The other day someone asked me, “Is the tea world getting silly?” And I replied, “Gee, I sure hope so.” As a tea blogger whose tea review site is hosted by a talking teapot, I can also say I have contributed my share of silliness to the world of tea. But the roll call of silly tea people is a long and distinguished one. And the amount of silly teawares, tea names, tea blog sites, and tea books is growing daily.

Case in point: The Infusiast by Robert Godden, aka The Devotea, and his partner in tea (as well as in life) Anne Drury-Godden. This new book about tea has a silly cover. And I am actually grateful for it, considering the serious tea book covers that sport — gasp! — string and tag teabags. No, a little yellow ducky sporting about in a glass of tea is definitely silly. And some of the contents are silly as well. I even heard Robert has a silly walk (Monty Python reference slipped in there — did you notice?).

More tea silliness ahead here. Keep reading.

Silly tea names

• Crazy Earl — a version of Earl Grey that contains black tea and oil of bergamot but also throws in some orange and grapefruit peel — totally silly!
• Big Red Robe — why not Big Blue Robe or Big Green Fuzzy Slippers?
• Cherry Oh Baby — a silly mix of Sencha, cherry, hibiscus, rosehip, orange peel, apple pieces, rose petals, and elderberries — what, no kitchen sink?
• Ball & Chain — as in what wives are often referred to as — but not by any kind, sensitive, and caring hubby like mine.

Silly teawares

• Chef Leeabaldi Ceramic Teapot — nothing like promoting cultural stereotypes in your teawares, but in this case rotundity is a must, since tea steeps best in stout teapots.

• Chester the Cat Teapot — he grins and he grins and you never know what he’s up to until it comes time to pour and then…

• Kissing Fish Tea Cozy (a whimsical sweater for your teapot by knitnax) — glub, glub, glub… a tea cozy that’s rather fishy, but then teapots need to stay warm somehow.

A good dose of silliness can go a long way to relieving some of the overly serious attitude some folks take with tea. But then, that could be said of a lot of things. Silliness is quite a cure for many of the worlds ills, actually. So, take a silly teapot, steep some silly tea, cover the teapot with a silly cozy, and read a silly tea book. Quack!

See more of A.C. Cargill’s articles here.

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