Tea in Colorado

April 3, 2017


I've been doing a bit of visiting lately. After coming home from North Carolina, where I was able to see my two sons and daughter-in-law, and meet with bloggers Michele and Debby, I flew out to Denver to visit my mom and sister and her family.

And I got to visit with another lovely blogger, Stephanie from The Enchanting Rose. Many of you know Stephanie, who hosts the amazing teacup exchanges, one of which I believe is going on right now. I was just too busy to participate this time around, but they are so much fun.

I got to visit with Stephanie and her mom Debbie from She Graces Her Home in God's Beauty last year. This year it was just Stephanie and me. We missed you Debbie!

I had less than an hour drive to our meeting point, a tearoom where we had met last year, but got to see some beautiful Rocky Mountain scenery on the way. We had had just a bit of snow the previous evening, so the trees were lightly dusted. Beautiful.

A bit of a sketchy picture, taken hastily while I was driving. I know, not a good idea, but it was so pretty.
We had afternoon tea at a beautiful little tearoom and were able to visit for a couple hours.


I know Stephanie got more, and better, pictures, so maybe when the tea exchange is completed you will see a few from her.



Stephanie is a dear woman, as many of you know. I wish her many blogger friends could have been with us, just to see in person how lovely she is.  I felt so privileged that she took the time to drive over to meet me again this year. I enjoyed our visit so much.


After tea, we went next door to a yarn and quilt shop we had discovered last year. I had picked up some beautiful hand-painted yarn then, thinking I'd like to learn to make socks.

I've only succeeded in making 1/2 pair from that yarn, and 1 1/2 pair from another kind of yarn this whole intervening year, but that didn't stop me from buying more. Hopefully, I will end up with three complete pairs of socks someday. 


Stephanie gifted me with some lovely pretties she made.

There was a darling little fabric bag filled with lavender blossom-filled sachets.



There was also a cute little tea wallet filled with tea.

Thank you Stephanie! 

You can see more of Stephanie's beautiful handiwork and tutorials on her blog and in her etsy shop.


And when I got home, there was also a little thank you package waiting for me, filled with more little treats!

Two years in a row. Maybe this will become an annual tradition?

*******

While I was in Colorado, I also got to visit another, very different tea shop with my mom and sister and her boys, the Dushanbe Teahouse in Boulder. The teahouse was given to the city of Boulder by its sister city of Dushanbe, Tajikistan, in 1987. It was built in Tajikistan, but then disassembled, shipped to Boulder, and reassembled there.  

It is stunning. The colors and mosaics and carvings are so beautiful, and so exotic.


This is a picture of the ceiling inside the teahouse.



The tea menu itself was five pages long, and included many exotic teas from China.


A few were familiar, but most were not. I need to be more adventurous with tea. I tend to stick to the same black teas like English Breakfast, and this menu opened up a whole new world of possibilities.


My sister had a puerh tea. Our waiter said puerh teas are fermented and contain lots of probiotics. I tasted it. It tastes like dirt, but in a good way, I told my sister. Very earthy, but I really liked it. I would buy some of this, and am going to see if my local tea shop carries it. 

Notice the descriptions -- "cooked puerh pressed into tiny bird's nests" and "aged in fresh bamboo stalks." They even have dates on them, like aged wines.


I had this oolong, ti khan yin.


We each got our own teapot with a timer to time the tea. After the three minutes were up, we were supposed to remove the tea strainer from the pot. I never time my tea, although I guess it's the thing to do to prevent tea from becoming bitter.

Our waiter said the only tea you don't have to time is herbal. Which is good, as I usually just leave my bag in the whole time.


This made a very light tea. I actually prefer a very dark, full-bodied tea, but this did have a nice flavor.


My nephews ordered various sodas laced with teas. They looked pretty tasty.


The menu included Indian, Middle Eastern, and Turkish foods. I had Afghan Mantu, which was beef and onion dumplings.


So I am back home now. It is rainy and cloudy and the weather this week will be in the 40s. I saw flowers in Colorado, and the trees are beginning to blossom there. We have another month or more to wait here in Michigan before we get to see flowers, but it will surely come. We Michiganders have learned to be patient.

32 comments

  1. What a nice post! So glad you had a lovely visit with family and friends! Your right about winter in Michigan, I think we are about six weeks ahead for the most part! Hope you have a great week!
    Hugs, Roxy

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  2. Oh Deborah...what a special time that must have been! I would absolutely love to meet Stephanie and Debbie! I am sure you both had a fabulous visit! My son and his family who live in TN just returned from a ski vacation in CO...maybe next time they go, I will hitch a ride with them. I have never been there. That other tea room that you visited is breathtakingly gorgeous! Oh my word...I have never seen such intricate mosaics with so many beautiful colors! And the menu is very unique to say the least! Such a fun post...thanks for sharing your visit. Where you headed next??? :D

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  3. Wow! Two amazing tea time experiences! Lucky you to get to meet up with Stephanie for a second time. I love mosaics and exotic teas so I'm enthralled by the Dushanbe Teahouse. This unique teahouse is now on my bucket list!

