the third annual advent tea swap

Here we go for the third time, tea-lovers! It's time to collect up a few extra bags of your favourite teas, ready to send, and then watch your post-box for weird and wonderful teas arriving from around the world!

What you'll need: 25 bags of tea. (20 to swap, 5 for yourself)

What you'll do: You'll be paired up with four other tea swappers, and send each of those people 5 bags of tea. 20 bags of tea will arrive for you -- paired with the 5 you kept for yourself, you'll have enough for one bag of tea for each day of advent, and a one for Christmas Day.

You can make yourself a tea wreath or calendar to display your advent tea, or just keep all your teas in a nice pot by the kettle!

How to join in: Send me an email at astrid@redredcompletelyred, before Monday, November 12th, including your mailing address, so that we'll know where to send the tea!

(Note: if we have enough local interest, Bryan/College Station folks, we can have a separate swap group without the need for postage)

photo credit

{advent is brewing}

Tea is arriving, beautiful, from all around the world.

As it goes up onto the advent tea wreath, I'm eagerly awaiting the first cup tomorrow -- I'm thinking we've got to start with a Teapigs tea 'temple', sent from England!

{the second annual advent tea swap}

Ladies and gentlemen, dust off your teapots -- it's time for the Second Annual Red Red Advent Tea Swap!

As the first swap was such a success, we are really excited to repeat the tradition! Last year, teas arrived from all over the world, including China, Finland, England, and America. We tried unusual flavours, found some new favourites, (as well as discovering that Justin thinks chamomile tastes like "warm urine") and loved sharing the experience with some of you.

Would you like to join in this year? Here's how it works:

What you'll need: 25 bags of tea. (20 to swap, 5 for yourself)

What you'll do: You'll be paired up with four other tea swappers, and send each of those people 5 bags of tea. 20 bags of tea will arrive for you -- paired with the 5 you kept for yourself, you'll have enough for one bag of tea for each day of advent, and a one for Christmas Day.

You can make yourself a tea wreath to display your advent tea, check out my advent tea calendars, or just keep all your teas in a nice pot by the kettle!

How to join in: Send me an email at astrid@redredcompletelyred, before November 13th, including your mailing address, so that we'll know where to send the tea!

(Note: if we have enough local interest, Bryan/College Station folks, we can have a separate swap group without the need for postage)

Looking forward to sharing a nice warm cup of tea with you this winter...

Tin Is In

After a wander around the Navasota thrift shops yesterday, and many a horrified glance at the price tags, it's become apparent that battered old cans and rusty old tins -- especially tea tins -- are worth their weight in gold. Lucky for us, loose-leaf tea still often comes in tins, so your local supermarket might trump the antiques shops when it comes to bargains.

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I love these ideas for bringing tea tins to the kitchen -- the perfect height to grow herbs in, and you can find them in colours to compliment any bouquet.

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With a little more work, tins can be reincarnated as candles (I wonder if they smell like the teas when lit?), or with a lot more work, they can be wired up as retro lamps.

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Can't find any tins of tea in the supermarket? These Japanese beauties (below) are available from TeaNote online... and the tea doesn't look bad, either!

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Well, off to gulp down another cup of apricot tea -- only 3/4 of a tin left to go!

Tea Wreaths

{update: If you'd like to join in with the tea swap 2011, check out this post!}

As promised, here is the advent tea wreath in its entirety. With so many bright and interesting tea bags, I thought it would be fun to create a colour chart of sorts, so during advent I'll be working my way through a rainbow of teas! 

Now, for a round up of other lovely tea wreaths:

 Jadyn's Tazo-tastic advent wreath

Jen's lovely purple and yellow Yogi wreath

Gem's fantastic advent tea tree

 Carole Ann's tea packet wreath

And, of course, the Kojo Designs beauty that inspired it all.

So far, we've sampled Lipton's Asian white tea, which was deliciously light and unusual, and the Twinings Traditional English, which was perfect with a chocolate biscuit. 

Up today: The Emperor's Bride, a Finnish tea in a beautiful red packet. Off to put the kettle on right now...

Advent Tea: Sneak Peek

Exciting, unusual, tasty-looking teas have been arriving from the lovely people participating in my advent tea swap. And though the final wreath isn't finished yet, here is a little glimpse of it in progress.

English tea, French tea, Finnish tea, Texan tea. 

Red tea, green tea, black tea, white tea. 

My teapot is quaking with anticipation!

Adventures with a Can of Chalkboard Paint, Part IV

As you might imagine in the home of a Brit, there's always a cup of tea on the go. And with my Mum here this week, there's suddenly a need for two cups, and for a way to tell them apart.

Solution: plain wooden coasters + chalkboard paint

A little bit of chalk, and it's easy to tell which is your cup, which has added sugar...

...or to give a friendly warning!

And no need to limit them to use just with hot drinks. Instead of scribbling guests names on plastic cups at your next get-together, why not give them real drinking glasses, and a coaster with their name on it?

(Linking to Kirsty at Creative Space today!)

Advent Tea: Revised

Okay, perhaps the twenty-five-person tea swap for advent was a little ambitious. I know, that's a lot of people to send to, and a bit more work than anyone wants to do. But, there are three of us dedicated tea-lovers excited and ready to swap with each other, and I just wanted to extend a final invitation to you:

The New Plan: After a little dose of reality, I've decided to limit the number of people to six. So, if sending out a maximum of five little parcels sounds more possible, then send me a quick message (in the comments or at: astrid@redredcompletelyred.com). We'd love to have you join in!

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P.S. If you're looking for Tilly, she's weighing in over at Totally Tilly from now on!

Start Now and Be Ready for Advent

{update: If you'd like to join in with the tea swap 2011, check out this post!}

My family have always been big celebrators of Advent -- whether we were scoffing chocolates out of a Cadbury's calendar, or opening beautifully wrapped bibs-and-bobs that my Mum had collected in the previous months, my brother and sister and I could always expect the twenty-four days before Christmas to be exciting.

Perhaps I've matured a bit, or lost my sweet-tooth (um... no), but Advent is no longer all about the sweeties. As the nights get longer, and the last-minute preparations come together, those twenty-four days are a time to reflect on family, friends and community, and to connect with the people that matter most.

And in the spirit of connecting, this year I have a plan for something extra special. I was inspired by Kojo Designs' wonderful tea wreath (above). But, rather than going out and buying twenty-five types of tea myself, I thought, why don't we have a little swapsies.


The plan: You send me, and twenty-three others, one bag of your favourite tea (and keep a bag for yourself). Meanwhile, twenty-three others and I are sending you a bag of our favourite tea. Voila! Twenty-five teas to sample over advent. (And it doesn't have to be your favourite. Maybe there's a wacky tea you've always wanted to try, but didn't want to drink a whole box of yourself? Share it with us!)


The lovely thing is that a teabag won't cost very much to send, so this shouldn't break into your Christmas fund too much. And just think of all those exotic envelopes heading towards your postbox...

So, if you'd like to join me in brewing up a tea-rrific advent calendar from around the world, please leave a comment below, or send me a quick email to: astrid@redredcompletelyred.com. We need twenty-four people, so don't be shy! Family, friends, old and new readers are all welcome!

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P.S. For more advent calendar ideas, have a look over here.