Icy Day Project: Tea Tray
Posted by Som Sun, 21 Jan 2007 03:24:00 GMT
A few years ago, I picked up a couple of plain wood trays on sale at Michael's. The first ended up in the hands of my daughters, who plastered it with Hello Kitty stickers and drew crayon portraits of vegetables on the sides and bottom. The second sat, neglected, in the garage until this past week, when I decided I needed something else to paint.
This was a quick, simple project, but it's already been terribly useful. The tray keeps all of my tea-making supplies nice and tidy, and it's the perfect size for transporting a pitcher full of tea and two tiny cups from the kitchen to the living room.
The gaiwan in this photo - the little brown clay cup with a lid, decorated with orchids - met an untimely demise when it developed a hairline crack as I poured hot water into it a couple of days ago. I'd only had it since Christmas, so I e-mailed the company my husband bought it from - Imperial Tea Court in San Francisco. They responded quickly with an apology and an offer of a refund or store credit. I took the credit, of course, and ordered a new gaiwan, along with another pitcher, some new tasting cups, and a couple of their Pu-erhs.
So I have to say that Imperial Tea Court is a fantastic company offering delightful teas, teapots, and tea-making accessories you won't find anywhere else on the web, and they have wonderful customer service to boot! I'm particularly pleased with their Yunnan Pu-erh, which is affordably priced and brews up with the distinctive, calming smell of topsoil after a hard spring rain. Absolutely delicious.
