What gives you the right?

[photo cred: the Huz]

If you watch The Office, you’ll know exactly where those lines are from! This About The Author blog post is going to be about my qualifications for reviewing Tea Houses + Tea Rooms. One of my pinned posts on Instagram states, “I am not a tea expert or tea connoisseur, I just know what I like and know what I don’t like.” Here’s some history as to how I got there…

WORK HISTORY AND SKILLS

• Detective

The first thing you need to know about me and how I got here is about my detective skills. I love the history of things and how they came to be. I’m a logical thinker and I need equations in order to understand something. If it’s not self-explanatory on how it computes, I’m gonna figure it out. I was this way as a teenager, and my skill set just got stronger when I entered trauma recovery. I love to understand people too, I think that’s my favorite. I can smell a red flag from a mile away. People think I don’t know how they’re being or how they’re behaving. I know, I’m just not commenting on it. I’m a silent observer. I also get this from my INFJ-ness, hehe. I will watch reality tv sometimes, just to study the people. Anyway, this is a longwinded explanation for me to say: I dig deep to find our Tea House + Tea Room locations to visit on the Tour. There are A LOT of places in the Bay Area (and just outside) that offer Afternoon Tea that are not highlighted or “viral” or that popular. But you better believe Detective Rose is gonna find them and give them the love and/or attention they deserve! This is why I am always hearing, ‘I never knew there were that many places!?’

• Former Tea Company Owner

If you are a longtime follower/subscriber of this Blog, you’ll know that parTEA with me used to be a full-fledged tea company. We were a Tea Line, Direct To Consumer (DTC), Wholesaler, Vendor, and Caterer. There are many qualifications to those roles. One does not just wake up from a nap and decide to become a whole tea company! …or do they? (wink)

If you have noticed, I don’t talk much about this company. I might refer to it briefly, but there are things about it I can’t use or talk about legally. So I don’t, out of respect to my integrity and respect to my old business partner. That’s why this blog and all my socials, have “blog” at the end of them. In case any of you were ever wondering…

What I can say, and for the sake of this post and understanding my qualifications- I made/make tea. I created/create tea blends. For our Catering side of the company, those were MY ideas for tea sandwich recipes that were highly requested by our clientele. So one who comments or reviews or critiques Tea House + Tea Room menus, should have a sense of what is good and what is not. Correct? My old tea company is where I got my sense.

• Amateur Photographer

When I was a little girl, my narcissistic bio mom used to dress me to the nines and make me be in photo shoots. Then get massive prints of them and display them everywhere. In school, Art was always my favorite subject. (I could go on a whole tangent about this, but let me try to make the long story short) In the 4th grade, my art piece was selected to be put on display somewhere important. A bit before the pandemic, I accidentally started selling my art. Today, I am a fine art collector. In essence, I have an eye.

Before the Tour started, my husband had gotten into photography. He was learning all about lighting and apertures…shutter speeds, exposures, and focal points oh my! (haha, I’m a nerd I know) So we bought a DSLR. He taught me the very basics, and that’s what I bring with me on the Tour. Now I know I could stand to be more “artsy” in my shots, but most times during Tea- I’m trying to take the quickest photo possible so I could get back to my friends. I take quite a few tho, so I have some to choose from for later. But I also appreciate real life visuals, so that’s what you get on the Blog! I adore the realness of the silverware shoved to the side…or maybe just a corner of the teapot and not in full view. I mean, I won’t be including used napkins or anything like that! But, I love showing real life.

I remember meeting the Calligraphists at our Maison Danel visit. One of them read my card and says, “You’re a Tea House Tourist!? How cool is that!” I replied, “You can make a job out of anything these days huh?!”

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