The writer’s fuel

November is National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo, a nonprofit literary challenge that started in California in 1999 and that has now spread to more than 60 countries.

To help you through the days and nights of endless typing, tea will become your best friend. But choosing your cuppa is like choosing a book from the library! Too much choice? These are Lahloo’s recommendations to keep your mind clear and your spirit high! 

Shou Vintage Pu-Ehr tea: Deep, earthy, sweet and soothing. A comforting and invigorating cuppa. Much like reuniting with an old adventure book that takes you in an incredible voyage, but makes you feel safe. Try it if you like… Verne’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, The Adventures of Tintin.

Matcha green tea: This Japanese ceremonial tea is alluring, intense and complex, full of antioxidants and vitamins A, C, and E. Approach to it with reverence but also with a playful spirit, like you would do with a Shakespearean play. Try it if you like… the classics.

Mr. Shao’s Mao Jian green tea: Exquisitely delicate, with curly sea-green leaves from the misty mountains of China, this is a refreshing and revitalising brew that will give you endless energy. Try it if you like… Creativity at its highest: Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, Cervantes’ Don Quixote.

Rosebud herbal tea: Delicate and beautiful, a relaxing treat for body and soul, this tea will help restore your inner peace and remind you of the beauty of things. Try it if you like… Lao Tze, Hermann Hesse or the Romantics.

Spice Chai: A blend of golden Assam tea with cinnamon, ginger, green cardamom, black pepper, bay and cloves, this will unravel the adventurer in you. Every pot is different, much like a journey to an exotic land. Try it if you like… A thousand and one nights, Dinesen’s Out of Africa.

And if you need a relaxed space to write while sipping any of these varieties, remember that we’ll be celebrating at Lahloo Pantry by getting inspiration from our favourite books. The game’s afoot!