Meditations with Tea: Paths to Inner Peace: Paths to Inner Peace

The ritual of tea drinking becomes a salve and window to the soul in Rosen's soothing volume. Rosen urges readers to revive the ancient Japanese tradition of savoring and contemplating life through tea, which becomes a highly metaphorical beverage in the author's custody. She structures her earnest tea tome as a series of essays on meditation, each accompanied by two suggestions for teas (one premium, one commercial). Reflections on life flow over into tips on tea preparation, steeped in the tidy histories of all variants of leaves and flavors. While Rosen's subject matter operates from a salient connection, her ode sometimes suffers from indecision on whether to focus on breathing or brewing. Appended with a directory of tea shops and sources.