

Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth

Your ancient gladness!

~Thomas Blackburn, "An Easter Hymn"

Bunny Cakes!

Bunny Cakes - on the 'to do' list for this week. It would not be an Easter celebration in our household without a pair of bunny cakes. Actually 'back in the day', we would have four bunnies for the family gathering.  A simple round cake, cut in half and placed together forms the body of the bunny. Frosted with white icing, one covered in coconut, one without, add a jelly bean face, toothpick whiskers, and large paper ears along with an icing tail, and voila, instant bunny.

Easter Cupcakes

Quick and easy.... little decorative and tasty Easter cupcakes... the 'grass' cake decorating tip makes these cupcakes easy to frost and quick to create a grassy nest for a few colorful jelly beans. Fun! and Festive!

Maple Raspberry Dressing

Maple Raspberry Dressing

2 oz. raspberry vinegar

2 oz. olive oil

2 oz. vegetable oil

2 oz. real maple syrup 

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

1 tsp. tarragon leaves, crushed

1/2 tsp. salt

Mix all ingredients together. Whisk until well combined. Toss with fresh salad greens. Top with chopped pecans, fresh raspberries, and feta cheese.

Bonnets & Bunnies on Parade (Tea, too!)

Yesterday featured a Tea and Hats program in the tea room - and it certainly looked like a spring parade of hats and bunnies. Guests were introduced to Anita Herman and her fabulous collection of hats to try on (and purchase!). The tea room magically transformed into a millinery shop for the afternoon!

Before and after tea, guests tried on hats, snapped selfies, found the perfect color and design, tried on more hats, and simply had an afternoon of fun!

Tea service began with individual pots of tea (bottomless, of course). Once tea was brewed and served, the first course was offered. It featured Mixed Salad Greens, topped with fresh raspberries, sweet toasted pecans, feta cheese, and topped with a Maple Raspberry Dressing.

The spring plate of sandwiches included (from the top) Almond Chicken Salad Triangle, Pimiento Cheese on whole wheat bread with garlic chives garnish, Asparagus Sandwich with Egg Yolk Butter (a favorite spring time sandwich!), Puff Pastry Rounds with cucumber, radish, and carrot and herbed cheese with horseradish, and Pork Tenderloin Crostini with Peach Conserve. 

Yummy Scones, fresh from the oven included Traditional English Cream and Cherry Scones. Toppings featured Sweet Cream, Orange Curd, and Strawberry Jelly all served with fresh fruit.

And dessert featured a petite Spring Bonnet Cookie (filled with chocolate ganache) and a rich but yummy Pineapple, macadamia nut, and coconut triangle with an icing glaze. It was a perfect day in south central PA to enjoy Afternoon Tea and Hats! 

#TRHTardis Guest Book

It has been about 4 months now since the TARDIS  Little Free Library landed outside our door and we are thrilled with the use this library receives. There is a constant turn over of books for all ages; Adult, Young Adult, Elementary and even for the littlest learning to read. Our not-so-little free library has a shelf for each age range.

If you visit the TARDIS, leave a book, take a book! And if you snap a photo, please share it online with #TRHTardis.

We started a guest book and included the addresses of some of the other LFL in the Mechanicsburg area. 

Melody totally got what this is about.  Books can take you to any time or any place!

And Megan (below) was visiting from Washington, DC when she spotted the TARDIS.

Some folks appreciate the addition to the community, and others just love the Doctor.
Either way, it's a win!

Notes like this make our day!

TARDIS - Little Free Library

This TARDIS from Doctor Who is filled with books! It is part of the Little Free Library movement. 

The Little Free Library program originated in 2009 in Hudson, Wisconsin. Created by founder Todd Bol, it was a way to honor his mother, a teacher. He made several more to give away to friends and eventually the idea of little free libraries blossomed into a social enterprise to promote literacy and libraries throughout the world. The original goal was to create 2,510 little free libraries which was the same number of libraries Andrew Carnegie helped to start in the late 1800s/early 1900s. The number of LFL worldwide keeps growing. The charter number of this TARDIS library is 47,290.

Great Job Ethan!  We love the little free library tucked right outside our door!

Our grand opening ceremony, officiated by local personality Bob Carey took place January 2nd, when we honored the scouts who helped with the project. The librarian from our fabulous local library attended, and other area LFL owners joined the event. Nancy served hot tea and hot chocolate along with other treats including jammie dodgers, one of the Doctor's favorite jam filled cookie.

Our local newspaper reported about the TARDIS in this article in The Sentinel.

Traveling Through Time

Look what has recently landed on Market Street! On TV they always make it look like it flies in and just lands in a different time and place.

But now you know it arrives on the bed of a pick up truck and is man-handled into place.

Doctor Who fans will instantly recognize this blue box as a TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space) - the ship in which the Doctor travels. 

This Police Public Call Box was constructed as part of an Eagle Scout Project. Ethan Stoner of Troop 190 was responsible for planning, raising funds, building and filling this box. The Rosemary House has agreed to maintain and refill the box as necessary. What is it filled with you ask?  Stay tuned.

Happy and Hard Working Scouts from Troop 190, above,  Eagle Scout Ethan Stoner and his Dad, right.

Enchantmint Brownies - Herbs in the Cookie Jar (Part 3)

Mother Earth Living shared an article on their website that our mother wrote decades ago. We were happy to recently discover said article and have received permission to share it on our blog. You can follow this link to read the article. Many different herbal cookie recipes were featured including these Enchantmint Brownies. To this day, they are still very popular when served in the tea room. Easy to make, and festive enough, who doesn't like the chocolate and mint combination?