Tea, Reading, and Shared Time ☕️📚🩷
After last month’s heavy snow forced us to postpone, our Book Club finally happened yesterday.
In the afternoon, we met at CHA CHA TEA for a Tea Tasting Workshop and in-person discussion. Later in the evening, we had a separate online discussion via Zoom with a different group. Two gatherings connected by the same book.
We also welcomed a first-time participant who joined us from Napanee, about a 45-minute drive away. It means a great deal when someone travels that distance to sit around a table and talk about books and tea.
The Reading Experience
Honey Drop Dead, the tea shop mystery book series, offered the comfort of a cozy mystery, especially enjoyable for tea lovers.
Because of the postponement, everyone had to go back a little to remember details. That actually shaped the discussion in an interesting way. Instead of focusing only on plot, we talked about atmosphere and character.
At one point, someone mentioned how imagining a Charleston accent while reading made the dialogue more entertaining. That comment led us into a lively conversation about accents and dialects, and how the voices we imagine in our minds shape the story.
For the record, I have a Japanese accent when I speak English, and a strong Osaka dialect when I speak Japanese!
Some of us listened to the audiobook version, and interestingly, the narrator did not use a Charleston accent at all, which added another layer to the discussion.
It was one of those unexpected turns that made the meeting memorable.
Tea for the Afternoon
The teas I chose weren’t random.
Each one was selected from the book itself — teas mentioned by the characters, so that we could sip what they were sipping.
It adds a small but meaningful part to the experience, almost as if we’re stepping into "the Indigo Tea Shop" in Charleston, South Carolina.
For this session, we explored:
Honeybush – naturally sweet and comforting
Tie Guan Yin (Iron Goddess of Mercy) – floral and light
Keemun – smooth and full-bodied
Drinking the same teas as the characters created a connection between the page and our cups!
One Thought That Stayed
A story doesn’t live only on the page.
It lives in imagined voices, shared laughter, and the cups we hold while turning the pages.
Thank you to everyone who joined — in the shop and online.
Whether you come from down the street, from a neighbouring town or online, there’s always space for thoughtful conversations, shared stories, and well steeped tea.
Oooooh, I love what I do. ☕️