You are Celtic (over one in ten Americans are) and Elizabeth Knight‘s written a book published this year for you.

I spent some time with her book this afternoon (accompanied by a cup of Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Gold loose leaf tea). Not sure what to expect, I enjoyed finding not only thirteen new themed tea party ideas, but learning about Celtic history and how it relates to the tea culture. With Irish and Welsh ancestry living in a town founded by Cornish immigrants, I wanted to learn how tea traditions did not belong to the English alone.

I first turned to July’s theme, the Hen Party Tea. I always thought calling women a group of hens derogatory, as if we all “cackled”, but instead I learned it’s an old Scottish custom where the women gathered the night before a wedding to pluck hens for the wedding feast. Now, Ms. Knight isn’t advocating we all gather to pluck hens, but to celebrate the best of our strengths and contributions over the ages. One of my favorite of her ideas was to offer, in her words, the original chic(k) lit book – The Little Red Hen as the tea party favor. Do you know the story? Isn’t that just a darling idea?

Another resource the book provides is one of the best charts, A Guide to Teas, I’ve seen. It includes the tea-type (i.e. black), its place of origin, a description, the brewing time, serving suggestions, and a list of complimentary foods. And because my tea table article is the most-read article here at Tea Party Girl, I’ll mention that I found the appendix Set to a Tea: The Tea Table a simple and complete explanation of what your tea table needs and why.

The book was issued by Benjamin Press, Bruce and Shelley Richardson’s publishing arm of their work. If you haven’t yet heard of the Richardsons, it’s worth spending some time at their website and learning about their contributions to Americans learning to appreciate afternoon tea. They operated arguably the most recently famous tearoom, the Elmwood Inn, from 1990-2004 in Perryville, KY and the teas are still available, along with cookbooks based on the afternoon tea menus from those days. Of the two I own, I like A Year of Teas at the Elmwood Inn the best because the menus are organized by month which helps my full brain with decisions. But all their books are well-photographed and the other book I own, The Tea Table, is full of “Tea Time Hints”. Here’s an example appropriate for this time of year:

“Keep your tea out of the sun! Making sun tea is no longer promoted by the tea industry. Putting tea in the water and placing it in the sun for several hours is like making a petri dish for the growth of bacteria. While tea does not contain harmful bacteria in its dry state, it can become a haven for bacteria when brewed and cooled. In traditional brewing methods, the addition of boiling water kills any bacteria that might be present. If you do make sun tea, be sure to boil it before you consume it.” (Richardson, 65)

Any Benjamin Press books make great gifts for the tea or book enthusiast. Who do you need a gift for? Are you Celtic? Do you know the story of the Little Red Hen? Had you heard of Elizabeth Knight, Bruce and Shelley Richardson, or the Elmwood Inn before today? Do you still make sun tea? Leave a comment and share your thoughts with us.

This afternoon finds me on my back deck with the temperatures in the low 80s. The children are occupied, the neighbor’s sprinkler and birds mask the barking dog, and the butterflies and dragonflies occasionally flit by to see what I’m up to. It’s easy to be thankful today for life as a stay-at-home mom.

But that is not always the case. And as I have often shared here at Tea Party Girl, two simple comforts I’ve relied on through the ups and downs are quality tea and plenty of books. Recently, a number of new Tea Reads have been added to my ever-growing library including a new favorite:

An elegantly illustrated book, The Gentle Art of Hospitality provides simple and beautiful ideas for hosting others in our homes. As I read through it, I felt like the ideas were new and fresh, not typical. I felt like it was a chance to learn from a Southern lady who had a few more decades of experience welcoming other into her home under her belt. Here’s one of my favorites that helped my perspective:

“A simple glass of water with a slice of lemon on the rim is a wonderful presentation if our heart are in the right place.”

Add a slice of lemon. What a simple and beautiful idea!

Alda’s tea party-related company is called Sentimental Living, if you want to learn more about what she offers.

“My dear, if you could give me a cup of tea to clear my muddle of a head I should better understand your affairs.”

–Charles Dickens

I think I’m going to start quoting this to my husband who gets up each morning before me.

“For if I could please myself I would always live as I lived there. I would chose always to breakfast at exactly eight and to be at my desk by nine, there to read or write till one. If a cup of good tea or coffee could be brought to me about eleven, so much the better. Tea should be taken in solitude.”

–C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life

Sigh. It’s the predictable men we appreciate in our old age and disdain in our youth. I hope Mr. Lewis will not only want tea in solitude in the next life. I anticipate the chance to share a cup or two with him.

“The cup of tea on arrival at a country house is a thing which, as a rule, I particularly enjoy. I like the crackling logs, the shaded lights, the scent of buttered toast, the general atmosphere of leisured coziness.”

–P.G. Wodehouse, The Code of the Woosters

Yes, any writer of fiction taking place in a culture outside America should know that culture’s tea traditions.

“It snowed last year too: I made a snowman and my brother knocked it down and I knocked my brother down and then we had tea.”

–Dylan Thomas, A Child’s Christmas in Wales

Heheh. As the mother of brothers, this tea quote gives me a chuckle.

“Tea is drunk to forget the kin of the world.”–T’ien Yiheng

Chinese men know it. European men know it. Will American men learn it?

This week’s theme at Gracious Hospital-i-tea (click the image above to meet our hostess and learn more) is to share tea from a perspective of literature or to share a favorite tea book! If I didn’t write a blog about the tea party, I would probably write about books. I read, A LOT. More than I clean my home, go to the movies, or even (sometimes) interact with family and friends. Tea and books naturally go together; I think because both quietly slow us down and help us make friends with ourselves, an invaluable life skill.

Since starting Tea Party Girl last June, I’ve shared many of my favorite “Tea Reads“, including treasured fictional tea scenes. My all-time favorite is from The Hobbit, when Bilbo ends up hosting a secret meeting with the dwarfs right at teatime. Be sure to click on the title to read the entire post. And then there’s my favorite movie, Miss Potter, ABOUT a literature writer who because of her time in history and place in society observed afternoon tea often. The movie scenes are full of beautiful, Victorian afternoon tea settings.

Choosing a favorite tea-centric book proves much more challenging, so I trust no one will accuse me of cheating if I list my top seven tea-related book posts from Tea Party Girl’s history. In order to reach the post where I discuss the book, click on the book’s title.

The New Tea Companion by Jane Pettigrew and Bruce Richardson (Know Your Tea Party Experts #1)

The Way to Tea by Jennifer Sauer (The Way to Tea–A Book Review)

Tea Celebrations by Alexandra Stoddard (A Few Tea Quotes for Your Weekend)

Tea with Jane Austen by Kim Wilson (How to Take Tea with Jane Austen)

Tea and Etiquette: Taking Tea for Business and Pleasure and Children’s Tea and Etiquette: Brewing Good Manners in Young Minds by Dorothea Johnson (Know Your Tea Party Experts #3)

Tea Party by Tracy Stern (Is it a Party with Tea or a Tea Party?)

Tea in the City: New York by Elizabeth Knight and Bruce Richardson and Tea with Friends by Elizabeth Knight (Know Your Tea Party Experts #2)

I’m looking forward to participating in as many weeks of the Tea Blog-a-Thon as possible. I trust you all had a beautiful Easter weekend. I celebrated with family in worship, feast, and play. It reached over 70 degrees here in Northern California and the sun shone brilliantly! I’m so thankful spring always comes!

If you end up participating in the tea blog-a-thon at your blog, would you tell us in our comments here? I would love to visit your Litera-tea entry, too.

What’s your favorite tea-related book?