Wonderful Collection of Essays Available On Kindle

Burb Appeal is a humorous collection of essays based on Tina Traster's newspaper columns about moving from the city to the suburbs. In these brief stories, Traster uses keen detail, humor and pathos to tell how she has embraced and navigated life in a rural suburb north of Manhattan. In these stories we meet nutty neighbors, bumbling town officials, new friends, a plethora of domestic and wild animals, and of course, her family.

Buy it now on Kindle.

Deeper Discount on Remaining Yixing Stock

We still have a few Yixing teapots left, and have deepened the discounts. Some teapots are selling at 50% off our regular prices. Here's some comparison: Teavana sells the Catwalk Yixing teapot for $36.95; our price is $26.25 (while supplies last). To view the CatWalk and our other Yixing teapots, click here.

We've Added Culinary Salts

Okay, so we strayed a bit from our mission when we added jasmine flowers, lavender petals and cinnamon sticks to our menu. It's true. But we love cooking as much as we love tea. Now we've added some culinary salts to our offerings. All salts are sold by the pound with a one pound minimum.

These are really lovely products for serious cooks out there.

To see our offerings of culinary salt, click here: http://potlucktea.com/Salt.htm

Jasmine Scented Ice Cream Recipe

Jasmine Scented Ice Cream:

• 3 cups milk, reduced with dried jasmine flowers to 2 cups yield
• 1/4 cup dried jasmine flowers
• 1/2 pound sugar
• 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, scraped and chopped
  
• 3/4 cup egg yolks (the fresher the eggs, the better)
  
• 2 cups organic heavy cream (avoid ultra-pasteurized)
  

In a non-reactive saucepan, simmer milk with jasmine flowers and reduce by 1/3 to 2 cups volume. Strain out jasmine flowers and heat with sugar and vanilla bean/pod. Bring to near scalding. Hand whisk the egg yolks in a stainless steel bowl. Temper the yolks by adding only a few tablespoons of hot milk to the yolks. Mix well then add tempered yolks back to the sauce pan. Whisk constantly on medium heat for 2 minutes. Strain and cool in an ice bath. When mixture is cooled add heavy cream. Follow manufacturer's instructions for your ice cream maker. Place in freezer before serving.

For a link to buy our culinary jasmine flowers, click here: http://potlucktea.com/Culinary.htm.

Enjoy!

Moroccan Mint Blend now 100% USDA Organic

Our Moroccan Mint (one of our most popular selling teas) has always been blended using our Organic Gunpowder Green tea, and now we are re-adjusting the blend to use 100% USDA organic peppermint too. We've also lowered the price for the summer/fall to $12.00 per pound. The blend makes a wonderful iced tea. Check it out at: http://potlucktea.com/moroccan.htm

Request a free sample of our new blend.

Happy summer!

Tea Master Kiley Holliday's Tea Tales

Tea master Kiley Holliday (from l'Age de The) tells tales of travelling around the world and her exploits in various airports/airplanes in service of her profession. In obe brief story, she tells of a customs agent mistaking her raw Pu-erh tea for drid shrubbery. Tea merchants should universally enjoy this short piece.

Original Post in the New York Times

Kusmi Tea Storms New York City

Kusmi Tea has opened a tea shop at 3rd Avenue and 61st Street in Manhattan. Russian by origin, transported through Paris (about 100 years ago), and now in New York.

The shop is stocked with Kusmi’s traditional bergamot and orange-scented Russian-style black teas, other flavored teas (both green and black), traditional unflavored teas, herbals and other infusions. Tea come loose in tins and as full leaf in muslin sachets.

I hope the store makes it. Tea shops come and go. The brand is relatively unknown here in the states.

Story from New York Times.

Coupon Codes Now Listed on Tjoos.com

We've started listing our coupon codes on Tjoos.com, including our latest for 10% off any order over $25.00. Coupon Code: Hudson

Temporary Stock Out on Single Estate Assam

We will be out of stock on our popular single estate Assam for about three weeks. In the interim, we will ship our Organic Full Leaf Assam. Another great tea, offered at the same great price. This tea is only available by the pound. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Discontinuing Spice Melanges

Because of difficulties with our supplier, we are discontinuing Spice Melanges. When they are stocked out, they will not be replaced. We've already run out of Spiced Cinnamon, and have a limited supply of the Spiced Chocolate remaining. We apologize to those of you have become fans of these popular flavors, but without a reliable source of supply, we cannot continue to offer these items.

Discontinued Items - Out of Stock

Our Rooibos blender has discontinued the "Rooibos Countryside Blend" and we are not going to restock the Yixing Covered Mug. We are offering some deep discounts on our remaining Yixing tea ware -- up to 35% off our regular prices. Check it out.

Wonderful New Single Estate Assam

I usually don't use this blog to rave about any particular tea, but I recently purchased a Single Estate Assam that is worth a rave. It was rated SFTGFOP-1 (Super Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe, Grade 1). I am often skeptical of ratings but tea buyers use them as a threshold to importing better teas. Taste is always the final arbiter. So when I received the tea and had my first cup, I was impressed, then delighted. It is a full bodied, beautiful tea that stands up well to the addition of milk and is fantastic as a morning tea, or a tea for that later-in-the-day pick-me-up. I only have a limited quantity to start, but have already ordered more of this Single Estate Assam. Find it here: http://potlucktea.com/Portfolio.htm (third tea from the top).

And remember, use coupon code "sophie" to receive 10% off any order over $25.00/

"Buy The Pound"

We've made some changes here at Pot Luck Tea Company. Most of our customers buy tea by-the-pound. For years we had kept a double inventory of four ounce bags and larger one pound bags. We've eliminated the smaller packages to keep our costs down and hold the pound prices where they have historically been. So, while most tea companies raised prices by 5-11% last year, we've held prices at 2005 levels. We should also have an easier time with inventory management, and ship our orders more quickly.

We've sold out of our Iwachu cast-iron tetsubin tea kettles and will not be re-stocking them.

Finally, we continue deep discounts on our Yixing teaware. We still have a fair amount of inventory though some items have dwindled down to just a few pieces remaining.

As a "thank-you" please use coupon code "sophie" for 10% off any order over $25.00.