I don't quite remember when I fell in love with tea but I do remember the most special moments of me drinking tea. I was eighteen years old and I went to live with my biological mother for four months. I had just met her months earlier and it was awkward for both of us. She and her ex-husband lived a very quiet life in Boulder, Colorado. He was a professor at one of the universities and she was a housewife. After years of drug addiction and being in and out of jail, she deserved the break. I was homeless so she and her husband agreed to let me come live with them. Each evening my mother and I would find a spot in the living room with a cup of tea and a book.

Now, years later, I'm a self proclaimed tea expert. I start each day with a wonderful English Breakfast tea to get me going. As the day progresses, who knows what wonderful tea I will crown queen. But for sure, I have at least three cups of tea a day. And yes, when I can, I have tea everyday at about 3:00 P. M. I love to invite my friends over for tea and cupcakes and so far everyone thinks it’s a delightful experience. I am always in search of the best blend of tea. Yes, I’m a tea snob, I prefer loose tea but I do like some bags also. I have learned not to judge a book by it’s cover. Some bags can be quite nice. And yes again, any Diva knows, what you drink your tea out of is very important.

Tea for me is a way of life. It's wellness for the mind body and spirit. Here, I will explore every expect of tea possible, with a high concentration on wellness. I will review the best teas, the best places to have tea, the best ways to brew tea, the best tea accessories, what tea goes best with what foods, and the list goes on and on. I plan to share my passion for tea with you. And I've been told, nothing I do is ever boring so be prepared to go on this tea journey with me.





RLT Collection Tea Ball Frosted Clear Beads!

Mint Medley by The Persimmon Tree Tea Company

About This Tea:

Until recently I had never drank Peppermint Tea made with loose leaves. And Honestly, I will probably never go back. The freshness of loose Peppermint Tea cannot be denied. When I open the can of Mint Medley, From The Persimmon Tree Tea Company, I feel as if I stepped into a garden of peppermint leaves. It is a perfect blend of organic peppermint and spearmint leaves grown in the US.

Mint Medley has become a favorite and I find myself reaching for this tea tin almost everyday. It is great for on-going nausea. The health benefits and endless. It relieves muscle aches, headaches, migraines, stress. And now that it feels like someone is sitting on my chest and I have a mean cough, I'm sure it will help to relieve some of this congestion in my chest. Mint Medley has been in my tea cup more than any tea as of late. It has really helped with my winter cough, congestion related to this bout of pneumonia. You can read my full review on The Persimmon Tree Tea Company Mint Teas.


RLT Collection AIDS Awareness Tea Ball!




Welcome to my world of books! As an pre-teen books changed my world. I fell in love with the writers of the Harlem Renaissance period and the more I read the more I wanted to read. The fiction of this period was powerful and empowering all at the same time. It spoke to my own degradation and gave me hope for a better tomorrow. It gave me purpose for my own life and the courage to fight the good fight and never surrender.

I love to read! Inside a book I escape into someone else's life. There is something wonderful about turning to the next page of a wonderful story. Something intoxicating about the smell of the book and the story it brings to life. Reading brings me joy, and these days with my health in the balance, I find solace in my books.

I spent hours in my bedroom sequestered with the door closed reading the classics from the Harlem Renaissance, Hughes, Larsen, Hurston, Wright and Baldwin. Books became my escape and my salvation. The fiction of this period was powerful and empowering all at the same time. It gave me purpose for my own life and the courage to fight the good fight and never surrender.

Reading is the one thing that the pain of my life could never take away from me. It was the thing that helped to make it better. And even today, living with AIDS, books continue to be the safest place for me. It’s the one thing that belongs to me that AIDS cannot take away from me.The RLTReads book club will be books that I choose. It’s me sharing a part of me with you that has nothing to do with AIDS. It’s actually in spite of AIDS.

The RLTReads book club will be books that I choose. It’s me sharing a part of me with you that has nothing to do with AIDS. It’s actually in spite of AIDS. I have read hundreds of books from many different genres and I will pick the best of my reads over the years. I warn you, it will not be exclusively white or black, male or female, fiction or non fiction, it will be all of them.

I’m so excited and I’m grateful to everyone who wants to be a part of this venture. We already have 110 Book Club Members. You can email me @ RLTReads@raelewisthornton.com. The Twitter hashtag is #RLTReads. We can make this book club as wonderful as we want to make it. Who says that Oprah has to have the only ownership to a wonderful book club?

This Month We are Reading In My Fathers House by E Lynn Harris


Read along and join our discussion July 19th at 7 pm CST







For more Tea with Rae "Vlogs" Click here to visit her youtube channel

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

The One Thing AIDS Can Never Take Away: My Books

Mama had a third grade reading level so reading was not a part of my household in my early childhood. I can’t even remember reading a book until 7th grade, that's when my world changed. Mama was a maid at the Evanston Inn and we moved from Chicago’s Englewood to Evanston’s North Shore community so she could be closer to her job.

