An atmospheric exploration of tea's curious past, from ghostly lore and obscure customs to recipes from around the world.

On a stormy afternoon, what waits in your teacup? In A Curious Cup of Tea, Linda Raedisch gathers the curious, the uncanny, and the quietly unsettling histories steeped in every cup.

From tea offered to the dead and fortunes read in the dregs to shape-shifting teapots and self-mummifying monks, this collection explores tea's darker, stranger side. Along the way, you'll encounter Romani tea leaf readers, Daoist practitioners, and modern tea experts whose lives are entwined with the leaf.

Interwoven with recipes—like tea leaf salad, tea eggs, and East Frisian Tea Cake—this is a book to savor slowly, long after the last cup is drained.