Perhaps it is while drinking tea that I most of all enjoy the sense of leisure. ~ George Gissing

It's cold outside but warm in here. The delicate feel of bone china in your hand, patterned with a garland of roses. The aroma of spiced chai wafting up from the cup, awakening your soul. The company of your favorite people to share time well spent. January is perfect for celebrating National Hot Tea Month. Whoever created this holiday in the States should be applauded. This is the ideal time to slow down, especially after the hype of the holidays to savor a perfumed brew and leisure recharge.

The United States remains the third largest tea importer in the world, according to International Tea Committee statistics. Russia and Pakistan are first and second. It is appropriate that the U.S. celebrates this beverage that has grown in popularity from millennials to baby boomers. Thank you, Downton Abbey! While many enjoy regular tea consumption to support wellness combined with a balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle, some regard the ritual as a special treat.

We had the pleasure of not one but two visits to different New Jersey tearooms this month to pause and escape from the daily grind. Our first stop was Harmony Tea Room in Westwood. Always quite charming with their wave of china plates adorning the walls, inviting hearth, and a sizeable selection of brew, family time spent here is a special treat. Everything was perfect the day we visited, in particular, the generous portion of their newly added broccoli and cheddar quiche. The flakey crust and fluffy texture were a surprising bonus to the seasonal salad selection and classic finger sandwich assembly we were accustomed to. 

Tea is not just a languid libation, mind you. Studies show that due to the presence of the compounds L-theanine and caffeine, tea consumption produces cognitive benefits, such as mental clarity and attention control, counteracts tiredness, and benefits work performance. Research also suggests drinking tea supports cardiovascular health and can reduce blood pressure in hypertensive individuals. Tea flavonoids may help increase metabolism. Carrying a couple of antioxidant green tea bags with me, I can enjoy a boost at any time, just add hot water.

In business for thirty years, eighteen of them in Chester, Sally Lunns Tea Shoppe serves up the best homemade mouth-watering buttermilk scones and scrumptious cottage pies, pastries, and desserts that you could find anywhere in the State. This was our first visit to the restaurant filled with antiques and curiosities and home to over fifty flavors of loose tea and foods imported from England. Brenna and I both ordered the Nutcracker tea that infused our tastebuds with the delicate flavor of marzipan with a dash of added sugar. The chicken pot pie we shared was creamy and light at the same time, the product of pairing a perfect pâte brisée crust and hearty homemade béchamel sauce. We left satisfied and set to drive an hour back home.

A warm, steaming cup of tea is welcome at any time of day, especially in these cold winter months. Whether as an alternative to coffee with the rich tradition of Irish Breakfast tea or as a quiet cap to the end of the day, settling your nerves with Chamomile and Lavender, tea is an amazing elixir. You can drink it like many Americans with lemon and sugar, or perhaps a bit of honey, or you can mix in cream for a full European experience. However you do it, Hot Tea Month is a great time to reembrace this delicious beverage that can warm your heart, body, and soul.

Inspired by the small but mountainous kingdom in the Eastern Himalayas, the pièce de résistance capsule collection combines vertiginous platform heels in thirteen distinct styles handcrafted by Bhutanese artisans called LouBhoutan capturing the country’s rich cultural legacy. LouBhoutan is a range of shoe designs created with artisan students of Bhutan’s art academy, who learn the kingdom's traditional handcrafts prized by the nation. Among these are wood carving and botanical painting, both influenced by Bhutan’s native plants and colorful landscape.

Each shoe was hand-sculpted in wood and hand-painted, the fruits of a six-year partnership with the students of the School of the Royal Arts and Crafts in Thimphu, Bhutan. “The craftsmanship in Bhutan is exceptional and very particular,” said Louboutin. “The artisans have an extreme sense of color, and their architecture and artistry are very joyful. Bhutanese are astonishing people, they are very into secular traditions but with an intelligent and modern gaze of the world that surrounds them.”

The shoes are hand-wrought using traditional painting, wood-carving, metal-work, and relief embroidery techniques. The collection represents the highest expression of Louboutin's atelier expertise. Pairs are being sold exclusively in select stores globally as iconic collector's pieces from the brand.

The emotional LouBhoutan capsule is very precious to him. Christian’s boundless creative universe extends to explore traditional Bhutanese royal craftsmanship in these magnificently hand-sculpted and hand-painted pieces. " My preferred shoes are the ones that mix different techniques," he notes. The exquisitely detailed wooden heels and platforms are combined with colorful iconic Louboutin mixed materials on the uppers. The result is an extraordinary union of creative universes.

LouBhoutan is clearly a step up in style... xoxo-Sonya