Tea Swap is an international group of women who talk about teas, maintain a tea-related blog, and periodically trade their favorite brewable blends in a mailed swap. I hardly remember what sequence of links initially took me to the Tea Swap Web site, but now I can't imagine not being a part of this fabulous international group of ladies who share my love of snail mail, surprises, and of course, tea.

I recently participated in my first swap. [Far-away swapettes, beware, possible spolier ahead!] I sent Zhena's Gypsy Teas' Lemon Jasmine--a sprightly green tea flavored with lemon myrtle and jasmine flowers, which I thought was a fitting combination for our summer-themed swap. I wrapped the nineteen packs of two teabags each with contrasting patterns of origami paper, and I included a little note with the following quote from Henry James: "Summer afternoon, summer afternoon--to me, those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language."

Here is a picture of the little packages I sent. You'd think I helpfully positioned my cat Henry there for scale, but no--he actually sauntered into the frame and sat down next to the tea packs just as I was getting ready to take the shot. He appeared to think he had something to do with their creation, and frankly seemed a little peeved that I wasn't planning on including him in the photo.