In the lead-up to Book Lovers Day on 9th August, I peek between the covers to reveal the long relationship between tea and books.

“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.” So said tea drinker and avid reader CS Lewis, best known as the author of The Chronicles of Narnia series.

Tea has enjoyed a number of literary fans throughout the ages, from London diarist Samuel Pepys, whose initial taste of the beverage was one of the first mentions of tea arriving in English society, to mystery writer Agatha Christie and political satirist George Orwell, who famously wrote an essay* on how to prepare the perfect cuppa.

And that’s just from the English literary tradition. Head to the home of tea and there’s a longer, richer lineage of tea appreciation in books and poems. Agricultural icon Emperor Shennong, who is said to have discovered tea, has the first book on the subject The Divine Farmer’s Herb-Root Classic attributed to him.

But if you had to pick one writer who has had the greatest influence on Chinese tea, it would have to be Lu Yu, who wrote the 10-chapter, three-volume work The Classic of Tea around 760CE. Lu Yu’s tome covers the horticultural origins of tea, right through to tea equipment and brewing method. He was also the first to record the importance of the water source for tea, citing flowing spring water as the best, river water in a pinch and water from a well as ‘ugh’.

His tutor Zou Fuzi was inspired by Lu Yu’s findings and dug a well around the fountainhead of a spring in Jingling (now Tianmen) in Hubei province. More than a millennium later, when the city fell into drought, citizens discovered it was still flowing. There is now a monument there called Lu Yu Hut and the outpouring is called Literature Spring (文学泉).

It was not until the turn of the 20th century, however, that we received a true classic in English. The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura was the Japanese-born US resident’s long essay on how tea intertwined with Japanese culture, from its architecture to its art and yes, poetry too. It remains a touchstone text to this day.

Today there are plenty more books to read on tea, from primers introducing newcomers to the world of tea (Tea: History, Terroirs, Varieties by The Camellia Sinensis Tea House), to historical accounts of events (All the Tea in China by Sarah Rose, on the British stealing tea from China) and places (Darjeeling by Jeff Koehler).

Since The Book of Tea, however, texts on culture have become harder to come by, but I do recommend The Story of Tea by Mary Lou and Robert Heiss and Puer Tea: Ancient Caravans and Urban Chic by Jinghong Zhang.

So next time you want to escape with a book, drink some tea because, as Okakura writes: “Teaism is a cult founded on the adoration of the beautiful among the sordid facts of everyday existence.” And that’s escapism I can get behind.

*All I’ll say is: “He did his best.”

This article originally appeared in AUSTCS enews 31 July 2018.