Tea books … new and coming titles

Have any of you heard of the book Infused by Henrietta Lovell? Since I am an avid reader of tea books, I am always surprised when I accidentally discover a new tea book, and this one was mentioned at the bottom of one of the umpteen book emails I get each day. This book is a fairly new release, and it reminded me that I hadn't searched Amazon in a while to see what other tea books are in the pipeline, so here's what I learned about this book and a few other titles:

Henrietta Lovell is best known as "The Rare Tea Lady". She is on a mission to revolutionize the way we drink tea by replacing industrially produced teabags with the highest quality tea leaves. Her quest has seen her travel to the Shire Highlands of Malawi, across the foothills of the Himalayas, and to hidden gardens in the Wuyi-Shan to source the world's most extraordinary teas. Infused invites us to discover these remarkable places, introducing us to the individual growers and household name chefs Lovell has met along the way - and reveals the true pleasures of tea.

Coming July 2020:

In The Healthy Matcha Cookbook, food blogger and dietitian Miryam Quinn-Doblas explores the various ways matcha powder—a main component of green tea—can be incorporated into everyday recipes to give your immune system the boost it needs to keep you healthy.

Coming June 2020:

The Day the Crayons Quit meets Winnie the Pooh in this hilarious and tea-riffic illustrated picture book about stuffed animals who start bickering at their tea party.

Coming July 2020:

A Dark History of Tea looks at our long relationship with this most revered of hot beverages. Renowned food historian Seren Charrington-Hollins digs into the history of one of the world’s oldest beverages, tracing tea's significance on the tables of the high and mighty as well as providing relief for workers who had to contend with the ardours of manual labour.

Coming May 2020:

What is the place of quality in contemporary capitalism? How is a product as ordinary as a bag of tea valued for its quality? In her innovative study, Sarah Besky addresses these questions by going inside an Indian auction house where experts taste and value mass-market black tea, one of the world’s most recognized commodities. Pairing rich historical data with ethnographic research among agronomists, professional tea tasters and traders, and tea plantation workers, Besky shows how the meaning of quality has been subjected to nearly constant experimentation and debate over the history of the tea industry. Working across political economy, science and technology studies, and sensory ethnography, Tasting Qualities argues for an approach to quality that sees it not as a final destination for economic, imperial, or post-imperial projects but as an opening for those projects.

"The Vintage Baker" by Jessie Sheehan

I was in more of "reading" mood than a "cooking" mood this weekend, and my reading included a new cookbook I had recently ordered, The Vintage Baker by Jessie Sheehan. This isn't a tea cookbook, but I shouldn't have been surprised that I came across a few tea-inspired recipes in the book.


When I opened it, I discovered a lovely surprise, a cute little facsimile cookbook of Vintage Recipes. In the intro, Sheehan explains that she got interested in all things related to sweets and baking when she went to work at a bakery in Brooklyn, New York, more than a decade ago and began collecting recipe booklets.

The recipes in this book are "revamped" versions of some old ones, and I enjoyed seeing where she got the originals. Here, for instance, is her recipe for Chai Banana Fritters. The chai spices are part of her "update" to the recipe, and this sounds quite delicious.

And have you ever heard of Swedish Tea Rolls? I had not, but Sheehan says they taste like "the best mini cinnamon-sugar toaster pastry you've ever had," and she also says they're perfect with an afternoon cup of tea. (I'm sold!) The Vintage Baker is one of the most fun, unique cookbooks I've come across in a while, and if you're into vintage recipes yourself, I definitely recommend that you take a look. 

I've been collecting vintage recipe booklets as well for the past few years, especially looking for anything suitable for teatime, so I love her idea of updating some of these recipes. Do you collect (or have saved) vintage recipe booklets? If so, got any recommendations?

"Tea Timer's Best Recipes"

I don't normally look through the many community cookbooks when I'm browsing through the stacks at Goodwill, but this one caught my eye the other day.

Tea Timer's Best Recipes, it said, and with the Old Country Roses on the cover, I knew this book was going home with me before I ever turned the page.

Douglasville, Georgia, is just about 30 minutes north of my house in Newnan, and I love knowing that the "Tea Timers" there had (or perhaps still have) a monthly tea. Most of the recipes appear to be simply the members' favorites, not teatime recipes, but there is a brief section of "This & That." It includes recipes for Carrot Cake Tea Sandwiches, in which a carrot and cream cheese mixture is served on cinnamon raisin bread, and Doris's Cucumber Sandwiches. Doris used vanilla yogurt along with cream cheese and toasted the bread on her sandwiches. I am going to have to give these a try just out of curiosity!

Community cookbooks like this one are always fun to read, because they're not just the stories of food but also the stories of people—and a group of tea-loving women, in this case. Do you own any/many community cookbooks? Have a favorite?