Today is National Tea Day in the United Kingdom and right now, more than ever, we need to celebrate this soothing beverage, since it is one of the few things that is getting us through this crisis.

Tea not only provides amazing health benefits, but are great when paired with an entertaining book. So if you are looking for that perfect brew matched up with your favorite book, here are some tea suggestions to help you start:

 

English Breakfast

The original is always is the best. This classic, smooth tea is good for anytime of the day. This tea goes perfect with the all-time classics, such as:

• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
• North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
• Evelina by Frances Burney
• Middlemarch by George Eliot

 

Earl Grey

This tea is maybe lighter than its cousin, English Breakfast, but it still has the soothing taste and sweet aroma that can calm you while reading those frightful stories you love so much. If thrills and chills are your cup of tea, make sure to have a pot of Earl Grey while reading titles like these:

• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
• Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
• And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
• The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
• The Moonstone Wilkie Collins

 

Irish Breakfast Tea

Irish breakfast tea is a blend several black teas, mostly of Assam and Ceylon. This tea has a lot of strength and has a robust taste, particularly when you add milk. So you are going to need strong reads to go along with this tea (and Irish literature would be a perfect fit):

• Normal People by Sally Rooney
• Dubliners by James Joyce
• All the Bad Apples by Moïra Fowley Doyle
• The Country Girls by Edna O’Brien
• Tatty by Christine Dwyer Hickey

 

Chai Tea

Masala chai, brewed with black tea with a mixture of aromatic Indian spices and herbs, is a comforting drink. The aroma and the taste is so comforting that it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a comforting read should go along with it!

• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
• The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
• Charlotte’s Web  by E.B. White

 

Herbal Tea

Herbal teas are not only comforting and soothing, it also provides many health benefits. Herbal teas can be made fresh or dried flowers, fruit, leaves, seeds and roots. So when you have a relaxing tea on your nightstand, why not pair it with a relaxing book?

• Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
• One Day in December by Josie Silver
• Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
• Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
• The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan

What is your favorite tea and book pairing?