I’m Ellen, a small-town, transplanted Minnesotan who grew up on a farm, near a lake, in the most German county in the state. I now live with husband and dogs (and occasional grandchild sleepovers) in Conroe, Texas. Moved to Texas more years ago than I care to mention, and have loved it ever since.

I took my first transatlantic flight at 16 to Germany to stay with an exchange student friend (and I still wonder at the fact that my mother let me go basically on my own!).

That got me hooked – 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 (mostly in the corporate research/knowledge profession). Travels have taken me mostly to spots in the Americas and Europe (others still on the bucket list). But a tea-lover can always manage to find fellow tea lovers who have experienced and share many kinds of tea traditions everywhere!

So, I don’t really do great pictures of myself, but I’ll leave you with two:

Indoctrinating the next generation (my wonderful niece) to the pleasures of tea

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