About Me

I was born in a British household, surprisingly located in Mandarin, Florida where good strong tea was part of everyday life. Tea was consumed from the opening of eyelids in the pre-breakfast hours, in a continual stream throughout the day, to the last cup before bed. Every time there was a joy, sorrow or achievement ~ tea marked the occasion. Broken bones or hearts were treated with a "cuppa" as were anniversaries and celebrations.

I was fortunate to develop a tremendous interest in plants through my father, a landscape architect. In my adventurous youth, I began cultivating many tea "tisane" herbs and true tea blends, both experimenting and inflicting them on friends for years. I'm happy to say every one has survived and appears to be thriving today.

Over the years, my handsome horticulturist husband (Scott) has helped me to develop a lavish herb, flower & foliage garden every place in the world that we have called home - the last dozen years it has been placed in the fabulous Puget Sound area of Washington State. That's me, pictured above ~ sitting in my garden, drop spindle in my lap, tea cup perched on the armrest of the chair and my parakeet (Claude) in a cage hanging from the roof of the gazebo.

Today I go by the unusual job description of: Teaist ~ a tea artist or "one who blends teas" and I feel incredibly lucky to be able to create and sell something that has been so long a part of my life and one of my greatest pleasures.

In addition to being a huge reader and major public library patron, I'm also an avid spinner having learned to spin wools, silks and alpaca in March of 2003 and with two three wheels and a dozen fifteen (plus) drop spindles later... I've never looked back. I enjoy spinning on my wheels but nothing beats spinning on a drop spindle... except maybe knitting your own handspun yarns.  Spinning is sheer joy, moving meditation, a time for me to completely relax. And drinking a pot of fragrant loose tea while spinning in my garden is heaven on earth!

As for the teas...I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. As an old friend, Li Ju Chou, used to say to me: "Tea ~ good for you!"

Cheers, Bonnie Rose