The weather has no bearing on my consumption of hot tea. In fact, it’s the perfect weapon against the air conditioning that blasts in every public building during the summer months.
However, I do like to theme my reading choices according to the season. Certain stories just hit better when read in the season in which they’re set.
Summer reading is a great pastime of mine. Some of my best reading memories have taken place during the summer. Whether it’s because of the long days and the warm nights, reading outside or unwinding with a story after a long day of doing summer activities with the crickets chirping outside is very calming and helps you to focus and clear your mind so that you can focus on the imagery, events, and characters that have been crafted for your entertainment.
This summer, I’ve chosen three different flavors from The Whistling Kettle that remind me of specific categories of summer reading. Below are the three teas that I’ve sampled paired with three types of summer reading. Be sure to use code LAURASBOOKSANDBLOGS2026 to get 10% off your first order of any products at The Whistling Kettle including but not limited to the teas I’ve featured below.
Pomegranate cranberry and rainy day reads
Pomegranate cranberry is a black tea that includes cranberry slices, raspberry pieces, pomegranate pieces, peony petals, and flavoring. It’s brewed at 212 degrees for four to five minutes.
This tea smells just like the fruit flavors with a slight almost chocolatey scent. It brews a deep golden color and has no scent once brewed. The tea tastes like a light black tea with a slight fruity aftertaste.
Pomegranate cranberry reminded me of reading by an open window on a rainy day, the kind of day where it’s so dark that you have to put a light on to read by. The gloominess helps you to retreat into the story.
I particularly love to devour short books, such as novellas, graphic novels, or flip through coffee table books on various subjects. Finishing a book in one day, or even one sitting can make you feel productive on those slow, rainy days when you don’t feel very motivated to do anything else but be entertained.
Peach apricot and childhood reads
Peach apricot is a white tea with peach pieces, marigold petals, and other natural flavors. It’s brewed at 180 degrees for three minutes.
The tea smells like peach with a minty flowery undertone. The dry tea is very leafy and brews to a light yellow color. It tastes like peach-infused water, putting a fun spin on an ordinary liquid.
I’ve paired this tea with childhood reading because of its peachy flavor which reminds me of the ripened peaches I used to eat for lunch or the peach candies that I used to share with friends. Summer is a great time for young readers because we’re not limited to assigned school reading. We can finally borrow those books that we’ve been eying at the library or dig into books we’ve received as presents that we didn’t have time to read throughout the school year.
My local library used to host a summer reading program that really motivated kids to read because of the desirable prizes they used to give out to winners. Kids who would never read for fun were incentivized to read for gift cards to their favorite stores, big toy prizes that they could win in drawings, or even just the swag bag that came from signing up and/or reading a certain number of books.
Kids would make their way through their favorite series, such as Goosebumps, The Baby-sitters Club, or The Boxcar Children. They were formulaic, not too long, and featured exciting stories that appealed to various types of readers. And there was always a stack of them on the library shelves, so you could always find one that you hadn’t read.
This added an extra layer of nostalgia to the summer. It created fun memories that made you feel productive, yet still entertained.
Sweet strawberry dragon fruit and beach reads
Sweet strawberry dragon fruit is a black tea with strawberry pieces and leaves, lemongrass, rosebuds, red cornflower petals, and flavorings. It’s brewed at 212 degrees for five minutes.
This tea smells like strawberries. The dry tea has a mulchy look. It brews to a light orange color with no odor. The black tea flavoring really comes out, but the strawberries keep it from being as heavy as a wintery black tea.
I’ve paired this flavor with beach reads because of its tropical and exotic taste. Though I’ve never brought tea down to the actual seashore and sipped it under a sweltering sun, I used to sit out on the oceanfront balcony of the hotel room that my family used to book for the week each night and drink a few cups of tea while drawing or journaling. It became my bedtime routine while on vacation, and it helped to calm me down after a long day of swimming, tanning, shopping, and sightseeing.
The beach reads that come to mind when thinking about this tea and its chosen setting are, of course, stories that take place at the beach or near an ocean, bestsellers that are making the rounds online, and those big, long reads that you can really make some progress on during your vacation.
Beach trips can be draining and invigorating at the same time. It blends relaxation with excitement, and I feel like it mirrors the blend of flavors that this tea encompasses. I feel that it could also work as a great iced tea that could be used to rejuvenate sunburned skin and salt-stung eyes.
What are your favorite summer tea flavors? Leave your answers in the comments below!
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Don’t forget to use the code LAURASBOOKSANDBLOS2026 to get 10% off your first order with The Whistling Kettle. Then, leave a comment and let me know what tea and products you’ve purchased and how you like them.
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