Teas loved by crazy rich Asians
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. It was a tea-loving author who started off my dalliance with cosy crimes that transformed into a 20-year affair before gently fizzling out. My current infatuation is also set off by a tea-loving author, Kevin Kwan, and his Crazy Rich Asians trilogy.
With his latest book, Lies and Weddings, I made plans for an indulgent weekend, eagerly seeking the tea bits and trivia. Alas, the tea nerdery was completely missing. Not even a detour in Morocco for a proper lesson on mint tea traditions.
Even as I googled for possible reasons why (Has he defected to the more caffeinated daily drink? Does his editor not like tea?), I couldn’t help but recall and revisit Kwan’s earlier books such as Crazy Rich Asians, China Rich Girlfriend and Rich People Problems for their outpouring of tea love. Looking at this trilogy from a tea lens, all I see is tea and—liberally sprinkled lessons: “don’t call it high tea, it’s afternoon tea" (China Rich Girlfriend); an explanation of Singapore’s afternoon tea customs; or references to uber luxe teaware and tea stores. What I loved most was the matching of the right tea with the right character.
The beautiful Astrid “loves" smoked lychee tea—one that inspires poetry—made by smoking fresh and dried lychee on low heat for a long time, during which black tea is added so that it picks up the aroma and the sweetness from the fruit. The combination of black tea and lychee is thought to be the world’s first fruit-scented tea, a chance pairing but one that found fans everywhere. The Da Hong Pao is the matriarch’s choice (in Rich People Problems).
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