Greetings, all!

I’m Ellen, a small-town, transplanted Minnesotan who grew up on a farm in the land of 10,000 lakes, in the most German county in the state.

I now live with husband and dogs (and occasional grandchild sleepovers) in Conroe, Texas.

I took my first transatlantic flight at 16 to Germany to stay with an exchange student friend … that got me hooked – on travel, traditions and tea-beyond-iced-tea.

In Germany, the Kaffeeklatsch/Teeklatsch was a fascination – neighbors, friends, family stopping by to drink actual brewed (not bagged or instant) coffee or tea, eat Torte and other delectable pastries, knit, gossip….not something I was used to seeing as such a common, everyday social occasion before, but one very easy to adapt oneself to.

And my interest in travel and the tea side of life just grew from there. I have been lucky enough to live in Germany, to spend significant amounts of time in the British Isles, and to land jobs that also let me travel off and on. Travels have taken me mostly to spots in the Americas and Europe. But a tea-lover can always manage to find fellow tea lovers who have experienced and share many kinds of tea traditions everywhere!

But it’s the designer of The (lovely) Connaught tea menu who knows what I really look like! (yep, that would be me on the left)

Menu from the tea at the Jean-Georges at The Connaught