Lost in Worldbuilding – Coventry and Tea Time

Now that Chalice is finished, I need to work on something new.  Caste of Iron is a novel I started a long time ago, then set aside because I wasn’t thrilled about where it was going.  Time to dive back in, so I decided to do some worldbuilding.

For now, the setting is called Coventry.  That may not be a permanent name, but it will do for now.

Here are some tidbits I discovered while lost in worldbuilding.

I usually draw my maps by had first, but this time I went to my mapmaker.  I like more flexibility in the beginning, but this does offer some interesting choices.  I like how the Colly Forest turned out, though I wish I could have made the trees darker.

The symbol options offer walled cities, and that seemed like the perfect fit for the capital city and, though you really can’t see it, the little fishing town of Kipnil.  Flipping through the other available symbols, I found those ocean rocks and remembered that I imagined at least part of coastline being rocky.  I also stumbled across a tower symbol, and decided that belonged inside the forest.  I have a feeling my main character Lewk will stumble across that one.

It’s still pretty bare bones, but I have enough for some good story ideas.

Beyond mapmaking, I love cooking, but oddly enough, my worlds tends to lack details about food.  So, I decided to have a bit of fun last weekend, and do some real world development on one aspect of Coventry; their popular custom of tea hour.

This picture shows a royal tea, or at least, the closest I could get to one with the ingredients I had.

A royal tea, or any proper tea depending who you ask in Coventry, is meant to be light, with the focus being on the tea.  Hence the large tea mug, rather than a small cup.

A royal tea should also have a mix of sweet and savory food, that can be picked up by hand and eaten in one or two bites.

Fruit tarts are popular for teas, though cherries would be a more likely choice than blueberries.  Sadly, I couldn’t find any.  Conventry cherries are quite sour, so they’re considered a perfect complement to spiced or smokey black tea.

 

 

 

 

Rice is a staple on Coventry, so cakes made of leftover rice are a common addition to teas.  This one is mixed with egg and flour and fried in peanut oil.

 

 

 

 

Meat in Coventry is usually served sliced and fried in

oil, with a mix of vegetables and seasonings.  In the case of a tea hour, the meat will usually be served on a slice of vegetable, here, radish and lettuce leaf.

 

 

In northern Coventry, there’s a growing trend toward rolling the meat and veg in rice.  Black tea services call for richer, stronger flavored foods, so seasoned steak and chicken as opposed to fish.

 

 

 

Fried bread puffs are almost ubiquitous at a Coventry tea.  These breads are very plain, and intended for soaking up any traces of sauce or syrup left on the plate.  If the plate is clean, the bread can always be dipped in the tea.

Speaking of tea, the people of Coventry take theirs very seriously.  Markets sell of a variety of different flavors, tea leaves processed many different way, including having various oils and spices added to the dry leaves.

Once the tea is boiled, popular additions are honey, fruit syrups, and if you can afford it, sugar.  Many purists will insist on drinking their tea straight.  As well, adults would never be caught adding milk to their tea.  That’s something done for children, to weaken the tea until they can handle the full strength.

Thanks for coming along on this ride with me.  Does a Coventry royal tea sound like fun to you?