Nine-year-old Shanti, who lives in the mountains of Sri Lanka, has her wish come true when her Uncle Nochi takes her to see the Indian Ocean.

How tea’s political meaning shaped the culture and economy of the Anglo-American world. Americans imagined tea as central to their revolution. After years of colonial boycotts against the commodity, the Sons of Liberty kindled the fire of independence when they dumped tea in the Boston harbor in 1773. To reject tea as a consumer item and symbol of “taxation without representation” was to reject Great Britain as master of the American economy and government. But tea played a longer and far more complicated role in American economic history than the events at Boston suggest. In The Trouble with Tea, historian Jane T. Merritt explores tea as a central component of eighteenth-century global trade and probes its connections to the politics of consumption. Arguing that tea caused trouble over the course of the eighteenth century in several different ways, Merritt traces the multifaceted impact of that luxury item on British imperial policy, colonial politics, and the financial structure of merchant companies. Merritt challenges the assumption among economic historians that consumer demand drove merchants to provide an ever-increasing supply of goods, thus sparking a consumer revolution in the early eighteenth century. The Trouble with Tea reveals a surprising truth: that concerns about the British political economy, coupled with the corporate machinations of the East India Company, brought an abundance of tea to Britain, causing the company to target North America as a potential market for surplus tea. American consumers only slowly habituated themselves to the beverage, aided by clever marketing and the availability of Caribbean sugar. Indeed, the “revolution” in consumer activity that followed came not from a proliferation of goods, but because the meaning of these goods changed. By the 1750s, British subjects at home and in America increasingly purchased and consumed tea on a daily basis; once thought a luxury, tea had become a necessity. This fascinating look at the unpredictable path of a single commodity will change the way readers look at both tea and the emergence of America. “By tackling a commodity we think we already know in its political, economic, and cultural dimensions, Jane T. Merritt demonstrates that the true story of tea is more complex and global than readers might expect. The Trouble with Tea is a surprising and detailed look at how the long-term moral debates over tea overlapped with and offered a vocabulary for the politicized debates of the Revolutionary War era.” —Ellen Hartigan-O’Connor, author of The Ties that Buy: Women and Commerce in Revolutionary America “Long before Bostonians dumped tea overboard, tea was trouble: as trading companies pushed it and consumers sipped it, tea sparked debates over free trade and dangerous luxuries. With her wide-ranging command of global commerce and domestic politics, Merritt tells a vital tale about how tea shaped our world.” —Benjamin L. Carp, author of Defiance of the Patriots: The Boston Tea Party and the Making of America

A fun beginners guide to reading the symbols found in the leaves. Stir the leaves to find out your destiny! The ancient practice of tasseomancy, or tea leaf reading, originated in ancient China and later became associated with gypsies who spread the practice around the world. It is one of the easiest forms of divination to learn--all it takes is tea leaves, some hot water, and a creative mind! Tea leaf reading is a form of fortune-telling that uses the symbols and images left in a cup by the tea leaves after the liquid is gone. Those images--much like the shapes we see in cloud formations--can be interpreted by the tea leaf reader. This easy-to-use guide will teach you: the proper preparation of tea using coffee grounds instead of tea meanings of common symbols and images astrological and tarot-related symbols Discover the meaning(s) of almost any shape you find at the bottom of a tea cup with help from the A-to-Z guide of more than 500 symbols.

Brew a cup of tea and see what awaits in your future with this beautifully illustrated, comprehensive guide to the ancient art of tea leaf reading. Reading Tea Leaves: Discover What Brews in Your Future is the perfect resource to master the ancient practice of tea leaf reading, also known as tasseography, and will teach you everything you need to know to learn and interpret the hidden messages that lie in the shapes of the tea leaves. Author April Wall, a spirit-led psychic intuitive, provides an easy explanation to all aspects of the practice and what you can discover about yourself, the future, and the divination power of reading tea leaves. For years, April has performed tea leaf readings for clients in search of answers. This beautifully illustrated guide compiles her years of knowledge and real-life experience to teach you how to confidently interpret over 100 consistent tea leaf patterns and configurations. Complete with a glossary, step-by-step instructions, and insider tips and tricks, Reading Tea Leaves gives you all the tools you will need to perform your very own tea leaf readings. Take hold of your journey and find the answers you have been looking for! 100+ TEA LEAF SYMBOLS EXPLAINED: With over 100 symbols and configurations explained, you will find success in your tea leaf readings every time EASY TO LEARN: This ancient divination practice is made easy with step-by-step instructions that make learning to read tea leaves simple HELPFUL ILLUSTRATIONS: Each tea leaf symbol will be accompanied by an illustration to help readers accurately interpret the symbols PERFECT GIFT: This guide makes a perfect gift for the aspiring psychic or fan of mysticism in your life COMPLETE THE SERIES: Collect all of the books in the Daily Divination series with Reading Tea Leaves, Reading Tarot, and more!