The “champagne of tea”
January 13, 2015 by SusieAn advance reading copy of Jeff
Koehler’s Darjeeling (due to publish in May) arrived
this week. Sometimes publishers send me food books that
aren’t cookbooks, even those most everybody knows I almost never
review them. I was about to add it to the “Library Donation”
pile, when, for some reason, my curiosity stirred.
I think it was the phrase “the
champagne of teas” that caught my eye. I looked dubiously at my
teapot, ever-present in winter, filled with an inexpensive Earl
Grey I buy in bulk. Definitely not the champagne of teas.
Sure, I enjoy the taste, but mostly I drink it to stay warm,
from 8 in the morning till 6 in the evening, at which point I
switch to the house red.
There don’t seem to be any books
about Earl Grey (although it surely has a huge following
among Star Trek: TNG
fans). Darjeeling, though, is another story.
Apparently its origins are romantic,its
terroir unmistakable, its history fraught and its
future uncertain. Perfect literary material, in other
words.
It’s increasingly likely there’s a cup of Darjeeling in my near future. For now, though, the review copy of Darjeeling will see me through a couple of weekday lunches – accompanied by a pot of cheap Earl Grey.
What’s everybody else reading for lunch today, I wonder?
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