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  4. What an amazing thing, to ship an entire tea house all away across the world! it is beautiful and I wouldn't have known where to start ordering. It's wonderful that you've had such good times with family lately but I guess it's lovely to be home too.

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  5. Dear Deborah:
    I am thinking you went to Georgetown - my favorite place. I never went inside the tea house in Boulder but saw it many times. Glad you had a wonderful Visit!

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  6. How wonderful! First because you got to spend time with Stephanie, and secondly for such a special Tea in unique surroundings! I so appreciate you sharing with us!
    Ruth

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  7. You are so blessed to have time to spend with Stephanie, a dear blogger friend. Having tea together looks like fun and all the food looks so good. Time with friends are always a blessing.

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  8. What a wonderful time you had with family and dear Stephanie. Two delightful teas.

    That second tea house is beautiful! What an experience that must have been.

    Thanks for sharing and happy spring ~ FlowerLady

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  9. How nice to spend time with Stephanie...you both look so beautiful! And I love that other tea house with all the intricate designs. What a wonderful trip! Hugs, Diane

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  10. Oh Deborah, what an amazing tea room you and your family visited! It's simply stunning! I must confess that I did not even realize it was in Boulder, but now, like Margie, it's on my bucket list {{smiles}} I wonder if I could talk my hubby and son into going...hehe :)

    It was such a blessing to meet up with you again. I can't say this enough, my friend, but you are a precious soul! It was a delight to enjoy tea with you and my, how easy it is to talk with you! I feel like I've known you for years :) Thank you for such a wonderful day together. I am looking forward to sharing our visit together on my blog and may do so when I return tomorrow.

    Thinking of you and wishing you a lovely and productive day :) Love and hugs!

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  11. Hi Deborah, How special to meet up with our dear Stephanie once again. You girls look so lovely in the pic at the tea room. I know you had a special time visiting. The Boulder tearoom is very interesting with the lovely ceiling and colors. The teas and menu look delicious. Glad you had a great time visiting your family and Stephanie and safely now back in Michigan. I wish you warm days, sunshine and flowers soon.
    Blessings for a great week. xoxo

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  12. You must surely be a tearoom connoisseur by now, Deborah, having visited a variety of lovely tearooms with a few blog friends. Stephanie is such a sweet and talented lady and the photo of you two is beautiful.

    Poppy

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  13. Oh my dearest Deborah, how wonderful to meet up with Stephanie again this year, although I know,you missed Debbie. Oh, how I'd love to join you on your tea adventures. The food at both tea rooms were so different, but so tasty looking. What a special time you must've had with your sister and her boys, too.
    Now, you're back in Michigan waiting for warm weather and happy blossoms. Thanks for sharing your visit to Colorado with us.
    P. S. Thanks for visiting my blog! Love and blessings to you, sweet friend.

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  14. What a delight to have tea with Stephanie! She and her mother are such amazing women! The other tea shop was very interesting to be sure. It is alway so nice to go to another State and meet another blogger. I did that in 2010 and met with Celestina from "Southern Daydreams". We had such a great visit and are still good friends! Hoping Spring will come soon to Michigan. It is hard when just last week I spent 7 glorious days in Florida with a good friend of mine, and had to come back to cold rain, gloomy days, and no flowers!

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  15. Hi Deborah :)

    What an interesting place to have tea and beautiful too! Stephanie is a sweetheart and I'm glad you were able to spend time with each other.

    I have to wait for another 4 weeks to pass before I can plant here. We're in zone 7 like I was in Ohio, but with the weather being so crazy, I'm playing it safe.

    xo,
    rue

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  16. That is a wonderful photo of the two of you! What fun to visit family and Stephanie, too. Your second tea house adventure looked very exotic and wonderful. The first looked more my speed...breakfast tea here as well, unless it's chamomile.

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  17. Your visits sound lovely - good friends and family, along with pretty dishes and yummy things to eat and drink.

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  18. You've had some wonderful tea experiences with lovely ladies, blogging sisters are the best! You're probably getting the same weather as us - April showers for May flowers? At least no snow like they have out east.

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  19. How nice it is to see these tearooms you visited. It's always interesting to me to see menus and decor in unique places like these. I have been meaning to tell you that several months ago I took an online course from Hillsdale College. You had shared with your readers that they offered some free courses so I took Economics. They even sent a certificate after I had completed the course and passed the final test. Thanks for the info!

