Dr. Bombay’s Underwater Tea Party
# The owner of Dr. Bombay’s Underwater Tea Party, Katrell Christie, is a lot of things to many people. She is also a retired Atlanta Rollergirl, a humanitarian and a photographer. Her project, the Learning Tea, helps to fund education in a poorly funded government school in India.

When most people visit Dr. Bombay’s Underwater Tea Party they buy ice cream, sandwiches, tea or look through the many books displayed in the tea room. The tiny shop has a charming décor furnished like a 1940s tea room and music that mirrors that era. The shop offer 65 types of tea, breakfast, and lunch/dinner, plus assorted fruit smoothies. Free Wi-Fi is also available. Dr. Bombay’s Underwater Tea Party is also open to private events such as baby showers, bridal parties, or birthday parties.

Dr. Bombay’s Underwater Tea Party
1645 Mclendon Ave NE
Atlanta, GA 30307
404-474-1402
drbombays.com

CLICK HERE to read the full article

We are dying—DYING—to go to Dr. Bombay’s Underwater Tea Party and eat a cupcake with peaceonearth. —Sparkitors

Hey Sparklers!! Peaceonearth34 here, reporting from the city of Atlanta, Georgia. This is THE city for music lovers of any sort, but it also has a wide variety of nonmusical activities and things to do. So if you happen to stumble upon Atlanta, here are some of the best places to go.

Best park: Depends on your personality. If you like it a bit quieter, Piedmont Park is perfect for you. If you like to be right in the middle of the city, go to Centennial Olympic Park. Both are beautiful and provide places to exercise and have fun.

Best music: The Atlanta Jazz Festival, which takes place every summer. This festival has the best jazz musicians the city has to offer, including up and coming superstars. But you’d better bring a fan or umbrella, because it gets boiling hot!!

Best museum: The Georgia Aquarium. Does that count as a museum? I hope so, because this place is absolutely amazing. Besides that fact that it’s got the biggest aquarium in the WORLD, it has one of the most diverse series of fish I have ever seen. The best part is the Ocean Voyager Gallery, where you go through the massive tank in an underwater moving tunnel, and finally get to a huge viewing window that is about 30 feet deep!! Plus, they have whale sharks. The Aquarium does a lot for conservation too, so be sure to check out their 4 R program.

Best shopping: Underground Atlanta. My mom claims this place is somewhat “edgy.” But you won’t see a Hot Topic or Aeropostle here. The stores are completely unique, and you can find stuff here you couldn’t find anywhere else. It’s built on the old streets of Atlanta, so the cobblestones that you are walking on were around during the Civil War!

Best food: Dr. Bombay’s Underwater Tea Party. Basically, it’s a tea house for nerds. It’s rather small, but it’s still awesome. They sell used books for 50 cents. They have yummy egg salad sandwiches. They have free WiFi. They have cupcakes. And my personal favorite is a small sign that they have inside: “All unattended children will receive a free espresso and a puppy.”

Best outdoor activity: Atlanta Botanical Gardens. Okay, first of all, this place is beautiful!!!!! They have everything from orchids to daffodils. Beyond that, they often have outdoor art exhibits. And even beyond that, the gardens are going through this whole renovation, where they are greening up their operations and adding new garden areas (including an edible garden!).

Have you ever been to Atlanta?

CLICK HERE to read the full article

March 1, 2010

By Jenn Ballentine

Katrell Christie, owner of Dr. Bombay’s Underwater Tea Party in Candler Park, sells her tea not for a profit, but for a cause. Christie sells over 65 different kinds of green and black tea, with all the proceeds going directly to educating orphaned girls and underprivileged children in Darjeeling, India.

Founded after one of Christie’s tea-finding trips to India in July 2009, the Learning Tea Project currently funds one year of a university education for three orphan girls at a cost of $500 per year per girl. These girls, many of whom would otherwise be forced to turn to a life of prostitution, are receiving valuable knowledge and tools to enable them to rise beyond their situation. Of the 56 girls in the orphanage, these three are the first to have the opportunity to achieve higher education.

The Learning Tea Project also supports a small elementary school in Darjeeling. After seeing the appalling conditions under which these children were being educated, Christie decided to dedicate some of her profits to this school. For just $30, Christie was able to purchase shoes for all the children, who previously had none. In 2010, Christie has pledged to purchase new uniforms for the children, help install a working toilet in the school and, most importantly, support the teacher’s salary.

