tea

Back in the summer of 2005, Jake Gyllenhaal was quoted as saying:

I am reading a booked called SALT: A WORLD HISTORY, and it's all about salt.

I have a weird fascination with specifics. I like the idea of learning a lot about one thing. And salt is something you take for granted.

You think it's just something on your table. But it has a huge, long history. Wars were started over it.

This celebrity factoid stuck with me because it seemed like a very librarian conceit to be drawn to books about isolated subjects that, as he says, most people take for granted. I am also drawn to books like this, so I wanted to create a booklist of books about specific things and/or with one-word titles. Unsurprisingly, many of these have graced NYPL’s Books to Remember from years past. Movies have long been shortening their titles to evoke this dedication to minimalism, yet something about having such a myopic view of the world continues to have an appeal. Interestingly, many of these books focus on foodstuffs, perhaps in deference to the trend toward simple meals.

Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky

Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky

The Dirt on Clean: An Unsanitized History by Katherine Ashenburg (BTR 2007)

Sweet and Low: A Family Story by Rich Cohen (BTR 2006)

This one is a little different, but it does inspire strong reactions in people…

Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants by Robert Sullivan (BTR 2004)

Tom Zoellner’s new book Uranium continues our theme. His previous, The Heartless Stone focused on diamonds. After getting dumped by his fiancée, he goes on a personal quest to find where the diamond he purchased came from, visiting Africa, Canada, Japan and other countries in the process.

History of the spice trade books:
http://www.theepicentre.com/Spices/spicehistorybooks.html

Coffee history books:
Uncommon Grounds by Mark Pendergrast
God in a Cup by Michaele Weissman
More history of coffee books: http://www.jimseven.com/2006/08/18/recommended-coffee-reading/

Tea, of course, has also inspired many books about its cultural history and trading and has just as many devotees as coffee does.

Lastly, a one-word nonfiction book that doesn’t really fit, but that brings us back to the notion of celebrity that began this post.

Flapper by Joshua Zeitz

The subtitle “A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern” pretty much sums it up. Zeitz chronicles the evolution of the flapper from the pages of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s writings to the cinema with Clara Bow and Louise Brooks. His approach is refreshing, detailing the escapades of a young and wild Zelda Fitzgerald and comparing the changing morals from the Victorian age to the rise of industrialization and spread of fashion.

Is it possible to fall in love with a book? If it is, The Teashop Girls (2008 ) by Laura Schaefer, with illustrations by Sujean Rim, now holds my heart. I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, especially since I am not actually much of a tea drinker, but as soon as I saw the cover and the illustration of The Steeping Leaf I knew this book would have my undying devotion.

But that doesn't tell you what it's actually about.

Annie Green and her best friends Genna and Zoe have been drinking tea at the Steeping Leaf since grade school when they founded an exclusive group called The Teashop Girls. More than a fondness of tea is required in order to be a proper Teashop Girl, there are rules:

"1) Teashop Girls are best friends forever.

2) Tea is held every week, no matter what.

3) All tea and scones must be split equally at all times."  read more »

Wishing they knew how to keep their tea warmer, no doubt. (Image from NYPL Digital Gallery)

After reading a recent article in Australia's Age about the demand for unique handcrafted tea cosies made by volunteers in Pascoe Vale, Australia, I became curious about the past and present status of the cosy.

According to Richard Rutt in A History of Hand Knitting, the first documented use of a tea cosy was in 1867. Tea cosies flourished during the Victorian era, a period in which homemakers were obsessed with the decoration or covering of any and all available objects.

Tea cosies had their heyday on this side of the Atlantic as well, as the newspapers of the late nineteenth century reveal. An Oct. 20, 1892 article in the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that "cosies are enjoying a sudden and unexpected rise in public favor" among women who hosted afternoon teas in their reception rooms. In Boston, a town with quite a reputation when it comes to tea parties, an issue of the Boston Journal (Nov. 25, 1879) included in its women's advice column an explanation of just what a tea cosy is--"simply a wadded covering for your teapot"-- and hints on making one: "Some very handsome ones are made of remnants of heavy brocade, but linen is generally used, embroidered or not, according to taste, as these covers are washable. Make the covering large enough for your teapot and provide a ring at the top to lift it off with." I read these articles in America's Historical Newspapers, an excellent database which enables you to find what you want fast in old American newspapers--it's available at all Library locations.

What is happening in the world of contemporary tea cosies? Teapotmania: The Story of the British Craft Teapot and Teacosy provides some answers. This exhibition catalog for a 1995 show at the Norfolk Museums and Archeology Service on contemporary British artists' and artisans' embrace of the teapot and teacosy as artistic forms provides both historical context as well as plenty of illustrations of the objects included in this exhibition. Artists of both pottery and needlework will find inspiration in the work of the artists represented here. Additionally, this museum's teapot collection now numbers almost three thousand teapots that can be browsed at their website. And if etsy is any guide, then there is both an interest and a market for handmade cosies today--search tea cozy AND tea cosy to be sure that you don't miss out.

It turns out that you need not drink tea in a cold drafty home to appreciate a fine cosy, after all.