Tea with Jane Austen by Kim Wilson
In Flagstaff, Arizona, where I live, some of the leaves are starting to turn, and the temperatures at night are dropping into the forties. All during the summer, I drink iced tea, but when signs of autumn are in the air, I put away the iced-tea pitcher in favor of the kettle (actually the microwave but I’m trying to set a scene). Because I am such a big tea drinker, and a fan of Jane Austen, I found Kim Wilson’s Tea with Jane Austen informative and enjoyable. Here is my review from way back in 2010:
Tea with Jane Austen is a charming book, a lovingly told tale of the importance of tea in the life of those who lived during the Regency Era. It is all here: How to make tea, tea and toast for breakfast (the usual breakfast fare for all but the wealthiest households), seeping the tea leaves, tea caddies and miscellaneous utensils, and shopping for tea sets–all reflections of the social standing–or lack of it–of the family. In Austen’s time, tea was a valuable commodity that was kept under lock and key. In the Austen household, Jane was the keeper of the keys to the tea chest.
For me, the most interesting part of the book was Jane’s excursions into London to buy the best tea from Twinings warehouse. “[Jane] would have walked through a doorway that looked virtually the same as it does today… Once inside, she would have been greeted with the aromatic scent of many different sorts of teas… [S]he would probably have smelled the tea to judge its fragrance and character before she bought it.”
This was the most expensive way to buy tea, but there was a reason for buying the best. Tea was regularly adulterated with things you don’t want to think about. Dregs were sold out the back door by kitchen maids. After being dried, they were mixed with “leaves, twigs, and sometimes floor sweepings.” That’s if you were lucky. “The dyes used on adulterated tea were often quite poisonous.”
Although the afternoon tea we associate with the British belongs to the Victorian Era, there were rituals aplenty in the Regency Era, and this book shows how important tea was to Jane Austen and her contemporaries. It’s a quick read–perfect for a chilly day while drinking a hot cup of tea.
Do you have a favorite tea for a winter’s afternoon? Have you been to Twinings in London? I was there a few years ago, and I got goosebumps thinking that I was in the same place where Jane bought her tea, doing exactly what Jane had done.
P.S. Here’s an interesting tidbit from Abigail Reynolds: “[The book} is highly recommended! Kim was the first one to explain to me the significance of Darcy choosing to drink coffee on the night when he dined at Longbourn. One would have expected him to drink the extremely expensive, stylish, high-class tea, but Jane, as the eldest, poured the coveted tea while Elizabeth was left with the coffee – and Darcy.” How very clever of Mr. Darcy!
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Twinings Earl Grey is my favorite, but English Breakfast is my wakeup morning tea.
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I love Earl Grey and English Breakfast. I bought a box of mixed teas, but I went right back to my favorites.
One of my favorites is , Darvilles of Windsor Royal Assam.
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I am not familiar with that tea. I’ll have to give it a try. Thanks for stopping by.
I am a tea snob. I will never touch Lipton teas, and I prefer my teas to be organic if possible. My favorite tea is difficult to find today, even via online searches. But in a suburb of San Diego, I ADORED a little shop called All Things Bright and British! It was run by two elderly British ladies, and two identical clocks hung on high on the wall behind the register, one set to California time and the other set to London time.
On the highest shelves were the distinctive canisters of the more expensive loose-leaf and bagged teas, and my special treat (as I could afford it rarely) was Taylors of Harrogate’s Blackcurrant Loose-Leaf Tea. It cost nearly $30 for a one-pound canister (and this was years ago as the shop has since been transformed into a breakfast place), and I remember taking our youngest in (he’s now 18) when he was a preschooler, and the ladies would give him a piece of Walker’s Shortbread to nibble while we browsed. The shop was full of British imports: magazines and newspapers, refrigerated cases with clotted cream, jars of lemon curd and blackcurrant jam, candies and novelties, REAL Cadbury bars (not the over-sugared American kind) , and then the back room had china tea sets, tea cosies (I own two, one of which is on my teapot now as I type this), wooden tea trays (I own one due to some birthday money from my father-in-law), and a HUGE silver tea service graced the bay window display. I also have one small teapot I bought there, decorated with pansies (my favorite flower), and I have a pansy cosy to match.
Several years ago for my birthday, my husband bought me a glass teapot with an infuser inset, and I use it every single day. A dear friend bought me a sturdy kettle (not one of those cheap ones, but a real, solid, brick-red kettle) for another birthday, and my day begins with putting the kettle on. My daily tea is one tea bag of Trader Joe’s Irish Breakfast tea and a bag of either Trader Joe’s organic pomegranate white tea OR St. Dalfour’s Organic Strawberry Tea (easily found on Amazon). I have a green-flowered cosy to cover the teapot which exactly matches the green of my Disney’s Mad Hatter tea mug (with an attached saucer–the hat’s brim).
On hot days, I’ll drink just one cup of hot tea in the morning and I’ll ice the rest of the teapot’s contents in a travel mug to keep it cold. But as our nighttime temperatures are also dropping into the mid-to-low 40s, I’m usually drinking the whole pot hot each morning.
I used to enjoy Twining’s Blackcurrant, but I rarely have the money to invest in it. It also seems to taste different than it did when I first encountered it in the ’80s. “Blackcurrant Breeze” just doesn’t quite do it for me anymore. I haven’t been to Twining’s in London, but if I ever return there, it will be on my list!!
Warmly,
Susanne 🙂
Hi Susan. You are clearly a true tea aficionado and have a wonderful personal history with tea. I do find that preparing and enjoying a cup of tea is more contemplative than grabbing a Starbucks. Thank you for sharing your story.
Lovely review of the book which I had purchased several years ago. I would have to say, I love my morning coffee but drink tea in the late afternoon, usually Twinings English Breakfast. There was a fabulous English Breakfast tea I had out in Trinidad, California last year at this quaint coffee/tea shop that served sandwiches. It was so rich and flavourful. At night, I have an herbal tea to end the day. One day I will get to London and visit Twinings!
I hope you do get to London and Twinings. It really does put you in Jane Austen’s time. Thanks for your comment.
I drink Twinings Earl Grey and English breakfast daily
Denise, Thanks for sharing.