International Tea Day: How the beverage occupied the minds of authors

Tea, though ridiculed by those who are naturally coarse in their nervous sensibilities will always be the favorite beverage of the intellectual.

— Thomas de Quincey

Tea and literature go hand in hand — authors have poured their very love for the beverage into their writings, their character sketches and have ruminated over the brilliance of the beverage. How many bitter fights have been had while sharing cups of tea? Many. Take The Importance of Being Earnest, in the part where Cecily and Gwendolyn exchange bitter words over tea — sugar cubes, porcelain and a healthy English habit never seemed more tense. Russian authors like Leo Tolstory, Fyodor Dostoevsky have made ample references to the beverage in their writings. Anton Chekov, who had a penchant for affecting the readers' mood through his characters, also infused tea in his works.