The Foundry At Home: A Very Cozy Ritual

• Posted on 30 October 2020
• Posted in Hot Drinks, Sips, The Foundry At Home, The Foundry In The Kitchen, Winter
• 0

The early darkness. The unexpected flurries. The stunning architecture of strength revealed when summer's trees finally slip out of their party clothes and let their guards down. As the season winds down to its deepest primal essences (much like the rich, hearty broths we try and keep bubbling on the stove), so do we.

This quieting time always brings its inward-turning rituals: the cozy blanket, the flickering beeswax, a small pour of the occasional rich and dark wintry cocktail (bonus points for making it hot!), and—for our own Heather—inspired by our new replenishment shipment of amaaaaazing teas from Bellocq—a weekend afternoon coziness extravaganza involving some moody afternoon light, a favorite little biscuit, and a perfectly steamy little pot of tea brewed up in one of our just-delivered new (gorgeous!) glass teapots. From Heather:

Tea in the cold months is like someone handing you a warm blanket when you are feeling chilly. Why on earth would you say no to it? AND! Why on earth would you also not make the most out of it and go to the store to specifically buy yourself flowers and your favorite tea cookies and just sit in a FREAKING COZY MOOD?? Rhetorical question. Don't even bother answering. This is the way to go.

This teapot. It's elegant, it's soothing. And it's, like, really fun to see what you're about to drink! Watching the hot water slowly glow a deep tawny amber was a real treat that was hard to take my eyes off of!

I made myself a big pot of The Queen's Guard tea, because, hey. It's not just one of my favorites (omg because it's definitely one of my favorites), but it also pairs REAL well with my favorite tea cookies of all time—which also make you feel like you're flying Delta to somewhere far, far away. All hail the transportive power of speculoos! (Foundry Note: "speculoos" is the specific name for this kind of wafer-thin-transportative-butter-cookie originating in the Netherlands...hoe meer je weet!/the more you know!)

Making a full-blown pot of tea called for a little special usage of one of my grandmother in-law's darling mismatched teacups. CAN'T RESIST! Big ol' grandma vibes. And hey! Maybe if someone doesn't have a grandma cup of their own, they can be their own grandma and treat themselves to one of ours! Because grandma had to get hers somewhere!

Ok, also making a pot of tea and sitting by a beeswax taper candle made me want to go all Emily Dickinson and bust out some old antiquarian book and just flip through it. And look what I found! A friend had given me this old book of poetry from 1893, and I opened right to a page with a poem called 'The Token', paired with a very old little dried clover! As if this whole scene wasn't saccharine and romantic enough, HOO WEE. It's not just the teapot feeling all steamy in here, I guess.

Cheers to making your own cozy rituals! See all Bellocq teas here and teapots/other glorious tea accoutrements here.