Douglas Adams (Photo Courtesy: Open Culture)

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Douglas Adams sneaks in his fascination for tea through an episode in the iconic book. Arthur Dent yearns for a cup of tea on the spaceship to take a moment of respite. Instead, he gets a liquid from the Nutri-Matic drink dispenser, which is nothing like tea

Irrfan Khan and Tabu in a still from the movie, The Namesake

The Namesake

Tea connects the Ganguli family in Jhumpa Lahiri’s classic to home. Ashima and Ashoke are immigrants in the US, and find comfort in sharing a thermos of tea on a bench outside the MIT campus. The two also bond with Bengali acquaintances abroad over shared cups of Lopchu tea, which makes friendships easy

Ambai

Death of a Sarus Crane

Tamil writer Ambai’s detective Sudha Gupta begins her day with a cup of cinnamon tea. She drinks from a coffee mug with a picture of a magnifying glass, gifted to her by her daughter. No case is solved without her tea. Several exchanges and revelations take place over several cups

George Orwell

A Nice Cup of Tea

George Orwell’s essay is a delightful read on what he considers to be his golden rules of making tea. He gives us 11 points, which include the tea leaves to be used, the ideal container to boil as well as to drink in, stirring or shaking the pot, milk and sugar quantities, among other things

Shona Patel

Teatime for the Firefly

Drawing on her own experience of being raised on a remote tea plantation in Assam, Shona Patel gives us a story from the tea gardens of north India in the 1940s. The protagonist Layla marries the Oxford-educated Manik Deb, who has taken up a managerial role at one such plantation in Assam. Patel examines the economic exploitation and everyday challenges of the planters through the eyes of Layla and Manik

Oscar Wilde

The Importance of Being Earnest

Oscar Wilde is a master of writing scenes that navigate precarious situations over tea. During a tea service in the play, one of the characters, Cecily, makes a bad cup of tea for Gwendolen. She deliberately adds four lumps of sugar and cuts a big slice of cake despite Gwendolen’s refusal of the offer

Read full story: International Tea Day: How this brew was made popular in literature