From Booklist
Among Jane Austen's many attractions for the modern reader are the comfortable domestic details that furnish her novels, and what could be more comforting than tea? Tea was not just a beverage in Austen's time, but a key ingredient in social ritual, and her letters and novels are full of references to its buying, preparing, serving, and drinking. In this book, readers will find not only plenty of tea-related Austen quotes, but a well-researched history of Austen-era tea drinking at different times of day and in different settings. Recipes taken from contemporary cookbooks for old-fashioned delicacies such as orange jelly and syllabub are accompanied by modern adaptations. Austen purists may cringe at the emphasis on cozy charm, but there's definitely something appealing about settling down with a nice cup of Earl Grey, a Bath cake, and a copy of Pride and Prejudice. Perfect for Austen-reading book clubs. Mary Ellen Quinn
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Book Description
"You must drink tea with us tonight." Sense & Sensibility Who would not want to sit down with Jane Austen and join her in a cup of tea? Here for the first time is a book that shares the secrets of one of her favorite rituals. Tea figures prominently in Jane Austen's life and work. In fact, the beloved novelist was the keeper and maker of tea in her family. Tea with Jane Austen begins with tea drinking in the morning and ends with tea in the evening, at balls and other gatherings. Each chapter includes a description of how tea was taken at a particular place or time of day, along with history, recipes, excerpts from Austen's novels and letters and illustrations from the time. The book also reveals how to make a perfect cup of tea!

From the Author
Jane Austen loved tea. She mentions tea so often in her novels and in her letters that I began to suspect that she was a true tea enthusiast. Sure enough, there, in one of her letters to her sister, are the telltale signs. "Let me know when you begin the new Tea," she writes eagerly. "I am still a Cat if I see a Mouse." Proof enough: Jane was an avid tea lover, ready to pounce on a really good cup of tea. At the center of almost every social situation in her novels one finds—tea. In Emma, does Miss Bates drink coffee? Of course not: "No coffee, I thank you, for me—never take coffee.—A little tea if you please." In Sense and Sensibility, what is everyone drinking when Elinor notices Edward’s mysterious ring set with a lock of hair? Tea, of course. And in Pride and Prejudice, what is one of the supreme honors Mr. Collins can envision Lady Catherine bestowing on Elizabeth Bennet and her friends? Why, drinking tea with her, naturally.

About the Author
Kim Wilson is a writer and editor living in Waukesha, Wisconsin, with her husband and their two children.

SYNOPSIS

"You must drink tea with us tonight." Sense & Sensibility
Who would not want to sit down with Jane Austen and join her in a cup of tea? Here for the first time is a book that shares the secrets of one of her favorite rituals. Tea figures prominently in Jane Austen's life and work. In fact, the beloved novelist was the keeper and maker of tea in her family. Tea with Jane Austen begins with tea drinking in the morning and ends with tea in the evening, at balls and other gatherings. Each chapter includes a description of how tea was taken at a particular place or time of day, along with history, recipes, excerpts from Austen's novels and letters and illustrations from the time. The book also reveals how to make a perfect cup of tea! This volume is the perfect gift for tea lovers-and of course, Jane Austen fans.

FROM THE CRITICS

Booklist

"Among Jane Austen's many attractions for the modern reader are the comfortable domestic details that furnish her novels, and what could be more comforting than tea? Tea was not just a beverage in Austen's time, but a key ingredient in social ritual, and her letters and novels are full of references to its buying, preparing, serving, and drinking. In this book, readers will find not only plenty of tea-related Austen quotes, but a well-researched history of Austen-era tea drinking at different times of day and in different settings. Recipes taken from contemporary cookbooks for old-fashioned delicacies such as orange jelly and syllabub are accompanied by modern adaptations. Austen purists may cringe at the emphasis on cozy charm, but there's definitely something appealing about settling down with a nice cup of Earl Grey, a Bath cake, and a copy of Pride and Prejudice. Perfect for Austen-reading book clubs."

Tea: A Magazine

"Tea, a social history, and English author Jane Austen-Kim Wilson's delicious little book will instruct and amuse fans of any or all three...Highly recommended."

ACCREDITATION