Kim Wilson (1) (1959–)

In Regency era England, the popularity and social importance of tea-drinking is exemplified by Jane Austen’s characters no less than fifty-eight times in her six major novels. The observant reader will recognize pivotal events transpire around sitting down and taking tea: In Emma, Miss Bates declines coffee “No coffee, I thank you, for me-never take coffee. A little tea if you please,” in Northanger Abbey impressionable Catherine Moreland drinks tea with the Tilney’s and is awed by show more the “elegance of the breakfast set,” and in Pride and Prejudice, the toady Mr. Collins boasts of the supreme honor that his esteemed patroness Lady Catherine de Bourgh has bestowed on Elizabeth Bennet in being asked to tea at her grand residence of Rosings Park. We also know from Jane Austen’s letters that she was a tea-lover too. “We began our China Tea three days ago, & I find it very good.” Jane Austen, in a letter to her sister, Cassandra, 31 May 1811

Popularized in the early 1700’s by Charles II’s wife Queen Catherine, a century later tea drinking had become a passionate ritual for the gentry and aristocracy in England. Tea at any meal was de rigueur, in fact, a whole meal was named after it. Tea-time is traditionally a light late afternoon meal about 4:00 pm created to tide one over until supper, which in Town, could be very late into the evening. Tea with Jane Austen primarily delves into the social history of tea and its role in Jane Austen’s life and her writing. It also offers a delectable array of recipes listed with traditional Regency era ingredients and preparation along with a conversion for the modern cook. Readers may find, like me, that with so much talk of food that one wants to dash out to the kitchen and commence to make the perfect cup of tea as described on page 114, and throw oneself into baking the plum cake from page 31. Ha!

What I found most enjoyable about this slim volume was the frequent mention of events in Austen’s life or incidents by her characters in the novels that illustrate the importance of tea as a very British ritual. Quotes are used liberally throughout adding to the connection.

“Perhaps you should like some tea, as soon as it can be got.” They both declared that they should prefer it to anything. Mrs. Price to Fanny and William in Mansfield Park.

Broken down into interesting chapters: Tea in the Morning; Tea Shopping; Tea Away from Home; Tea and Health and Tea in the Evening, this book is packed with historical information conveniently indexed in the back and features a select bibliography for further reading. The friendly conversational style of the author is as welcome and soothing as her topic.

Laurel Ann, Austenprose show less

This books looks and sounds soooo fluffy, but in fact it's a very helpful and quick overview of lots of meal- and daily-life-related aspects of Regency/Georgian life as a gentlewoman might have experienced it.

When it was my turn to lead a book club discussion on Jane Austen, I knew I had the perfect resource in my library. Author Kim Wilson combines general information about tea customs in Jane Austen's era with excerpts from Austen's books and letters that either mention tea specifically or mention those social occasions when tea would have been served. She includes about a dozen period recipes with adaptations for the modern kitchen. I prepared three of the recipes for my book club: pound cake, show more lemon cheesecakes, and rout cakes. The pound cake was rather bland. I have tastier recipes in my collection so I probably won't use this one again. I had made the lemon cheesecakes once before and found them bland also. This time I substituted frozen tart pastry shells for the sheets of frozen puff pastry with better results. The rout cakes (a shortbread-like cookie) with currants were very easy to prepare, made a nice presentation, and tasted great. I think this is a recipe I'll be using a lot in the future. This book would be a good gift idea for fans of tea and Jane Austen. show less

I received this book as a gift two months ago. I took a look and set it aside. I have too hastily judged this book and I am pleased to admit it. The author has done her work well: her goals were to take us to tea with Jane Austen, as the title announces exactly, from breakfast to evening, via shopping, traveling and health. She transports us in early 19th century, with extracts of books and letters written by Jane Austen and others. She gives us recipes, both in their original version (one show more hour and a half of beating with your hand for a pound cake) and their modern one (lb, grams and cups measurements supplied), in case we wanted to recreate an Austen tea.
There are lovely black line drawings all across the book... not always good matches for the text though: the Hot Bath Cakes recipe extracted from the London Art of Cookery, 1807 is accompanied by a drawing of two ladies taking Ceylon tea, as advertised by the box on the table. But tea wasn't cultivated in Ceylon before 1840. Small glitches keep the reader alert. And details like these ones: "Add horse sweat to the lingering flavor of oilskin, and you get an idea of why many people preferred the taste of legal tea." keep the reader happy to live in 21st century.
A well researched and elegantly wrapped book. KH show less