About the Author

See Photo Notes Below.I grew up with tea every day. But,like most southern families, our tea was iced and sweetened. As a child, I was fascinated with the equipment of tea. My grandmother displayed a beautiful silver tea service in her dining room. But I don't remember it ever being used. It was a decoration. My mother had been given a set of porcelain teacups that were too fragile to use and were stored in a high cupboard. Then, one day when I was in my 20's my grandmother invited my mother, aunts and cousins to meet in a small local tearoom. It was The Pear Tree in Pearland, Texas. The tea wasn't memorable but the afternoon was. We celebrated four generations gathered around a table filled with dainty teacups and fancy sandwiches. I remember the pumpkin bread with cream cheese filling and the pimento cheese on dark rye. It was the only time that the women and girls of the family ever gathered this way. Soon after, I left for Europe and found many more tea options and certainly more restaurants that knew how to serve a tasty cuppa. Later, majoring in ceramic arts that I discovered the much larger world of tea. We had to learn to craft a functional teapot and also to artistically interpret teapot. I was living in San Francisco at the time and was fortunate to have many different cultural tea experiences readily available. I discovered premium teas from countries all over the world that had been imported by teashop owners who had been to the plantations. I spent hours listening to their stories of how the tea is grown and processed by hand. The legends they told were beautiful and fit comfortably with the way I like to see the world. Tea offers us a worldwide language and culture. I'm fascinated with the fact that this culture of tea has existed for almost 5000 years. It is the subject of all the arts and I enjoy living with the unanswered question: why? I'm fortunate to be invited to share some of this perspective in a Blog entitled, "The Art and Spirit of Tea" on World Tea News - www.worldteanews.com. I have also published a series of children's books with tea themes; The Emma Lea Books. They focus on the family experience of tea. I remember the tearoom experience with my family and would like to encourage others to create their own tea traditions. Trying new blends and brands of tea can be just as exciting for children as it is for adults. My days are now filled with visits to schools, libraries and bookstores where I have the privilege to share tea stories with children. I love introducing them to loose leaf teas that open as they infuse. It is my greatest pleasure to be able to tell them something about tea cultures around the world. Photo #1 and 2 are from some of my publicity shotsPhoto #3 is me with a tea guide in Huangting, ChinaPhoto #4 is me receiving an award from the Bay Area Independent Publishers Association for the first Emma Lea Book, Emma Lea's First Tea Party. Photo #5 was taken at an appea

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