A random observation after finishing Ancillary Sword...

[nanila]

...Did anyone else find that their tea consumption increased whilst they were reading it and/or immediately afterward? I went from 2-3 cups a day to 5-6 in the last week.

The Radchaai drink a lot of tea. :P

Comments

[ekaterinn]

Ha! I'm rereading it right now, and I do seem to be drinking tea, instead of coffee...

[nanila]

Heh, glad to know it wasn't just me! :)

Have you picked up on anything during the re-read that you missed the first time around?

[yhlee]

No, but my tea consumption is not that great anyway, and tends to consist halfway of what Koreans call "tea" (cha; boricha or barley tea, maesilcha or plum tea, yujacha or citron tea, etc. ad nauseam) rather than what English-speakers call tea.

[nanila]

Would these be classified by English-speakers as tisanes, then? Or are they flavoured tea leaves?

[yhlee]

I think so (I had to look up tisane :p); they don't involve tea leaves. (Just talking about this messes me up because the English word "tea" and the Korean word "cha" are not exactly equivalent!) Barley tea involves barley, corn tea involves corn...citron tea is made by mixing what I swear looks like citron marmalade with hot water. (I've been tempted to eat it as marmalade.) Ginseng tea is ginseng root. And so on. Black tea is called "hongcha," I think, and as far as I have ever known Korea doesn't really have a strong tea culture (in the sense of ceremony), unlike China or Japan.

[kaberett]

CITRON TEA

(I know what these things are! And yes they are colloquially "tea" in English mostly too, largely because nobody knows what a tisane is apart from a particular kind of loose-leaf drinker by-and-large, even though they involve zero <>C. sinensis. And now I am craving barley tea.)

[yhlee]

I love citron tea! I grew up with it and barley tea and I am so happy that the Korean supermarket in Baton Rouge (plus my mom's enthusiastic care packages) mean I have ready access to both.