Each box of tea Christie sells at Dr. Bombay’s is labeled with a saying such as “I am new shoes in Darjeeling.” This, said Christie, is so people know what they are supporting. In addition to purchasing shoes and other items for the children, Christie purchases her tea, which she handpicked and selected after careful research, from Darjeeling and helps support many of the children’s parents, who work as porters or tea pickers. In this way, Christie said, “it comes full circle.”

Inspired by Greg Mortenson’s book Three Cups of Tea, Christie’s goal is to build a school in India. In the meantime, Christie plans to travel back to India next summer with three volunteers. Through this small project, Christie hopes to make a difference in these children’s lives. “Anybody can do something to help someone’s future. It doesn’t take a million dollars,” she said.

Dr. Bombay’s supports other social causes as well. Stocked with over 5,000 books, Dr. Bombay’s sells these used books donated by neighborhood residents and others for 50 cents each. All proceeds from book sales go directly to Noah’s Ark, an animal rehabilitation center in Locust Grove, Ga.

Christie feels strongly about giving back to her community and offering others an opportunity to do so. “This is a neighborhood place. I love that people in this community care about projects like these.”

While Christie did not start Dr. Bombay’s with the intention of supporting social causes such as girls’ education and animal welfare, she felt she could do good through it. “I just needed an outlet and a space to work from,” she said.

Former employee Mandy Sewell loved working with Christie and still continues to support her. “When she went to the orphanage and got to know the kids, it really struck a chord with her. She came up with a really cool way to help them through the tea. It’s a great cause – the money goes so much farther there,” said Sewell.

In addition to selling tea, Dr. Bombay’s sells an assortment of baked goods made daily from scratch including vegan, organic and gluten-free options. High tea is available every day from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Tea for two is $25 and includes a pot of tea, assorted cookies or mini cupcakes, scones, and finger sandwiches. Dr. Bombay’s also offers a Mommy and Me Tea on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to noon. For more information about Dr. Bombay’s, visit www.drbombays.com or the shop at 1645 McLendon Ave.

CLICK HERE to read the full article

By Cliff Bostock

I’m sure you’ve had those moments when, holding something of value that doesn’t belong to you, the thought flashes through your mind, “I could easily steal this.”

Such was the case at Dr. Bombay’s Underwater Tea Party (1645 McLendon Ave., 404-474-1402) one recent afternoon. The shop, which looks like the perfect setting for the Mad Hatter’s tea party, is so crammed with books and bric-a-brac that, entering the small restroom, I bumped into the wall and caused three or four books to fall from a shelf. I caught one in my hands on its way to the toilet.

It was an eerie synchronicity – a book whose subject was the very topic of something I’m writing about elsewhere. I carried the book out of the restroom to my table, wrestling with my conscience. But I looked around at the tables full of the young and the earnest, digging into cupcakes and sipping Darjeelings and oolongs, while pounding out class assignments on their MacBooks. I reminded myself that the owner, Katrell Christie, heads a project called the Learning Tea to help finance charitable projects for poor children living in Darjeeling. I put the book down. Later, I learned I could have bought it for next to nothing.

This little shop a few doors from the original Flying Biscuit is a real delight. It’s a couple of years old, but I’d never visited before. I should probably warn you not to even bother to go on a Sunday, especially during the shop’s daily high tea (3:30-5:30 p.m.) when two people can sample a lot of the baked goods, plus finger sandwiches, for $25. I did finally get a seat by visiting for lunch early in the week.

I was informed during that visit that the lunch menu, posted on a board, was no longer available. The only routinely available sandwiches now are egg salad and a three-cheese panino. I ordered the latter, with a cup of almost decadently rich pumpkin bisque – thick, creamy and mercifully free of the sweet spices that people usually overuse to mask the real taste of the pumpkin. The sandwich, though, was just a few notches above grilled cheese.

“I know I’m overeating,” I said to the woman behind the cash register, “but I’d also like a orange-lavender cupcake and a toasted almond scone.” In fact, I only got through the cupcake and saved the scone for later. I was not terribly enthusiastic about the cupcake. The taste of lavender was way too subtle for me, the cupcake itself was on the dry side and the icing – topped with one of those chewy candy orange slices – was tooth-achingly sweet and well on the way to crisp. The scone was much better.

I chose a green Darjeeling tea for my lunch. I don’t know if it’s a placebo effect or something in the tea, but I find most tea calming. In fact, I drink hot tea every night before bed. My grandfather was a violinist and a Brit, and I do vaguely remember him having tea most afternoons. But calling afternoon tea “high tea” is a specifically American practice. In the U.K., high tea is served in the early evening and substitutes for dinner, or used to, anyway.

