Teatime Around the World

Teatime Around the World is a highly accessible and attractive celebration of tea drinking and the rituals and ceremonies associated with it, throughout the world. From the opening rhyme: ‘Tea for one, tea for two’, the poetic, lighthearted text steers the reader through the book supported by the very attractive illustrations.

Readers are taken on a virtual world tour of tea drinking: from butter tea in Tibet, to spicy sorrel in the Caribbean. Ceremonies and traditions around tea are explored, we meet the chai wallahs (street sellers) in Indian streets, visit a Japanese tea ceremony and find out about the history of afternoon tea in the UK.

Interesting details about how tea is served are included, such as the tradition of pouring from up high in Malaysia or filtering through a ‘sock’ in Hong Kong. Variations are described, such as the inclusion of flavourings, whether tea is served hot or cold, with or without milk and the development of other infusions or ‘tisanes’ inspired by hibiscus tea from South Sudan.

For those keen to find out more there is additional information about tea and its history at the back of the book.