Antique stove at The Factory (former stove factory). Check out the tea kettle!
Today, I went to The Factory in Franklin for Sunday lunch. The story behind this place is that it used to be a stove factory years ago. It’s been redone as a shopping, art and food venue, and there are lots of opportunities to see and sample some cool tea and tea-related things!
My first stop was the Stoveworks restaurant where I had some yummy tea punch. It’s made out of unsweet black tea and several types of fruit juices. I don’t really like sweet teas, but I’ll take this one! In fact, I had three glasses, then proceeded to slurp down my daughter’s leftovers! Good stuff. I will be back for more. (oh – and the food was very tasty too!)
Tea Punch at the Stoveworks Restaurant
In addition to good eats and three glasses of a tea treat for me, there are some really cool little shops at The Factory. I saw the absolute cutest little baby tea party set at the toy store there. Soft and cuddly, it begged for me to buy it! It’s so nice to see tea culture being embraced by even the youngest!
Now Baby Can Appreciate Tea!
I was also happy to notice a huge display (although it was way out of place) in the ice cream shop located in the Factory. I’m still trying to figure it out…and I’m not sure it really goes with ice cream, but I am happy to assume that whomever is in charge there has an appreciation for tea! There were dozens of canisters of Republic of Tea blends lining the shelves. I’d rather go in there and buy ice cream any day!
Tea...at the ice cream shop. Out of place, but nice to see tea anyway!
As for those who prefer teaware from days gone by, I found a really nice antique shop with a lot of beautiful teapots and cups and saucers. If only I had a place to display all of these, I could easily have an addiction to teaware! My china cabinet is only so big, and right now it’s packed full! I may need to install a display shelf somewhere in my kitchen…but that could be dangerous! I’d have teapots everywhere!
Pretty antique tea cups and saucers
Chinese Teapot with cups
There are many important factors one must consider when preparing tea. In addition to water temperature and steep time, the proper teapot can help you create the perfect tea experience. Here’s an interesting comparison to consider: Think about sipping a glass expensive champagne out of a plastic cup. That’s just not right, is it? The bubbles wouldn’t hold up very well, the plastic would affect the taste of the champagne, and it just wouldn’t be very pleasing to the eye. I’ve always heard that we eat (in this case, drink) with our eyes. This is very true. Consider restaurants, for example. Meals are usually placed on the plate in a certain way. Drinks are brought to the table often garnished with bright and beautiful tidbits. Well, the same goes for tea. Part of the experience of tea is serving it correctly and you have the correct teapot in order to do so. Not only will your tea experience be more aesthetically pleasing, but it will also taste better! (of course, there are situations where you steep your tea, throw it in a coffee tumbler and head out the door — that’s okay in a hurry!) When there is time, I think that matching your tea with the correct teaware is a lot of fun! That’s why I wanted to post this info on my blog. Hopefully, it will help you figure out what type of serving vessel works best with your choice of tea! Here is a nice little chart courtesy of 