Still, afternoon tea, high tea, and the more formal Japanese tea ceremony, all value essentially the same two things – the social and the aesthetic. In some traditions, like Zen, the tea is also a means of practicing mindfulness: full presence in the moment.

All the pastries and breads at Dr. Bombay’s are baked on the premises. Don’t let my whining about the cupcake keep you away. The vibe is magical. You get home baking, a full heart, good books, pleasant staff and exotic teas. And if that doesn’t interest you, you can have coffee.

CLICK HERE to read the full article

It’s All in a Name.

Know how something can be incredibly obvious and yet you miss it? That’s what happened when Katrell Christie started sharing about Dr. Bombay’s shop in Candler Park. Most folks walk into the place, order, ice cream or tea and a sandwich, peruse the books that line the walls or settle in with a laptop for a little social emailing. Rarely do they grasp all that goes on in this place. There are hints. It’s full name is “Dr. Bombays Underwater Tea Party” after all.


The tiny shop’s decor is both plucky and charming.  It’s furnished like a vintage 1940’s tea house, with music mirroring the times. They offer organic coffees, more than 65 teas, 9 ice cream flavors, plus home-made (as in nothing pre-made) cupcakes, pies, sandwiches, soups, paninis, and baked goods ordered to specification.  They even accommodate wheat-free, gluten free, vegan, and flourless requests.

But there’s more.

Firstly, this neighborhood treasure offers High Tea daily from 3:30-4:30PM served on china including:  2 Sandwiches, 2 Scones, mini-cupcakes, the day’s desert special, a pot of very special Darjeeling Tea (more on that in a bit), honey, cubed sugar, lemon. Until Valentine’s Day, High Tea will blush with color, splashed with raspberries, cherries, and bright red heart-shaped cookies.

In addition to delicious food, inviting decor and unique offerings, Katrell has a history of making good causes accessible to everyone.  Each of the thousands of books in store are donated by customers and sold for $.50 each. All proceeds go to Noah’s Ark, a local nonprofit for animal rehabilitation and children’s care homes.

Her latest cause “The Learning Tea” is making small miracles happen for an orphanage in India. Katrell journeyed to the country this summer and was so moved by all that she experienced, she has started an incredibly touching not-for-profit. The company imports, packages and sells carefully-selected, pesticide-free darjeeling teas from Indian estates. 100% of the proceeds go towards funding college education for three girls from lowest caste system in India living in the orphanage.  Additional monies raised are used to purchase shoes, backpacks, and other school supplies.  Katrell intends this to grow and provide more similar opportunities for many years to come.

Tea for Three (Scholarships), Anyone? Go, Katrell, Go!

CLICK HERE to see the full article

A few cups of tea each day may be good for your health,as Dr. Sanjay Gupta tells us in today’s Health Minute.

CNN

CLICK HERE to see the video on CNN

You’ve always had a penchant for all things English. The footie. The blokes. The footie-playing blokes.

So of course you’ll fancy Dr. Bombay’s new proper British high tea, owner Katrell Christie’s posh answer to the Euro midday break.

Pop by for impromptu daily service, 3:30-5:30 p.m., complete with your choice of 48 brews and traditional accompaniments. Christie’s new pastry chef brigade heaps three-tiered vintage service trays with tangy berry tarts, dainty finger sandwiches, and scones topped with clotted Devonshire cream.

And it’s not just for grown-ups: Mommy-and-me versions feature kid-friendly teas (sans caffeine) and treats like cookies and peanut butter and banana sandwiches.

Pinkies out. You’re in for a treat.

Available at Dr. Bombay’s Underwater Tea Party, 1645 McLendon Avenue, Candler Park (404-474-1402 or drbombays.com).

DailyCandy.com

Dr. Bombay’s Underwater Tea Party

(1645 McLendon Ave., Atlanta, 30307): Garage sale-style furniture, shelves full of donated books (on sale for 50 cents each, to benefit Noah’s Ark), and local radio DJ English Nick behind the counter — what more can you ask for from a quiet, comfy neighborhood spot? How about a tasty egg sandwich, delish coffee and a rotating roster of cupcakes? There’s also a full array of sorbets and ice creams on offer, a couple of tables outside for sunny days, and free Internet.

Christine Van Dusen

Examiner.com

CLICK HERE to see the original article

Well, isn’t this somethin’. I just do that story about the farmers in South Central Los Angeles trying to save the largest community garden in the county when lo, and behold, I fall upon Granmaw Gordon.

