Thursday, January 8, 2009

We're Celebrating National Hot Tea Month

According to an ancient Chinese legend, around 2737 B.C.E., Emperor Shen Nung was a health conscious man and was known as the "Divine Healer." He always boiled his water before drinking it. One day while he was boiling his water, a few leaves fell into it. The aroma was so wonderful that he decided to taste it and declared it sent from heaven.
January is National Hot Tea Month, and we've decided to celebrate it here at the Moultrie-Colquitt County Library with a special display of items related to tea.
We not only have a hummingbird-handle teapot and a stacked tea set, but miniature tea sets, oriental tea sets, and gorgeous teacups and saucers, as well as tea containers and tins of different kinds of teas. All these items are in a lighted display case in the foyer of the main library.
Along with the teaware display, we've set up a small table with books about tea...some you might be interested in reading. Author Laura Childs has a tea shop mystery series and two of her books are Shades of Earl Grey (which, by the way, is the name of her dog!) and Blood Orange Brewing. These mysteries are set in Charleston, South Carolina and a fun read. Two for Tea by Jan McDaniel is an Avalon Romance. And for those of you who like Sassafras tea (or want to know what it is), you might be interested in the quaint book Country Folk Medicine: Tales of Skunk Oil, Sassafras Tea, & Other Old-Time Remedies Gathered by Elisabeth Janos. From our children's library, we have The Story of the Boston Tea Party in English and Spanish, Miss Spider's Tea Party Reader, and the story of Tea by O. B.
Gregory.
There are three types of teas made from tea leaves: green, black, and oolong (my favorite). And there are also "herbal teas." These are not really teas because they are not made with tea leaves. And of course, there are caffeine teas and caffeine-free teas.
If you're interested in reading tea leaves, pick up one of the flyers on the table with the books and learn how to recognize certain symbols used in tea leaf reading.
Drinking healthy teas, we've been told, can improve your health. This is the month of hot tea...give it a try. You'll like it.
(Source: http://www.web-holidays.com/)

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