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Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Too early for tea?

About every eight weeks or so I begin to approach my mailbox with a heightened sense of anticipation. I am expecting my new issue of Tea Time magazine. I have been reading this magazine for around three years now, and I absolutely love it. It's filled with wonderful recipes, great themed tea ideas, and creative gift ideas. The articles highlight various tea rooms and their owners, tea producers, and tea enthusiasts. They always include a schedule of tea events from across the nation, and usually have an etiquette Q&A which has been helpful in answering some tricky questions.
As I said, I love this magazine, but around the middle of last year, I began to notice something I found rather strange. It wasn't so much in the articles as it was in the advertising. As I paged through issue after issue, I saw ads for things like the the First Street Walk-In Tub, the Jitterbug cell phone, and The Happy Hatters Boutique. Now, in actuality, there is nothing strange at all about these ads, but they made me curious about the average Tea Time reader.
I figured the best place to start in an investigation is the beginning, so I visited the magazine's website and took a look at their media kit to get a better idea. The average Tea Time magazine reader is a 53 year old female, with an average annual household income of just under $100,000. Well, now the advertising made more sense to me, but I was then led to ponder another question.

Am I an anomaly?

I am still in my 20s, years away from being able to don a red hat (although I know I could go with pink or lavender), and don't come near the 100K mark. Obviously, I'm not your average reader. And, I know that most tea events are not generation specific, but I do pay attention to the clientele when I visit various tea establishments. Again, I usually tend to be on the younger end of the spectrum. I do have a few friends my age who enjoy going out to take tea with me, and at least one that I know also reads Tea Time, but is anyone else out there?

I'm sending out a call to find other tea enthusiasts that also fall on the younger end of the spectrum. Please leave me a comment, your story, or just drop me a line so I know I'm not the only one in my generation who enjoys this wonderful pastime.

3 comments:

  1. Hi Amanda, and thanks for visiting my blog! While I'm a tad younger than the average Tea Time reader (I'm 44), there is a young tea blogger friend you might want to visit: stephcupoftea.blogspot.com. She is great! Very knowledgeable, hip, friendly, has a wide array of interests ... you will love her! I have numerous tea friends here in Georgia who are in their twenties, so you are not alone, you're just leading the trend among your peers!

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  2. Thanks for the comment, Angela! I will definitely drop by stephcupoftea and say hi.

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  3. Hi Amanda :) I must be an anomaly, too, because I read Tea Time Magazine and am a about 20 years younger than the average reader (I'm 34). One of my good friends has bought me a birthday subscription of Tea Time for several years now and I, like you, look forward to each copy. For me, Tea Time is primarily an escape--everything is so beautiful and well-ordered in Tea Time's "world". (If only real life was like that! LOL) I love reading the recipes and I have taken their advice about how to garnish desserts; I got some great reviews at my last tea party ;) I'm sure you know that Tea Time is made by the same people who publish Victoria Magazine. Do you subscribe to Victoria, as well? I have one of their books on tea and it is always a pleasure to flip through the pages--especially right before bed. It is as comforting as a cuppa!

    Great to know there are other younger "Tea Timers" out there!

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