Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Tea in NOLA’s Garden District

The Rink
I have long wanted to do the self-guided walking tour of the historic homes in New Orleans’ Garden District. Husband Walter and I fulfilled my wish during our December trip to the Big Easy. We started and ended our walk at the Rink, built in 1884 as the Crescent City Skating Rink in its former life. According to the Frommer’s walking tour, the building later served as a livery stable, mortuary, grocery store and gas station. It now houses a great bookstore, art shops, galleries and the Still Perkin’ coffee shop.

After our tour, we dropped into Still Perkin’ where I survived an unexpected lesson in tea technicalities.

Loose tea in a little open ‘pocket’ supplies me with a sipping adventure.

My Darjeeling hit the spot after our long walk, and the coffee shop’s distinctive character was satisfying, too. It was obviously a regular stop for locals a well as tourists. What I didn’t notice was that the tea was not in a tea bag. Loose tea was in an open bag suspended by the stirrer stick. Somehow I tipped the bag and wound up with a lot of tea leaves swirling around in my tea (which I discovered when I got an uncomfortable mouthful). Eventually the tea leaves settled, and I finished most of my tea. 

The hot brew was well worth the trouble and supplied another happy NOLA memory.

3 comments:

  1. What fun this must have been. That's a really good shot of the tea, I wonder why they serve it this way, I've never heard of such a thing before.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tea leaves in a cup of tea is an ongoing annoying memory of childhood for me. I loathe them, and if I am anywhere with loose tea I take almost pantomime care. Your walk looks like fun.

    ReplyDelete
  3. you are blessed you were still perkin when you reached the perkin coffee shop. i might have been dragging. looks like a wonderful walking tour to me

    ReplyDelete