The History of Teaopolis
As Bridget Kelly would say: "Anyone can go to Teaopolis at any time. All you have to do is close your eyes, think of your favorite destination, favorite time of day, your favorite people and hey, presto, you're in Teaopolis! One essential though is to have a cup of tea to help the magic work".
When Bridget moved to America in the early years of the 20th century she called her tea business SHANGERS which was a reminder of her father's roots in Shannon , Ireland, Bridget's "tea mentor", the Indian tea merchant Shankar Devi and Shanghai , the birthplace of Wang Lee whom she met on the Titanic. The name Shangers brought together these three important threads.
Bridget's first daughter Elizabeth had trouble pronouncing the "sh" sound, so in Bridget's early storytelling about an imaginary tea world she coined the name of Teaopolis to help conjure up a land where producing tea, drinking tea and playing teatime games were the principal activities. This would have been around the early 1920s.
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In the 1960s, when Bridget created Princess Teana for her grandchildren, it seemed natural that Teaopolis should be the special fantasy land for all her tea time tales of Tea Bears Picnics, Princess Teana's Tea Parties and much more.
Soon, new generations of children and grown-ups will be able to sample the magic of Teaopolis with stories about the Teaopolis Bears, Teana's Tea Parties and visits to Teaopolis tea room locations as they open up in different parts of the world. Teaopolis giftware will enhance this celebration of tea.
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