Tea Blog

The general consensus has always seemed to be that tea is a more contemplative type of drink than jittery coffee or than most other drinks, for that matter. Perhaps a lot of this is due to the theanine in tea, a compound that’s said to promote relaxation, or perhaps it’s the deliberate nature of the steps we take to prepare it, or it might even have to do with its long-standing connection to the East. For more on these latter connections you might want to take a look at The One Taste of Truth: Zen and the Art of Drinking Tea, by William Scott Wilson, an expert in Japanese studies.

For a brief but informative look at tea on the other side of the world from the East, give English Teatime: Historical Survey, by Linda Hewitt, a shot. As the publisher’s description notes, it’s “an entertaining summary of when tea came to England, the places in which it was first consumed, its growing popularity, and how the custom of afternoon tea developed and continues to be enjoyed today.” Also from the same author, a number of shorter Kindle editions, some of which are closer to long articles than books, on the Japanese tea ceremony, afternoon tea and more.

If you’re in the market for a series of short books on the history of specific foods, Reaktion Books, an imprint of the University of Chicago Press, has just the thing for you. Their Edible series of Global History books looks at such foods as soup, cheese, champagne, caviar and rum, just to name a few, and of course there’s one on tea. That’s Tea: A Global History, by Helen Saberi.

Is tea magical? I wouldn’t use that exact word for it myself but I guess it would work well enough. Author Alice Parsons examines the alleged magic of tea in a book that’s titled, appropriately enough, The Magic of Tea. It’s a look at “the history, rituals, folklore and flavours of the world of tea” and even includes recipes for such tea-based dishes as tea scones, welsh rarebit, tea-smoked trout and green tea ice cream.

See more of William I. Lengeman’s articles here.

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