An American merchant who spent much of his life living in China, Gideon Nye wrote a number of books on various aspects of Chinese studies, many of which are available in your favorite free digital archive. For purposes of this article, the most noteworthy of these tomes was the 1850 volume (the third edition) he… Continue reading

How should one conduct oneself at a tea party? Well, if you’re going to learn how I guess the key is to start young. Which is where a book like Tea Party Rules, by Ame Dyckman, might come in handy. It’s geared at tea partiers aged 3-5 and is described as a “laugh-out-loud funny look… Continue reading

By the time 1834 rolled around the British had been drinking tea for a couple centuries and tea had gone from being a precious commodity that was only available to those with deep pockets to something resembling the national icon that’s so beloved to this day. The British were just beginning to explore the notion… Continue reading