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  20. I'm so glad you've been able to visit a few bloggers along with your family members too Deborah. Wonderful that you met up with Stephanie a second time ... great photo of the two of you :) The treats on the tea tray look delicious! Love the tea room in Boulder! Wow! what a wonderful thing to send across the world! I stay a bit on the safe side when ordering teas, but they always taste better when you're in the tea rooms. Have a wonderful week, and I hope things start sprouting up soon. We have things just now coming up from the ground :)
    Wendy

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  21. I am not a tea drinker, but I would drink almost any kind of tea if I could drink it in that marvelous tea shop in Boulder! What a gorgeous place! You've been meeting bloggers! I've never met Stephanie in person, but one can tell that she is a lovely and God-loving woman. She shines. Fun to read this post and see the wonderful things in your recent travels!

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  22. I saw the link on Stephanie's blog and thought I had stopped following you or lost the link to your blog. For some reason, blogger won't let me put your blog on my sidebar. It won't accept the url. Very strange. I will have to sign up to follow by email so I don't miss anything. I do coffee more than tea but my hubby used to love tea.

    Those sachets are just darling. I love them.

    Hope you have a great day- xo Diana

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  23. Dear Deborah, You know how I love tea and this would have been so fun to experience. I drink tea daily and also love Rooibos, due to it being caffeine free but giving you energy. I love all types of teas, but have never heard of the middle-eastern teas you mentioned. I've never even heard of Puerh tea and not sure how much I'd like it. So glad you got to see Stephanie again, what a thoughtful friend to bring you goodies. Thanks so much for sharing.
    Hugs, Noreen

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  24. It sounds...and looks...like you had a wonderful time. The goodies from your first tearoom visit look delicious, and that place in Boulder is amazing! What an interesting menu! I like that yarn. I have not bought any hand dyed yarn yet, but I don't know how long that will last. lol
    Mary Lou

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  25. Oh my, not one, but two amazing tea experiences, how amazing and awesome is that! How wonderful for you to meet Stephanie again and oh my, the delightful goodies that she gifted you with are amazing - everything she makes is so amazing! What a gorgeous tea table too, oh my! Did you really eat all those goodies? heehee! And the second tea experience, oh my word, what an incredible experience! How fun to taste teas unlike any you've had before, I would love that! Just reading the menu was an experience in itself!

    Thank you for sharing your tea visits, what joys indeed! Hugs to you, dear friend!

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  26. What a nice experience to visit with dear Stephanie again and enjoy a beautiful tea together. She is so talented, sweet and generous - I love her Etsy shop and have indulged in quite a few of her treasures. It's always nice to visit family, too, and that tea shop is absolutely amazing! It's hard to resist such beautiful yarn and someday you will have some pretty socks to remember your time together. Sending hugs xo Karen

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  27. What fun adventures! I found you through Stephanie's post about your 'meet up' at the tea room -- she is a gem -- how fun to meet up with her again. That second tea room looks amazing -- I've not found anything like that yet and I do try to visit shops when we travel. I would have loved that one!

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  28. It's so beautiful that you could meet blogger friends.. Still I'm not so lucky to meet with anyone.. So many beautiful pictures.. and gifts from Stephanie are so so beautiful..

    The decorations of the teashop is so beautiful.. in my eyes, it is somewhat similar mediterranean designs..

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  29. Dropping by from Stephanie's blog and it's so nice to meet another precious blogger. I would have loved to have joined you two for tea, what a blessing that would have been. And, the tearoom in Boulder, my goodness, what beauty. I'm not a big tea drinker but I still enjoy going to a tearoom. I'll be back to visit.

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  30. Deborah, I was beginning to think I would never get here to read your lovely post as you shared your time with stephanie. You both look so beautiful in that photo. To bad I was away, I would have loved visiting with you.
    The tea room in Boulder is amazing!! I must look that one up. We have so few tea rooms here in Colorado.
    That tea menu is awesome, maybe even a little overwhelming.
    The fresh snow on the mountains is so pretty. I know exactly where you took that photo as the view captivates me every time I drive home ftom Denver.

    Shortly after I arrived home from Arizona it started snowing. How thankful I was since I was driving the 36 foot motor home. Any later arriving home and I would not have been able to get it up the road where we plug it in. God is so good and gracious in the details of life.
    I was happy to hear that you made it home safely.

    God bless you, Deborah ♡

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  31. What a lovely trip, Deborah! I'm a bit jealous that you've had real face-time with Debbie and her daughter. I would so love to meet all three of you :) That tea shop looks truly fabulous. Thanks for taking us along and sharing the menu!

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  32. Oh this is sooooooooooooooo neat!!

    Hey maybe next year I will fly out with ya and meet Steph (and Debbie maybe) too??

    I will take a little long weekend getaway then go home. I have never been to Colorado and think I would love it.

    And WOW is that picture pretty. This pic of you and Steph is gorgeous- you two are as beautiful outside as you both are inside!!!!

    Hugs and love!

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