I was lucky enough to join a group at eteaket on Tuesday evening for an introduction to Tasseomancy (otherwise known as tea leaf reading).

To get the most of out of the experience, I went in with an open mind. As our teacher Lauren explained, it is best to be non-judgemental in order to develop the intuition of expressing messages from the leaves.

Lauren began by telling us a little about her background and the development of her wonderful intuitive skills. I felt very nervous at first but the loving energy and down to earth nature of our teacher couldn’t have helped more to break the ice.

We learned a little about the history of tasseomancy and its development from Eastern philosophy. Lauren then explained the techniques for tea leaf reading using specific areas to map past, present and future and how to interpret symbols. I thought it would be very hard but unexpected images just popped into my mind. It’s a great way to get outside your comfort zone, meet new people and develop your own innate ability to be in touch with your intuition.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and can’t wait for the next class. I especially liked the explanation of the Chinese way of looking at tea leaf divination as all the four elements are present: FIRE – heat from the tea; EARTH – the leaves and vessel; AIR – steam and vapour; and WATER – the tea being drunk. Apparently a tiny piece of the soul escapes into the tea, which allows us to read the leaves. I’m convinced. (Mhaire Sinclair)

If you’d like details of the next tea leaf reading class, please just send an email to hello@eteaket.co.uk

Liven up your January and do something out of the ordinary.

Learn to read your tea leaves with Mystic Lauren on Tue 26 Jan 6.30-9.30pm at eteaket Tea Boutique, 41 Frederick St.

Lauren really is the real deal (she has visited eteaket before so we can vouch for her!) She will teach a small group how to read our own tea leaves. Of course, there will be lots of tea and scones.

It costs £14.99 per person. Please email hello@eteaket.co.uk or call 0131 226 2982 to book. Spaces are limited and are filling up fast.

Please come and help us celebrate our 1st Birthday today. Free mince pie for every customer while stocks last.

We would like to thank all our amazing customers, suppliers and staff who have helped support us through our first year.

We’ve been working on our Christmas window this week … a huge thanks goes to Stef for handmaking lots of paper mache tea cups and pots for us. Also, a big thanks to Mhaire for her stencil and decorating skills.

We’ve also got lots of Christmas gift boxes now in store (see very unprofessional photo) – Vintage Dreams (vintage tea & saucer, tea caddy, sugar sticks and vintage bird ornament) is a particularly popular one. We also have a range of gift sets online. If you don’t see what you’re looking for, just give us a ring on 0131 226 2982 and we can make a bespoke one just for you.

I finally got round to posting a picture of Thom and Angela from Halloween… everyone else sneakily avoided the camera. Thom’s the one with the face paint!

We had a great time in eteaket on Friday raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support as part of the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning. Thanks to all our customers who bought raffle tickets and to our amazing staff who donated their tips for the day.

We had our first ever book group meeting last night – thanks to everyone who came along. I’m glad to say we’ve got a real mix of people (including some men) and had fun discussing how we’re going to run the group and what books we’re going to read.

For October’s meeting we’ve given ourselves a choice of two of the books shortlisted for the Man Booker 2009 Prize – The Children’s Book by A S Byatt and The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. We’re going to experiment with various ways of chosing our reading list for the first few months to see what works for us. Of course, we had plenty of tea and cakes to keep us going. Must say a big thanks to Sara Sheridan for coming along to chat about her new book The Secret Mandarin, which has just been published. We’ll keep you posted on how we get on.

Finally, we’re taking part in the World’ Biggest Coffee Morning tomorrow (Friday) in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support. We’ll be selling raffle tickets all day for some great prizes, including an eteaket Afternoon Tea for Two voucher, some Missoni goods, a Versace laptop bag and an eteaket gift box. All our tips for the day will also be donated so please pop in (41 Frederick St) and support us. Thanks!

We are all still recovering from having Ronnie Corbett in eteaket last week. We’re very big fans and he was kind enough to oblige us with a photo! What a legend. Michelle (on the right) almost passed out with excitement. Thanks for making our day Ronnie – hope you’re enjoying the festival.

By a slight majority vote, we’ve decided to post some photos of our recent staff night out. We tried to be more ‘cultured’ this time so opted for bowling… turned out to be not very civilised but a lot of fun.

From back, left to right: Stewart, Angela, Michelle, Becca, Amy and Rachel

From left to right: Stef, Erica, Sophie, Thom and Alice.

Sohpie treated us all to her ‘alternative’(and rather dangerous) bowling style

Much to Thom’s surprise, he actually won (but only cause Michelle let him).

For winning, Thom gets to start his weekly favourite tea blog – starting soon so watch this space.