Seventh Grade at Chute Middle School changed my life for the good and the bad. The good was this whole new world that opened up to me. I had a 5th grade reading level when I entered 7th grade. But my homeroom teacher, Mr. Murphy, got me all the help that I needed. I was pulled out of class to work one on one with a Language Arts specialist. And then in 8th grade, I landed Dr. Lorraine Morton as my homeroom teacher. And Mama Morton, as we called her, opened my world to literature, and that opened my mind and touched my heart. I learned Sojourner Truth’s speech Ain't I a Woman in that class and it gave me life, and sent me on a search for more.

By the time I reached freshman year at Evanston Township, one of the top public schools in the state of Illinois at the time, I was on my path beyond anything I could have imaged. Education, books, and reading took on an entirely new meaning for me. It became my way out of an abusive home that only got worse with time. The bad took center stage. Mama sent me to school everyday, but she didn't like the fact that I was learning new words that she didn't understand.

The tension mounted and only got worse after I told Mama that her husband was grabbing my breasts and pushing me in corners. Instead of being a mother to me, she tightened her grip on being a woman to him. I became not her daughter who was being violated, but her competition. The only way she could approach the situation to keep the man she wanted was making me the problem. In her eyes her husband wouldn't want me if I wasn't me. That fast ass bitch who now thinks she’s white; acting white with her new learning and flaunting her maturing body in front of her man. In her eyes, I was his temptation not his victim. It was sick and twisted, and the only place I could hide was in a book, school, and church.


I spent hours in my bedroom sequestered with the door closed reading the classics from the Harlem Renaissance, Hughes, Larsen, Hurston, Wright and Baldwin. Books became my escape and my salvation. Reading was a way to transcend my own painful world. Taking the focus off me, I began to focus on the plight of my people. It was a catalyst for the political work I would do years later.

I wanted to know more and the more I read, the more I wanted to read. The fiction of this period was powerful and empowering all at the same time. It spoke to my own degradation and gave me hope for a better tomorrow. It gave me purpose for my own life and the courage to fight the good fight and never surrender. Not to my Mama and not to my Mama’s husband. No matter how many times he grabbed my breasts I never let him see one tear. I held my head as high as I possibly could. I took Mama's beatings and kept it moving. I was determined to be better than my situation.

Reading is the one thing that the pain of my life could never take away from me. It was the thing that helped to make it better. In my darkest hour a book became my protection. And even today, living with AIDS, books continue to be the safest place for me. It’s the one thing that belongs to me that AIDS cannot take away from me. I read at least a book a month to three books a week.

I love to read! Inside a book I escape into someone else's life. There is something wonderful about turning to the next page of a wonderful story. Something intoxicating about the smell of the book and the story it brings to life. I don’t think I will ever be an electronic book person. I love the actual book itself. Reading brings me joy, and these days with my health in the balance, I find solace in my books. So here goes... I’m organizing a book club! I find that every time I tweet that I’m reading, one of my followers wants to know what I’m reading.


So I’ve decided to organize a Twitter Book Club. It’s not limited to people on Twitter, but it certainly evolved out of Twitter. It will be an online book club with a live feed through my blog and Twitter. If it goes well then maybe the Chicago readers will meet in person. This book club will be reading and tea with Rae. They are two of the things that bring me joy that AIDS can never take away as long as I have a breath in my body that I want to share with you.

The RLTReads book club will be books that I choose. It’s me sharing a part of me with you that has nothing to do with AIDS. It’s actually in spite of AIDS. I have read hundreds of books from many different genres and I will pick the best of my reads over the years. I warn you, it will not be exclusively white or black, male or female, fiction or non fiction, it will be all of them.

The first book I will announce on December 1st, World AIDS Day. I am choosing a book that I have never read but have been told it’s a great book. I've tried a few times, but I always put it down. We will read it together and we will get through it together and decide if it's as good as everybody wants me to believe. After that the books I choose will be the best of my reads over the years starting back in 7th grade. So far, 50 people have signed on board from Twitter. Let me know if you want to join. We will be reading a new book every 6-8 weeks depending on the size of the book.

I’m so excited and I’m grateful to everyone who wants to be a part of this new venture. You can email me @ RLTReads@raelewisthornton.com. The Twitter hashtag is #RLTReads. I can’t wait to get started! We can make this book club as wonderful as we want to make it. I hope that it will be yet another legacy I leave behind. Who says that Oprah has to have the only ownership to a wonderful book club?


Everyone who has already joined or who wants to join, please send me your email and the top five books that you have ever read in your life. I will at some point choose a book from your list.

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