Tea Reading

Hi tea friends,

I have a confession to make. I just haven't been drinking that much tea lately. I've actually been drinking more... (ahem) coffee. Whoa. Don't fear. I'm not at any risk of leaving tea behind -- just a phase. My tea consumption has been primarily stronger blacks of late, although I did have a really great day of baozhong oolong recently. I have a few new samples to check out and review for you, so I suspect you'll be reading about a lot more tea soon.

I have two tea books I wanted to mention - One I've read and one I haven't.

There is a new installment of Laura Childs' Tea Shop Mysteries out! The Teaberry Strangler (A Tea Shop Mystery) was released on March 2. I love these books. They are my equivalent of the classic "beach read" - light, quick reads that don't require a great deal of you. I love the tea references and appreciate Childs' own love of tea and the way she has built a career around it. (You can find my past interview with Ms. Childs here.)

Ms. Childs also writes two other series: The Scrapbooking Mysteries and The Cackleberry Club Mysteries. Ms. Childs was kind enough to send me galleys of her latest Cackleberry Club Mystery "Eggs Bendict Arnold" and I am very appreciative.




Fu Finds The Way is my new favorite children's tea book. I learned about this book from another tea blogger friend, Cinnabar, over at Gongfu Girl. (You can find her post here. While you're over there, check out her other posts. She's one of the best tea bloggers I know of.)

The illustrations are what sold me on this book. They are rich and mature, but with a whimsical style that engages children. My four year old spent forever looking at every page, even before I had the chance to read it to him.

The concept of the story is that there is a little boy named Fu whose imagination gets him into trouble. He is challenged to a fight by a soldier that he wronged and he seeks the help of the village Master to teach him to fight. Instead the Master teaches him lessons with tea that will serve him far better than the lessons of war he had sought. And thus, Fu finds the way.

John Rocco has created a truly different book here, one which I admire greatly. I hope you have the chance to check it out.

That's all for today. Another gray, rainy day here. A perfect day to curl up with a book.