Scotland’s tea culture and consumption might be overshadowed by the likes of their neighbors, England and Ireland, but tea is certainly important there and there’s even a Scottish Breakfast tea blend to keep the likes of Irish Breakfast tea and English Breakfast tea company. There are also famous Scottish tea people from history like James Taylor, Robert Fortune, and Thomas Lipton, and the first of these has even inspired a tea festival there.

The first incarnation of the Scotland’s Tea Festival just took place this August so you missed it. But we’ll hope for another one next year that might include such events as “Tealicious Tearooms to a Teddy Bears Picnic, James Taylor Heritage Exhibition to High Teas, Afternoon Tea to Art workshops, Cutty Sark Knot tying to Cakes, tea tasting and blending, tea cocktails, talks, lectures, afternoon teas, high teas, opening dinner, unveiling of a plaque on James Taylor’s home.”

I wrote about tea dueling a while back, a practice that seems to have gotten started in the Steampunk community. On a somewhat related theme, here’s an article about the Travelling Tea Museum, which is produced by a gent who’s said to be the “UK’s foremost Steampunk artist.” Rather than an actual museum, it’s apparently a travelling exhibit that “consists of three large display cases, complete with skirting board and wallpaper, along with curios and memorabilia telling a history of tea you never knew existed.”

Finally, if you’re looking for a skin moisturizer that you can probably eat – in a pinch – then you’re in luck. Here are instructions for making a (tasty?) skin cream that uses green tea and coconut oil. For more on a tea-based treat that’s actually intended to be eaten, have a look at this Asian Spumoni ice cream that was put together by a Las Vegas creamery. Not only is it much more colorful than the average ice cream, it’s a challenging and unique taste blend. I’m no expert on spumoni but according to the article it’s traditionally made “with three layers of cherry, pistachio, and chocolate ice cream.” However, this alternate version substitutes red beans, green tea powder, toasted black sesame seeds and sesame seed paste, and tops it all off with toasted cinnamon sugar wonton strips.

See more of William I. Lengeman’s articles here.

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