I’m in a section of Atlanta called Lake Claire, delivering donated books to a little tea shop called Dr. Bombay’s Underwater Tea Party (the books are sold for 50 cents each and every penny goes to Noah’s Ark, a rehabilitation center that includes exotic animals, including a zebra that fell off a truck on one of Atlanta’s highways, plus a home for abandoned and abused children–the animals and the children work together to heal–nice story) when I pass this sign in front of a shop.

So I trot in and get to talking with Teri Stewart, the shop owner and one of the major organizers of the years-long effort to save the last publicly-accessible greenspace in the five miles between Decatur and downtown Atlanta, where an over-100-year-old pecan tree named Granmaw Gordon stands.

Turns out the group has been to court several times and is now on its way to Superior Court with its argument. Granmaw Gordon, apparently, is a specimen tree that is resistent to pecan scab and could provide critical research information to help the pecan industry (Georgia is the largest grower of pecans in the world). Plus, this half-acre has been a greenspace for more than 30 years and is critically important at a time of increased high-density building all around it. The organizers want to preserve the space as a green waystation (it is halfway between two rail transit stations) with a pavilion, bike racks and more to encourage alternative commute options and reduce auto traffic on the busy boulevard where it sits. Also Granmaw Gordon apparently was an original tree on the estate of Major General John B. Gordon and his wife Fanny. A statue of John. B. Gordon sits outside the State Capitol five miles away, and Fanny was apparently known as a a courageous, outspoken woman who was called “a child of conviction, a woman of strength.”

So after a long conversation with Teri and a walk with the owner of Dr. Bombay’s Underwater Tea Party to a land trust the community has, I go over to see this Granmaw Gordon for myself. And there she is, in the middle of a grassy field, with a stand of hardwoods behind her, a red X painted on all of them and the words “Don’t Kill Me” painted in red over the X on Granmaw Gordon. She’s leaf-less and wintry, but grand, her bare arms stretching to form a wide canopy. (A painting of her in all her summer glory is just down the road a little bit as the central part of an enormous city-block-long mural painted by the community.)

And I think of that near-the-end scene from Scott Hamilton Kennedy’s documentary, The Garden, and I cringe to think of that happening here. I watch the striations of the soon-to-be-setting sun stretch across this half acre, and I feel suddenly involved. I look at Granmaw Gordon, a woman of strength, and I wonder if I am one, too.

Nurturing sustainability close to home and around the world. (And other food for thought!)

By Pattie B.
Be Well @ Stanford

CLICK HERE to see the original article

Start with lettuce. And grow from there.
A greenhouse program for at-risk-youths and seniors to grow and provide lettuce transplants to community schools and home gardens.

This program doesn’t exist yet. It is still just an idea. You see, it all started with Dr. Bombay’s Underwater Tea Party. This little coffee/pastry place in Atlanta sells donated books for 50 cents and then gives all that money to Noah’s Ark, a rehabilitation center for exotic animals AND children where the animals and children help each other. My interview with Katrell Christie, the owner of Dr. Bombay’s, reminded me of Riley, my friend Caryn’s dog, who is a therapy dog at Charter Peachford, a hospital that treats children with emotional, behavioral and dependency issues right here in my soon-to-be-city. In fact, Charter Peachford is right around the block from Brook Run, where there sits vacant greenhouses (and that assisted living facility is just across the street, too).

And that reminded me of a wonderful little book I read a few years ago titled Grace from the Garden, about how gardens transform lives. And then, as the swirling energy of the world would have it, I visited Farmer D’s new retail location the other morning (it opens in mid-December) and met a farmer who focuses exclusively on vegetable plugs, which she then provides to farmers. This led to a huge conversation about the value and possibilities of vegetable plugs, if you can believe it.

And, wouldn’t you know it, that very day, I got an email from London, where a program called Capital Growth was recently launched with the intention of inspiring 2,012 new gardening spaces by the year 2012. The person who wrote to me, in response to my question of how to encourage a community to garden, said simply, “Start with lettuce.”

And then there’s the grant, for just enough money to get this going, the application period for which is open right now. And then there’s the wonderful advice of Alice at Georgia Organics. And then there’s the fact that I ran a 501(c)3 non-profit for four years that grew like gangbusters nationwide but where I got in over my head because I didn’t ask for help, from which I’ve learned. And then there’s one more person, who believes that if he has the ability to make a difference, he has the responsibility, who, perhaps, I’m driving crazy but perhaps was meant to meet.

And so, there you have it. A bit of a roundabout journey that puts me exactly two miles from my home, with an idea, that an unused, unloved piece of land could perhaps have a use and foster love and make a difference. And that’s where it always starts, doesn’t it?

Posted by Pattie Baker
LettuceThrive.blogspot.com

CLICK HERE to see the original article