Hot Tea Month

January is Hot Tea Month.  It is not very wdell advertised.  If I were Twinings or Bigelow or Lipton, I would have that plastered on all my ads and in all my commercials.  But then....they have not consulted me on their ad campaigns. I do not imagine any of those companies need my input.  Come to think of it, when was the last time I saw a commercial on television for hot tea?  It is the dead of winter and a good cup of tea takes the chill off a winter evening.  It has to be better for you than hot chocolate.  There is no sugar in tea except the heaping teaspoons the drinker adds and in my house Equal is the king. 

Regardless, this is Hot Tea Month and I for one intend to give honor.  As I work on this post I am sipping my favorite:  Twinings English Breakfast with Equal and a bit of skim milk.  It provides inspiration.

There are several sites devoted to the history of tea. A History of Tea Timeline and History of Tea are good places to start for the novice's guide to tea.  Kinds of Tea is a good source for tea varieties; but, there is another way readers can get this information wrapped in fun.  Laura Childs has a wonderful series of books called "The Tea Shop Mysteries."  She disguises the tea education by working the names of various blends into the titles such as Shades of Earl Grey and Death by Darjeeling, by including wonderful "doable" recipes in each book, and by creating the majordomo of tea blends, Drayton Conneley.  His regal bearing and vast knowledge leads the reading willingly into the world of tea.  Having little to do with the mystery aspect of the series, this character is the heart of the tea shop.

Admittedly, I take the easy way for a cup of tea.  I usually pop a K-cup into my Keurig or steep a bag in my cup of hot water but Drayton makes me wish I could wander into Theodosia's tea shop for the "real" thing.  I will settle instead for waiting for the latest installment in the series Scones and Bones which is due out in March and for my English Breakfast Tea.