In four or five hours of writing, I might drink a dozen cups of tea. Today's Times introduced me to a kindred spirit -- Therese Rebeck, the author of Three Girls and Their Brothers. She says, "I just reread The Count of Monte Cristo, and there's this scene where he imbibes hashish.... And to me a really good cup of tea has a certain hashlike quality, where my mind is open to the universe."
I've tried all the brands of tea she's tried from PG Tips to Harrods. I guess it's time to try her book and see just what all that tea does for her writing.
Photo by Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times
What's your favorite tea, Keith? It depends on the mood and the weather, of course, but if you could only have one tea for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Posted by: Jess Lourey | May 26, 2008 at 02:27 PM
Hmm. I've moved to green tea (plain, without fruity or jasmine flavors). The best are the incredibly expensive ones, but day in and day out, I drink Twinings green tea. At the cafe where I write, they have something called "Health & Well-being" which I love and at another cafe I just drink their sencha.
Posted by: Keith Raffel | May 26, 2008 at 03:19 PM