Holiday Season 2009

Last week was a blur! After a weekend closure to redecorate, we opened on Monday for our 12th annual holiday open house and had a wonderful turnout. The rest of the week continued nicely with many customers stopping in to see what is new, to visit, and to enjoy a cup of tea with a cookie or two.


It took us two full days to redecorate and place our special holiday offerings into displays! For some reason it was more challenging this time. I'm not quite sure why, but perhaps because of a number of new lines we are featuring this season. The shop is absolutely packed full!


We have new linens and aprons, nearly 100 teapots (yes!), books, ornaments and candles. We even found a soy candle in a little travel tin that smells just like our Candy Cane Lane tea! It smells yummy!



Our corner hutch is full of holiday treats including fancy sugars, cookies and biscuits, preserves and sweet confections. Many of these goodies will be added to our webshop in the coming days. If you happen to find yourself in our neighborhood, stop by to see the whole collection. We'll have tea and gingersnaps ready to warm you!

Back up and running!

Our webshop is back online. Thank you!

Website temporarily down....

If you are trying to enter our website, we are temporarily down and are researching the issue.

Thank you for your patience!

Holiday Redecorating Closure!

It is down to the wire here! Except for two small shipments everything is here and accounted for and just in time, because we redecorate the shop for the holidays this weekend! I can hardly believe it is that time again, but it is. Tomorrow evening, as is our custom, we will paper over the windows, allowing no sneak peeks, and early Saturday the elves will get to work! A big mess will be made as boxes are unpacked and displays are dismantled and rebuilt, but by next week our tiny shop will be merry and bright, and stuffed to the rafters with holiday treats and gifts!

We have many new gifts to add to the webshop, as well. So please stop back by to see what is new!

Have a lovely weekend!

Autumn Greetings!

The first week of October..... Where did September go? It was gone in the blink of an eye and much too quickly for me. I always look forward to autumn, it is such an interesting time and one I like to savor. Summer's heat wanes and the crispness of fall creeps in. Green returns to parched lawns, reds and golds spark the woods, and the first snows dust the peaks of our northwest mountains. We begin to bring out our sweaters, the flannels and boots, and in our homes firelight begins to dance and candles to glow, and the spicy scents of the season grace our homes. It's a lovely time.


In our shop, business has temporarily slowed as tourists return home, staff and customers settle students into school, and households into new routines. We take advantage of the lull to swing our holiday preparations into high gear. Shipments arrive daily and in our small shop this always presents a challenge! Extra help is called in to check and price. Autumn goods are put into displays and holiday giftwares are tucked away to be brought back out and featured the first week of November.


Many customer favorites are now back in stock. On the tea shelf you will find Grandma's Pumpkin Pie, a smooth, rich spice tea, and Cranberry Orange, an elegant blend of black teas with dried cranberries and orange peel. Mulling spices and cinnamon sticks are available now, too. The shop smells delicious! If you need a recipe for Mulled Cider you can find our recipe on our website in the Recipes section.

Oh, it's going to be a busy month! For local customer who do not receive our email newsletter, please be aware the shop will be closed for holiday redecorating Saturday, October 31. Yes....we'll be redecorating on Halloween. Now, that's scary! :-)

Wishing you a lovely week!

A vacation break

Just a quick note to let my customers know Island Tea's hours are just a bit uncertain this next eight days. I am leaving for vacation with my family tomorrow, and Andrea has been called for jury duty. If she is not needed, the store will be open. If she is needed, we'll be closed. We will just have to wait and see! For our local customers, please call the shop and feel free to leave a message. We'll get back to you as soon as we can. And remember, if we are open our welcome banner will be flying!

Any website orders placed Aug. 21 through Aug. 28 will be packed and shipped Tuesday, September 1. We thank you for your patience.

Off to Arizona and the Grand Canyon I now go!

Iced Tea's 105th Birthday!

We have been enjoying a real summer here in the pacific northwest. In fact, we've been breaking records and while the temperature today here on Whidbey Island will probably only make it to the high 70s, by early next week we anticipating temperatures approaching 100! And that, is too hot by most anyone's standards, certainly mine.

With all the sunny days we have been steeping and pouring fresh iced tea like crazy and we thought you might enjoy learning a bit more about this wonderful refreshing beverage.

Antique cookbooks show us that tea has been served cold since at least the early 19th century in both England and America. The oldest recipes called for green tea, not black tea, and were called punches. Frequently spiked with liquor, these punches were very popular. (You'll find a recipe for Pomegranate White Tea Spritzer HERE on our website.)

During the 1904 World's Fair in St Louis iced tea was popularized and heavily commercialized. As the story goes, a group of Far East tea producers lead by Englishman Richard Blechynden traveled from Calcutta, India to the World's Fair to sell their tea. The group set up a tea pavilion and sold cups of hot tea to the passing visitors. Unfortunately, it was a very hot summer and tea sales were dismal. People were passing right by the brightly-colored, Indian-inspired pavilion and heading to the booths with ice-filled drinks. Being a good businessman, Richard saw an opportunity, filled glasses with ice cubes and poured hot tea over them. Word spread quickly throughout the Fair and customers lined up outside the tea pavilion to buy the cooling beverage. Iced tea began appearing on the menu of nearly every restaurant and by the time the Fair closed, iced tea had become extremely popular.

Today, iced tea is America's national summertime drink. More iced tea is consumed in the U.S. than hot tea. In fact, we drink more iced tea than any other country in the world.

To sweeten iced tea, make a simple syrup by boiling one cup water with one cup sugar. Cool and store covered in the frig. Try adding fresh sliced berries or peaches to your favorite iced tea for flavor and interest.

500 Plastic Bags, Labels and Twisties Saved!

Today, Island Tea Company donated $50.00 to The Nature Conservancy in honor of our customers! I'm so proud!

In 2007 we started giving our customers a 5 cent discount for reusing our tea packaging or for bringing in their own tins or jars to be filled. They received a 5 cents discount for each bag or container and we committed to tracking these nickels and then matching those nickels with nickels of our own and then we would make a donation to the Nature Conservancy when the fund reached $50.00. Last month we hit the mark! Actually we are $5.90 over. We'll use that to start rebuilding the fund.

The twenty-five dollars worth of nickels saved by our customers represents 500 plastic bags, labels and twisties that did not have to be trucked off our island to a landfill. That's neat enough, but that is also a bundle of bags, labels and twisties that Island Tea Company did not have to buy. This is such a win-win for everyone and our lovely planet, don't you think? In fact we are so enthused with this little program of ours that we are now giving our instore customers a 10 cents discount for each bag or container that they bring in to reuse.

Maybe, just maybe, we can make our next donation before the end of 2009! That would be sweet indeed! :-)

Lovely Lemon Tea!

One of my favorite teas is back in stock, Lemon! One of my dear friends nicknamed this flavored black tea "Lemon Drop Tea," because that is indeed what it smells and tastes like! It is delicious hot or iced. In fact, it is one of my personal favorites over ice. I'm enjoying a glass right now, because we actually have warm sunny weather for this Memorial Day weekend!

Lemon Tea is a rich blend of black teas and is generously flavored with lemon peel and lemon oil. For an interesting twist in your iced tea try adding a sprinkling of lavender buds, a sprig of mint, or fresh sliced berries. You can find this lovely tea on our website right here!