================================== PAT PETERSON - TEA & OTHER COMFORTS (top of page)
================================== I first met Pat Peterson when my husband and I decided to take a five week course called "Explore Teas of The World". It was offered by the Des Moines Public Schools Community and Adult Education in the Fall of 2002. Pat Peterson was the instructor for the course. The course introduced us to tea and its health benefits, whilst exploring its history and uses in countries around the world. The course also included experiencing a Japanese Tea Ceremony, discussing tea etiquettes, accoutrements and planning an English tea. It only seemed appropriate to interview her for this newsletter because I thought she had a rather interesting story to share in how she began her "tea journey" as she termed it.  It began almost ten years ago. Since then, not only has her passion and knowledge for tea grown, but she has also developed a sense of appreciation for her own journey. Locked in a stressful work situation, Pat wanted to do something that was fun, affirming and nourishing to her soul. It began with an idea to do work that would make people smile. At that time, she simply had no idea what that was to be. But soon the notion of "tea" came to her. "I didn't know what it meant or how," says Pat, "But all I knew was what it meant to me, and still does, that tea is refreshing, relaxing, renewing," she continues. She then started researching, reading and talking to people who came from tea families about tea. Coincidentally at the same time while she was developing this interest, a new wave of interest in tea was also beginning to grow in this country. "And as we all know, we're not really a tea culture," says Pat. But for the past ten years, tea has now begun to grow into a $4 billion industry.
 At the same time, her daughter went to a college in Portland, Oregon where she majored in Chinese Literature. She eventually moved to study in Beijing, and at one point also lived and taught in Japan and briefly studied the Japanese tea ceremony. Her son had also traveled to Japan, and had lived and studied in Nepal, and traveled briefly in India. "They were in tea lands, and as I was growing and developing and learning about teas, they were sharing this with me and introducing things to me that I didn't know anything about. This has all been a wonderful and serendipitous, a kind of learning and growing for all of us," says Pat. They have been very supportive and appreciative of their mother's tea journey and whenever they travel they will bring her tea, seek out tea places and tea shops and relay it to her.
Pat has since traveled to China with her daughter as the tour guide, and also Japan, visiting some provinces where tea is grown. Someday, she said that she would like to do a special tea tour to China, in what she half jokingly calls it her "magical tea tour consisting of India, Sri Lanka, even Germany and France, to see how tea is grown, harvested and processed." She did eventually leave the stressful job, but worked part time elsewhere while continuing with her study of tea. This part-time work allowed her to further her work in tea. She began to teach tea for about 5 years, which she still does part-time, before she decided to offer her services to the Des Moines Public Schools for the Adult Education program. She has been with them ever since and this year, she is scheduled for the Fall classes. Her current experience in giving presentations, trainings and programs as an educator in her full time job has certainly helped her in her speaking engagements. Therefore, it is not a stretch for her to speak and educate others about tea, which she loves doing and she laughingly calls herself a "tea missionary". She says, "I learn a lot by doing this -- I learn about people, and I learn a lot about tea. I have to continue to study, and I have to continue to taste and try things". For now, she is contented with her current working arrangements, that is dealing with a full time job while doing tea programs and teaching part-time as well as working the Farmer's Market. She's not ready to leap, just yet, and do what she loves on a full time basis. Her current schedule does tend to help discipline her as she explains. With the classes that she teaches and the downtown Farmer's Market every Saturday until October, for her it is not only physically demanding and time consuming but it is enjoyable as well. The downtown Farmer's Market came about while she was teaching at the DSM Public Schools. She was purchasing tea from Upton Tea (http://www.uptontea.com/) for her use in these classes. At the same time, an acquaintance had mentioned that she was opening a booth at the Farmer's Market. So in the first year, she shared the booth with the partner and  sold tea. She eventually negotiated to have Upton Tea package the teas for her, and it is now sold under Tea & Other Comforts. Starting with just 10 types of tea, her inventory has now grown to 25 or more teas. She mainly carries oolongs, blacks and green teas, no herbal teas. Besides teas, she also sells other tea accessories, infusers (I found ours for our teapot here and it's invaluable!), mugs, teapots and tea related cards. In the second year, she decided to have her own booth. This is her fourth year at the market. But now she's even more excited because once the Farmer's Market is over for the year in October, she's now looking forward to the new in-door Metro Market that plans to open sometime in mid-September. For your information, this indoor Metro Market is going to be located in the old M & M Building at Martin Luther King & Woodland.  Along the way in her tea journey, Pat has also ended up collecting teapots. I must admit that she does have the most impressive collection of teapots that I've ever seen. "There's just something nice and comforting about tea pots and its various shapes," says Pat as she shows me one from her beautiful collection. Her collection indeed continues to grow, from I Ching pots to one of the latest from Korea, beautifully made of Celadon, which she unpacked to show to me. However, not all are meant to be kept in the collection because she does intend to sell these at the new in-door market.
 According to Pat, nowhere did she ever imagined when she said she "knew" tea 10 years ago, that she would have this kind of journey. It has made some major changes in her life. One thing for sure, and what she's very aware of is, "I don't know very much about a huge part of the world and I am really eager to find out! So much to learn and want to do with the knowledge because tea is all part of it -- in spite of what people may say, that tea is just a beverage after all". For example, relaying what she learned -- that in a certain province tea is actually grown under a peach tree so that the peach blossoms will infuse the tea leaves and leave a scent. Now that is an interesting piece of knowledge!
Being a member of the Specialty Tea Institute has also opened her a wider network of tea possibilities. She studied at the Tea School run by Pearl Dexter of Tea A Magazine. She also wants to learn more, especially more hands on blending experience, experience more tasting in a wider range under supervision of a tea master. For those of you who are interested in learning more about tea, Pat, in conjunction with the Carter House (http://www.carter-house.com/), will be presenting a day-and-a-half tea intensive course called "The World In A Teacup". This will be held on Sept 18 & 19, 2003, at the Carter House in Des Moines. Space is limited, so call ahead for further information and/or reservations. The cost per person is $125.00 and includes all course materials. Contact the Carter House at 515.288.7850 for reduced room rates during this course. She's excited about all this and it's possibilities because this program will serve to be a trial run for a statewide conference. Though it was now getting late in the evening that I had the interview with Pat, I asked her where she's headed in this tea journey of hers. Her enthusiasm is still obvious as she speaks about her future. "I would like to continue with the classes and presentations. I would like to do more teaching about tea, so that people will develop an appreciation of fine tea. If anything, this has become my mission statement. Having people smile when I say I do teas. My belief in tea is why I am doing this," she says quietly. She's calling the tea intensive course, "The World In A Teacup", because to her, it represents what she thinks about when she teaches her classes and programs, the world of tea is, for Pat, the world. That's what she finds exciting and enriching. "Learning about good tea is an adventure, as said by James N Pratt," says Pat. It certainly has it's health benefits, and not to mention the things you can actually do with used tea leaves. Besides speaking engagements, for which she has done wellness programs, religious groups, banking groups, no Red Hat Society groups as of yet, tea programs for the Department of Corrections, garden groups etc., Pat is also available for home based tea parties, and she can also provide gift tea baskets for any occasion. To contact Pat Peterson at Tea & Other Comforts, call 515.279.1215 or email to ppetersn@dwx.com. |
Best wishes,