Brilliant!
Brahmah Tea & Coffee Museum is the world's first museum devoted entirely to the history of tea and coffee.
It houses the most fascinating pieces and satisfies all your senses. I hope to one day find a book about it, but the one Brahmah wrote is sadly no longer in print.
Here is a "Mustache Tea Cup" created to help the wax in mustaches stop melting in the hot tea. I'd have loved to see that!
This is a stand created to "self poor" tea.
I would love to own this violet and green tea set seen under the "self poor" set. It had several pieces still intact and it was as light as a feather. I love it's sea theme, and of course its colors!
Here's a fascinating bit about "Chinese Brick Tea" as quoted off the sign describing it:
"Brick tea has been made for a thousand years and was made principally for consumption by nomadic tribes roaming in Mongolia, Chinese Turkestan, Tibet, and Inner Mongolia. It was made in brick form for transportation far beyond the Great Wall.
Loose leaves, although light in weight, are too bulky for pack animals and they suffer from deterioration due to contrasting climate conditions over journeys lasting several months.
The durability and convenience of brick tea meant that it was used as a medium of exchange in basic barter trade.
Brick tea can be either green or black. The leaf is steamed to make it pliable, then it is put into moulds to be compressed into the bricks, which usually takes about three weeks.
The Szechwan province was the biggest producer for Tibet, and Hankow supplied the Mongolian Russian Market."
K took the last pic of us enjoying tea at Brahmah Tea & Coffee Museum. It was so wonderful to sit and listen to Jane and Marie's stories. C and I are wearing tie-dye is because Jane told me it was a bit "hippy". Hippy is something we can do! : )
Weee! A date with Jane and we get to have fun with her mum too. Before heading to our main purpose, to have tea, we passed the gorgeous Southwark Cathedral and took an introductory walk through Burough Market, London’s oldest food market. It was established on the south bank of the Thames when the Romans built the first London Bridge. It has occupied its present site for 250 years. This is a great place with the finest foods from all different lands - most of which I had no idea what it was. Jane and her mum, Mari (a as in father, e and in long e) clued me in. : ) I tasted some of the best cheese I'd ever put in my mouth and M almost drewled over the Turkish Delight! We must return. Outside the market was an adorable flower shop that reminded me of my dear friend, Michelle, who once owned and ran her own flower shop in Southern California. XO
