A Tale of High Teas & Novel Twists

Table of Contents

Introduction
Chapter 1. Novel Inspired Tea Tins
Chapter 2. Design
Chapter 3. Teas
Chapter 4. Tins
Characters
Origins
Works Cited
Acknowledgements 

Introduction

Our purpose is to build a library of heartwarming tea tins to celebrate great literature. We love wordplay, delicious tea, and original artwork. Every NovelTea Tin is carefully curated by unique groups of illustrators, typographers, literary experts, tea blenders, and humorists chosen to bring our favorite classic novels to life. On your counter, shelf, or desk we want to add a smile to your face and a splash of color to your space.

Chapter 1. Novel Inspired Tea Tins 

NovelTeas Book Tins are illustrated by hand and filled with unique organic tea blends paired to the theme and title of classic literature.

For example, our Man of La ManChai, Don QuixoTea, pours Sancho Panza a cup of tea on the tin book's cover. Inside the tin the Don abides an adventurous and exceedingly idealistic blend of rich Spanish cardamon, red cinnamon, black tea and the root of ginger.

The NovelTeas Book Tin is a well-crafted and entertaining reminder for the classic tales and iconic characters of great literature. Decorated with original artwork and wordplay, these tea-bearing collectibles make for a uniquely drinkable organic pun, and they will always serve as great gifts for friends, family (and self).

We have completed 4 NovelTea Tins and we have more than 50 new titles prepared for drafting and tea pairing. We will continue to focus on great classic literature, but we are progressing as well into modern works and will be including other products soon. 

Chapter 2. Design

Our Book Tin designs are inspired by the classic literature they portray. They fit easily in a library, and rest beautifully in your kitchen with a splash of color, elegance, and humor. When you're done drinking our tea you can add more, or else store other stationary, keepsakes, jewelry, and secret stash inside.

We let old book designs from the appropriate area inspire us.

First, we pick major themes from a novel. Next we lay out the iconic scenes and obsessively refine them into the illustrations we call moTeafs. We decorate every cover and spine with novel-inspired imagery infused with subtle tea hints. Look closely at Don QuixoTea for instance, and you'll see windmills in the tea steam. War and Peach reveals hidden horses, flags, and wheat. As you sip and enjoy your tea, these scenes will percolate your memories. 

We insert hidden 'moTeafs' whenever we can.

Chapter 3. Teas

Every tea should be as fun to drink as the tin is to muse upon. Our hope is that you'll laugh, share, and reflect on great literature with your eyes and also with your palette. So we partner with world class tea aficionados like Beth Johnston of Teas Etc to help us pair our favorite books with award winning, organic teas. We ask global tea experts to help us marry a unique tea taste to the theme and flavor of a classic novel. Don QuixoTea's Man of La ManChai chai tea is "exceedingly idealistic" Spanish blend of spices. One Flew Over the Lemon Zest is an ambiguous citrus, Matcha do About Nothing is not the Matcha you think you're getting (these are book flavors we hope to make for you in the future).

We intend to indulge all manners of tea craving: (1) creative, spicy, and fruity tea blends like War and Peach as well as (2) 'tea purist' selections which do not blend any flavors but adroitly pair rare and whole leaf organic teas with literature like Jane Austeam's.

Don QuixoTea - Exceedingly idealistic, our Man of La ManChai pours an adventurous brew of traditional chai spices -- red cinnamon, cardamon, black pepper and root of ginger. All do well alone or with a spoon full of sugar.

Oscar Wilde's Picture of Earl Grey - Organic jasmine and a rose-blended Calabrian bergamot radiate hedonism and wait for your reflections, eternally.

War and Peach - Organic peach chunks search for fulfillment in the bold brace of a strong white tea, grasping for patience with pineapple, serenity with chamomile, and purpose in the sunflower.

Chapter 4. Tins

Each book tin cover is designed to open with two hinges and close with a pressure snap. When you're done drinking our tea you can keep the tin and fill it with anything you like! 

We've gone all out to build you a full scale book. The dimensions of which are as follows: 24cm x 16cm x 6cm OR 9.4in x 6.3in x 2.4in

Characters

Origins

A food fight began. It was Christmas holiday, and Johnny’s sisters had pinned him in the kitchen corner. They were demanding precious gifts on pain of their spatulas painting his face with freshly whipped cream. (You must understand, Johnny wears the physique of a struggling writer while his sisters are NCAA athletes.) Pressed against the counter, our aspiring novelist reached blindly behind himself for a way out; merely pulling forth a yellowed damp tea bag instead. The sisters relished in this last act of desperation, and zeroed in.

 “Oh? You have no idea then?” Johnny tried, “why this here is the MOST rare of tea bags! Indeed it was the VERY ONE used by Don QuixoTea himself! Indeed, it is why they call it the NovelTea and why…” SPLAT.

And thus is how whipped cream spatulas commemorated the beginning of our tradition for making beautifully smart-ass tea tins to celebrate the world’s greatest literature with wordplay and tea.

Works Cited 

Don QuixoTea, Cervan'Teas (2015)

An adventurously spiced Spanish 'ManChai' tea

The Picture of Earl Gray, Oscar Wilde (2015)

Hedonism and tragedy with rose and bergamot black tea

War and Peach, L.N. Tolstoy (2015)

Ponderous chamomile is Russia's flower and finds its purpose in peach & pineapple

Pippi Oolongstocking (coming soon)

Matcha Do About Nothing

Pride and Pu’erjudice

Oliver Orange Twist

Count of Mint Tea Cristo

Huckleberries Finn

One Flew Over The Lemon Zest

Rooiboson Crusoe

Old Man and the Tea

Catcher in the Chai

Crime & PunishMint

Acknowledgements

Friends, family, store owners, and hundreds of believers supported NovelTeas from its very inception through a successful KickStarter campaign in the Summer of 2015.We will never forget the mighty individuals who lent us their hands in the early moments of our tale and brought NovelTeas off the page, and into reality.

A warm and timeless thanks to:

Patrick Campbell
Cim Kraemer
John Kraemer
Karen Howard
Karen bailey
Joel Belben c/o Joan Colyer
Elin Stovne
Knut Støvne
Patty Barry
Timothy V. Cotz
Kate Wisialowski
Anne Leners
Johnson Hou-Ching Lee
William Jahncke
Nancy Hoagland
Colleen Rodriguez
Alexzandria Johnson
Daniel Park
Sara Glassman
Steffanie Ostrowski
Pauline Dora