Customer Reviews

Tea with Jane Austen

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a lovely short little book which will not only teach you how to make a good cup of tea but at the same time takes a lovely cultural walk through the historical significance of tea both in society and literature.

The Georgian era really saw the rise in tea as a social institution, which is of course the time of Austen. Kim Wilson manages to extract references to tea in novels and letters using them as examples of its importance at the time, and its use as a literary device.

this has a series of lovely recipes in it which are true to Austen's time, well as true as they can be. Ingredients and measurements not withstanding. But how wonderful to do tea just as Austen did.

This book is highly specialised around Tea and really Austen and perhaps the Jane Austen in the title was supposed to draw in more readers on the Jane Austen bandwagon. However I do think it has merit. Firstly it tended to stick with things of Austen's time and I felt it gave a fairly good discussion of what her life would have been.

It really suffered from lack of illustration, not only throughout the book, but also for the cooking items at the end. I recommend reading this with another illustrated book of Austen's life if you want to see more of the places and things mentioned in here. There is one excellent book I have read recently called Regency Design which (while not on Jane Austen) will illustrate so much of what they used, ate from, drank from and lived in. It is fully illustrated, I think the author is Morley - anyway - a book like that is an excellent accompaniment to lovely short books such as this.

Before sitting down with this book, turn to the very last chapter, which explains how to make the perfect cup of tea -- and prepare a whole pot for yourself. Because once you begin reading Kim Wilson's engaging discussion, you'll want nothing so much as a good cup of tea (except, perhaps, a rout cake or Bath bun to go with it) but will not want to put the book down long enough to boil water. "Tea with Jane Austen" is like the best blends of the beverage, its individual components smoothly combining to create a delightful experience richer than the sum of its parts. Primarily a social history of tea in Georgian England, the book also explains how Austen and other authors use tea as a literary device, and includes period recipes with modern conversions. Though extensively researched, this is not dry history -- Wilson's warm, conversational style and gentle humor make the book as entertaining as it is informative. Indeed, the reader feels as if Wilson is our hostess rather than a lecturer as she educates us by turns on tea itself (how it was transported, sold, and prepared) and the social contexts in which it was enjoyed. She also enhances our appreciation for Austen's writings by revealing subtle cues Austen incorporates into tea-drinking scenes that likely escape most modern readers -- but that her contemporaries would have recognized as character-defining elements. Among the many fascinating insights Wilson offers, we learn why the Austens, hardly well-to-do, bought their tea only from one of London's most reputable merchants, that naval officers often brought along their own tea so as to improve conditions aboard ship by indulging in a small comfort of home, and the real reason Mr. Darcy drinks a cup of coffee rather than tea toward the end of "Pride and Prejudice." By the end of the book, you'll be trying to decide which of the intriguing recipes to attempt first, and which Jane Austen novel to read or reread whilst sipping tea (with sugar, but no cream) from a Wedgwood cup.

I would have been willing to pay more for this book, if only it had some color pictures in it, but it had not a single color photo. And pictures would have helped immensely. For instance, when the author mentions the Austens' Wedgwood set, I wish I could see an example of one. Or what did the fireplace and other equipment look like in Chawton cottage where Jane prepared breakfast each morning? The author mentions things like these but we're left wondering what it all looked like. There are small black and white illustrations throughout the book, but they don't complement the text at all; they're just there. In other places, the author seems to mislead the reader when she says Jane shopped at the finest shops in London. (She did sometimes, but as a spinster daughter of a deceased reverend, she rarely had much money to spend for nice clothes.) In another place the author actually mentions the naval vessels many officers sailed on, and seems to imply that sailing back then was a luxurious experience. (Hmm, Patrick O'Brian's portrayal of naval sea voyages, in approximately the same time period, was anything but luxurious... cramped quarters, bad food, and such extreme dangers for the men from disease, war, and the minimal physician skills that were available.)
After I was done reading the book, I reflected that I hadn't learned anything from it that I didn't already know from a good Jane Austen biography I'd read before.
Like many people, I love tea and I love Jane Austen, and so I ordered this book as soon as it came out and was eager to receive it. But as an Austen biography, it's way too scant on details, and as a tea book it screams for better illustrations. Take my advice and pass this one by.

This book is entertaining and relaxing as well as educational. We received "Tea" as a gift last Christmas, and I have since recommendeded it to my sister-in-law. My curiosity about such a fascinating character led me to purchase Jane Austen's own book, EMMA. I thought the interesting old and new recipes made "Tea" even more authentic as well, and loved comparing them as I am an ardent baker. A pound cake was really a "pound" cake in Austen's day. If you want to spend quality time enjoying a delightful book, I highly recommend Tea With Jane Austen. It certainly deserves a five star rating.

