How to make a tea cosy

Brighten up the breakfast table with a handcrafted tea cosy. Top textile designer Lisa Stickley shows you how to make a tea cosy:

Tea, cake and .... the radio in the background are all particular favourites of mine. This is a nice easy project to ensure that your tea will be steamy hot even after the cake is gone!

Artists honour Tunnock's treats in new exhibition

The Tunnock's teacake is a biscuit tin favourite and the ideal accompaniment for a fresh brew - but rather than eating it people are being encouraged to view it as art! A special exhibition celebrating "one of Scotland's genuine icons" is being held in Glasgow. Artists have been invited to honour the Tunnock's teacake, along with the caramel wafer and log and the humble snowball, in a show called Tunnocked.

Swop clothes for chocs

During Fairtrade Fortnight, at participating Oxfam shops, you can swap a bag of quality donations for a delicious box of Cafédirect tea: http://tinyurl.com/yz9npwp

Host a Cafédirect Tea Party this Fairtrade Fortnight

This Fairtrade Fortnight (22 Feb - 7 March), Cafédirect are asking tea drinkers to 'turn over a new leaf' and make The Big Swap to Cafédirect and our fantastic range of teas. Tea Parties are a great way to get people together, have some fun and try some truly exceptional tea. That's why they've created some fabulous kits packed full of everything you need to host your own Cafédirect tea party! Each kit is full of ideas to liven up your party, posters to promote the party, recipes to try as well as three packs of tea (English Breakfast, Earl Grey & Everyday Tea) - definitely enough tea to go around! Party guests will also receive money off coupon to use when they next go shopping! Join the Tea Party on Facebook, follow Cafédirect on Twitter and read the blog so you don't miss out on these fantastic kits!

International Tea Day

Today is International Tea Day - please ask the top 5 British tea brands to go Fairtrade and make every cuppa a fair cuppa.

The Make It Fair website has now launched - check out http://www.makeitfair.org.uk/ to find out about our new tea campaign!

Whatever happened to the teapots?

In the 1980s, Roger Law and Peter Fluck of Spitting Image went to Stoke-on-Trent to get some Margaret Thatcher teapots made. Now Mr Law, in the Radio 4 show Whatever Happened To The Teapots?, has returned to meet the potters to find out what has happened to their industry.

Whatever Happened To The Teapots? is broadcast from Monday 9 to Friday 13 November on BBC Radio 4 at 1545 GMT. You can also listen to the programmes for seven days after transmission on the BBC iPlayer.

Twinings competition

Twinings are inviting tea-lovers to describe their favourite Everyday moment on the Twinings Discoveries blog; they will send you "a little something" if they like your suggestion best.

Also, the famous Twinings shop on London's Strand has just been renovated, with a new tea-tasting bar. For example, you can try out the autumnal infusions – like Blueberry & Apple or Camomile & Spiced Apple.

The Teasmade is back on the boil

The Telegraph reports a revival for the great British Teasmade. Swan have revived the Teasmade by popular demand. The author writes of 'the charming paradox at the heart of the Teasmade [it is] a "labour-saving" device that really just transfers the labour from morning to evening'.

"In its curvaceous new form, with an LCD face like a blue moon and a swanky reading light, the Teasmade is not a bit like its squat old self with the funny little silver pipe sticking out of the top. It looks as if it might play music or make bread. It is unrecognisably lovely. The ceramic teapot wouldn't look out of place in Fortnum's."

How many cups of tea do you drink a day?

The Tea Appreciation Society recently asked its Facebook Fans: "On average, how many cups of tea do you drink a day?". The results revealed that most people drink 2-3 cups a day, with an overall average of 3.658657 cups.

Win a tea party!

Dorset Cereals are offering the opportunity to win one of 15 gorgeous wicker hampers filled to the brim with a fantastic selection of Clipper teas, coffees and chocolate drinks. Play the spin the bottle game and you could instantly win one.

Tea pickers lose jobs to machines

Cafédirect has tweeted that tea pickers in Kenya are losing jobs to machines. More than 800 tea pickers have been sent home after a multinational company in Kenya introduced tea picking machines. The workers of the Eastern Produce Tea Company in Nandi were ordered to vacate company houses immediately and those defying the directive were warned that they would be arrested and charged with trespass. The company’s decision protests from the Kenya Plantation and Agriculture Workers Union (KPAWU).

A top manager at the tea company told a government official that the firm had cut spending by half since it started using machines in some tea estates. He praised the machines, saying they could be manned by a few people and dismissed union leaders’ concerns that the quality of tea could be compromised.

Tea and Biscuits on R4

In Tea and Biscuits, broadcast daily from 3.45-4.00pm on Radio 4, you can listen to Hardeep Singh Kohli as he joins people as they meet and indulge in that very British ritual: a cup of tea and a biscuit.

Tutored tea tasting

Were you intrigued by news of the British-grown Tregothnan tea? The Tea Plantation offers a tea masterclass consisting of a one-day tutored tea tasting with leading tea tasters and world renowned presenters Tim Clifton and Jane Pettigrew.

The ultimate present for a tea-lover? Only if you have £179 to spare!

C.S.Lewis on tea and books

"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough for me" - C.S.Lewis

[ad for the British Library cafe - "visit our cafe to refresh both mind and body"]

Happy International Cup of Tea Day

Rather belatedly I have discovered that the last Sunday in July is now designated International Cup of Tea Day. Perhaps next year Infusion should celebrate with a tea party!

Cost of a cuppa is rising

Further news about the rising cost of tea. The blog broke the news back in May: tea news

Grow your own tea?

Last year Jacky reported on home-grown British tea, and yesterday Radio 4's On your farm visited the Tregothnan Estate in Cornwall which now sells a range of fourteen teas: four black teas (including Earl Grey) and ten herbal infusions.

Tregothnan teas are now served and sold at a select number of establishments throughout the UK including Claridges and Fortnum & Mason’s in London. They are also available online and you can even buy a tea bush (Camellia Sinensis) to grow your own tea at home!

Hold a Blooming Great Tea Party

The UK Tea Council is encouraging us all to hold a Blooming Great Tea Party between June 12 and July 12 in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care. Every tea party, however big or small, will help Marie Curie Cancer Care nurse someone with terminal cancer, giving them the choice to be cared for at home.
You can sign up now and receive a fundraising pack bursting with ideas to help you create your perfect party by visiting www.mariecurie.org.uk/teaparty.

Round-up of tea news

Tea may be going up in price, but some tea producers are seeking to add more value by interacting with customers in different ways:

• Cafédirect have given their packaging for tea (and coffee and cocoa) a spring makeover.
• You can keep up with the latest news from Cafédirect on Twitter.
• Twinings have recently starting communicating with their customers by teamail. These aim to keep you up to date with the latest news from Twinings, make sure you’re the first to know about new teas, and receive details of special treats.
• The latest TV ad for Twinings shows how to turn tea into art. It showcases the skills of Ilana Yahav, a live animation artist who creates the beautiful art images out of tea leaves.
• The UK Tea Council has launched a monthly series which will focus on the top places to take tea around the British Isles. In May, this looks at Devon & Cornwall.

Tea to increase in price

Bad news - the cost of a cup of tea is set to rise next month after droughts and the falling pound have increased the price of tea. A combination of factors have driven up auction prices for tea over the past year: the United Kingdom Tea Council reports that droughts in India, Kenya and Sri Lanka have caused crop failures, with production in East Africa falling by 10%. The collapse in sterling has also made tea much more expensive for British importers who buy tea in dollars.