Medina business leading tea program at Middleport library on March 12

Photos by Ginny Kropf: Angelina DiMascio, left, librarian at the Royalton-Hartland Community Library in Middleport, and Georgia Thomas of Medina discuss plans for an upcoming tea March 12 at the library, presented by English Rose Tea Shoppe, where Thomas volunteers. Here Thomas shows two types of tea cups used centuries ago. The cup on the left has a ledge with an opening in it for men with a mustache. At right is a Nippon porcelain tea cup made in Japan in the 1800s.

MIDDLEPORT – When the Royalton-Hartland Community Library had a request from a Friend of the Library to do a tea, the English Rose Tea Shoppe immediately came to mind.

Library director Angelina DiMascio contacted the tea shop’s owner Cindy Robinson, who turned the request over to tea connoisseur Georgia Thomas.

Georgia Thomas will demonstrate how to make tea at a program March 12 at Royalton-Hartland Community Library in Middleport. After polishing it, she will serve from this tea service which was once a gift to the late Robert H. Newell and is on display at the Medina Historical Society. Newell was founder of the Newell Shirt Factory in Medina.

Thomas not only volunteers to work at the tea shop, but has been drinking tea since she was a child.

Thomas will preside at a program about tea at 6 p.m. March 12 at the library, located at 9 Vernon St. Attendees are invited to dress in their fanciest tea party apparel.

“To me, tea is a family thing,” Thomas said. “My grandmother was Canadian, so she was very British and drank a lot of tea. Mom always made tea and she made tea sandwiches for Dr. Leone’s wife here in Medina. And being an Army wife, I spent a lot of afternoons drinking tea.”

Thomas’ presentation will include how tea became famous, all the instruments used to make and serve tea and foods that go along with tea. She will share how the Dutch and British Tea companies fought over doing business with the East Indies Trading Company.

“We actually had tea here in New Amsterdam, now New York, before the British ever knew what tea was,” Thomas said.

An interesting fact is that originally tea cups didn’t have handles. Tea, sugar and cream would be mixed in the cup and then it was poured into the saucer, which it was drunk from as the cup would be too hot to handle.

The first cup with a handle was designed by a potter in Britain by the name of Wedgewood, Thomas said.

Special cups with a ledge across it and a hole to drink from were used by men with a mustache.

At the March 12 presentation, Thomas will make and serve tea from a silver plated tea service which was owned by Robert H. Newell of Medina’s Newell Shirt Factory. The set had been given to him by a fire company and donated to the Medina Historical Society after Newell’s death. Thomas will have to spend a considerable amount of time polishing the tarnished set.

DiMascio said the program on tea was very timely with television programs such as “Downton Abbey” and “Bridgerton” being so popular right now.

“It is wonderful to learn about the history of tea and bring people in the community together,” DiMascio said.

The library has a full schedule of programs for the entire family all year, according to DiMascio.

One is story time for children up to age 5. Homeschool Hour is popular with home-schooled students and takes place in March at 2 p.m. on the 17th. March 17 events will also feature leprechaun traps at 2 p.m. and a Tween/Teen Tuesday program for youth 10 and older.

Coming up will be a community craft supply swap, in which the public can donate any gently used craft supplies they don’t want or need. On March 28, people can come in and take what they want.

On March 31 the library will offer adult craft night, where they will make spring decoupage plates.

To register for programs, especially the tea presentation on March 12, call the library at (716) 735-3281 or e-mail mdtrpt@nioga.org.