A Tea Tangent Moment

 
My great-grandma loved wooden art. In my childhood memories, her home was filled with them. There was a large tree stump entwined in brass oak leaves and fitted with glass shelves where photographs and figurines lived. There were smaller pieces too throughout the house. When I see interesting pieces of hand crafted wooden art, I think of her.
 
We just got back from a trip to my home town over the 4th of July, and as we drove past my great-grandma's old street, I once again wished she could have met my girls. And so as I began my week, I decided I wanted a bit of an homage moment to her. I brought out one of her platinum-rimmed, Japanese tea cups and a beautiful wooden objet d'art I discovered just a few short weeks ago.
 

 
I love this beautiful "Tea Nest" from the creative and crafty minds of Tea Tangent. I especially love the instructions that accompanies each:
 
Gently lay the stainless steel strainer into the wood holder. Place over your favorite tea cup.
Peacefully place 1 teaspoon of loose tea into the strainer.
Quietly pour hot water over the tea and steep to your desired strength.
Enjoy the soothing healing ~ qualities of loose tea leaves



 
 
I had the pleasure of meeting the incredible husband and wife team behind Tea Tangent, Julia Edgerton Simons and Jonathan Simons, at the World Tea Expo in Las Vegas. 
 
 
 
Julia has been designing and Jonathan has been crafting beautiful wooden kitchen utensils for years out of solid cherry wood.  But it wasn't until Julia became ill with Lyme disease that the Tea Nest concept was born out of necessity. Developing allergies to all plastics, she was finding it difficult to find tea accessories that she could use. She came up with the design, and after getting several requests from anyone who saw it, Tea Tangent was born. 
 

The beautiful designs are simple perfection, each one created with obvious care. The cherry wood comes from ecologically managed forests  and hand crafted in Pennsylvania in Jonathan's wood shop. 

I guess that's two more people I wish my great grandma could have met. Or at least I would have known exactly what to get her for Christmas this year.

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