Nothing seems quite as British as a good cup of tea. This book takes the reader back to the time period when tea was overtaking ale as the morning beverage of choice.
Wilson, a member of JASNA (Jane Austen Society of North America)provides great examples of the use of tea and other food in Austen's novels as well as references drawn from Austen's letters. A general discussion of the tea industry provides an interesting historical backdrop. Modern versions of recipes to go with tea from the period are provided. Fun to read with lovely illustrations.

For anyone interested in how Jane Austin and the people in her books lived, this is a must read! In this entertaining and well researched book you can find out how to make a whole host of unusual delicacies and serve it with the proper etiquette of the day. My hat is off to Ms Wilson for giving us a delightful book that is sure to please all Janites! And now, I will sit down to read "Emma" with my cup of tea...

It's not often that a book showing diligent research is also fun to read. Wilson has selected the most evocative quotations from Austen's novels and the most telling domestic tidbits from Austen's letters to add a rich flavor to her own intelligent prose. I had no idea that my tea-drinking pleasures had such a well-developed social history as Wilson describes. From the recipes to the period woodcuts, even the font and layout--all contribute to a fine sensory experience. Thank you for a delightful visit for Tea With Jane Austen. --Pat Meller, Greensboro, North Carolina

Tea with Jane Austen is a lovingly told tale of the importance of tea in the life of those who lived in the Regency Era. It is all here: How to make tea, tea and toast for breakfast (the usual breakfast fare for all but the wealthiest households), seeping the tea leaves, tea caddies and miscellaneous utensils, shopping for tea sets, and the different types of teas. In Austen's time, tea was a valuable commodity that was kept under lock and key. In the Austen household, Jane was the keeper of the keys to the tea chest.

But, for me, the most interesting part of the book was Jane's excursions into London to buy the best tea from Twinings warehouse. This was the most expensive way of buying tea, but there was a reason for buying the best. Tea was regularly adulterated with things you don't want to think about. Dregs were sold out the back door by kitchen maids. After being dried, they were mixed with "leaves, twigs, and sometimes floor sweepings." That's if you were lucky. "The dyes used on adulterated tea were often quite poisonous."

Although the afternoon tea we associate with the British belongs to the Victorian Era, there were rituals aplenty in the Regency Era, and this book shows how important tea was to Jane Austen and her contemporaries. Five stars.

This lovely book was a pleasure to read, with an engaging style and full of interesting tidbits. The author probes the social history of tea in Regency England, and along the way, she illuminates new aspects of familiar passages from Jane Austen's novels by explaining the social context that readers of that time would have automatically understood. What does it mean that Mr. Darcy chooses coffee over tea when he dines at Longbourn? After reading this book, I have a new understanding of that scene.

In Regency era England, the popularity and social importance of tea-drinking is exemplified by Jane Austen's characters no less than fifty-eight times in her six major novels. The observant reader will recognize pivotal events transpire around sitting down and taking tea: In EMMA, Miss Bates declines coffee "No coffee, I thank you, for me-never take coffee. A little tea if you please," in NORTHANGER ABBEY impressionable Catherine Moreland drinks tea with the Tilney's and is awed by the "elegance of the breakfast set," and in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, the toady Mr. Collins boasts of the supreme honor that his esteemed patroness Lady Catherine de Bourgh has bestowed on Elizabeth Bennet in being asked to tea at her grand residence of Rosings Park. We also know from Jane Austen's letters that she was a tea-lover too. "We began our China Tea three days ago, & I find it very good." Jane Austen, in a letter to her sister, Cassandra, 31 May 1811

Popularized in the early 1700's by Charles II's wife Queen Catherine, a century later tea drinking had become a passionate ritual for the gentry and aristocracy in England. by Jane Austen's time, tea at any meal was de rigueur, in fact, a whole meal was named after it. Tea-time is traditionally a light late afternoon meal about 4:00 pm created to tide one over until supper, which in Town, could be very late into the evening. TEA WITH JANE AUSTEN primarily delves into the social history of tea and its role in Jane Austen's life and her writing. It also offers a delectable array of recipes listed with traditional Regency era ingredients and preparation along with a conversion for the modern cook. Readers may find, like me, that with so much talk of food that one wants to dash out to the kitchen and commence to make the perfect cup of tea as described on page 114, and throw oneself into baking the plum cake from page 31. Ha!

What I found most enjoyable about this slim volume was the frequent mention of events in Austen's life or incidents by her characters in the novels that illustrate the importance of tea as a very British ritual. Quotes are used liberally throughout adding to the connection.

"Perhaps you should like some tea, as soon as it can be got." They both declared that they should prefer it to anything. Mrs. Price to Fanny and William in MANSFIELD PARK.

Broken down into interesting chapters: Tea in the Morning; Tea Shopping; Tea Away from Home; Tea and Health and Tea in the Evening, this book is packed with historical information conveniently indexed in the back and features a select bibliography for further reading. The friendly conversational style of the author is as welcome and soothing as her topic.

Laurel Ann, Austenprose