Last week my friend Stephanie and I went to tea at the Crown & Crumpet Tea Stop Cafe in San Francisco Japantown. This was my first time there and I was not disappointed. What struck me the most when I walked in the door were the colorful tablecloths. I really liked the clock on the right wall. It had a teacup for each numeral on the clock. It was a clever design.
It was a hot day so we broke with tradition and opted for iced tea instead of hot tea. I drank several glasses because I was so thirsty. The sandwich I liked the most was the turkey cranberry. I don't recall having that sandwich at tea before. It reminded me of Thanksgiving. I also enjoyed the toasted crumpet with butter. As far as the desserts go I liked the tangy lemon bar and the brownie.
The tea was lovely. We chatted a bit with the owner Amy. We also went upstairs to visit the boutique.
Recently I started to wonder what is up in the attic? What did my Mom leave up there? I got out the ladder, removed the ceiling panel, and climbed up there. I took down a few boxes and started going through them. A couple of the boxes were full of teacups and saucers. One teacup had a note on it that said it was from 1712. There was a teapot with a note that said it was over 200 years old. What interesting finds! A lot of the teacups belonged to my Grandmother and Great-Grandmother.
I started looking for a way to display the teacups. I cleared off a shelf in my china cabinet and put the teacups in there. But it just didn't seem quite right. I went on eBay and Craigslist and searched for teacup shelf. I found some but didn't see one that particularly grabbed me. So I thought, I know there are some antique stores in San Jose. I'll go check them out. I found the perfect teacup shelf to display the teacups once owned by my Grandmother and Great-Grandmother.
Thus was born my desire to collect teacups and teapots. I also bought a curio cabinet to display teapots. It's looking pretty empty right now!
My Pinterest boards display my teacup and teapot collections:
http://pinterest.com/cynthiakeyworth/teacups/
http://pinterest.com/cynthiakeyworth/teapots/
This is my new blog related to everything tea. I will discuss drinking tea, visiting tea rooms, having tea parties, my teacup collection, my teapot collection, and other tea related items. Can't wait to get started!
