Heaven in the Morning

Not to anyone’s surprise, it’s a bit overcast today.

Seattle weather is something you just have to embrace. Buy a cheerful pair of rain boots, stock umbrellas from Bella Umbrella in every spare corner, take your Vitamin D supplement, and thank the heavens for locks, boats and moss-covered sidewalks.

I find one of the best ways to ward off a cloudy day is by starting with a steaming mug of something: this morning, it is tea.

Seattle’s full of snug tea shops and imported, exclusive leaves, but I think my favorite Seattle tea may be the classic Pike Place Market Spice Cinnamon-Orange tea.

I go out of my way to visit Pike Place Market every chance I get, and a trip to World Spice Merchants provides a good hour of opening and smelling the hundreds of herbal concoctions they stock. They mix all their spice blends by hand and in the right season, but this tea is their signature, spicy, year-round favorite. (Hint: they provide free, hot samples of this tea all day long – a perfect market pick-me-up)

I set out my teapot and my lovely silver spoons a darling brought me from London.

I think they deserve a second photo, don't you?

The highlight of my morning dress up party, my glittering finishing touch, is my mug from Match. (There are a few places around Seattle that carry this line, but I'll get into that later.)

I do feel the need to point out the curious stamps on their pieces. Each stamp represents a factory where their pewter and ceramics are hand-crafted.

No weather can cloud a day started with Match, Market Spice, and British silver spoons.