The Way of Chai, by Kevin Wilson

This is an unusual book for me to have picked up, partly because it’s a book that grew out of an influencer’s popular TikTok channel, and partly because I am only just very gradually getting into drinking tea at all, and am certainly not at a chai-making level in my tea life. But because I knew of Kevin Wilson through other online channels and actually share a couple of real-life friends with him, I was curious about this young Seventh-day Adventist pastor who got popular posting online about tea-making and the lessons learned from his own multicultural background. So I picked up this book.

It’s a series of short reflective essays, each introduced with a chai recipe and a bit of history about chai and the author’s relationship with it, broadening into some simple, spiritual-but-not-overtly religious, life lessons. I liked the memoir aspects best — I always connect most deeply with a writer talking about their own personal experiences and family background rather than just giving general life advice, so those were the strongest aspects of this book for me. I took several months to read this, picking up a chapter a time on days when I felt like a cup of a tea and a few moments of reflection. While this book hasn’t yet inspired me to try making chai for myself, it did give me some lovely, thoughtful moments. It’s also a beautifully designed book; for someone like me who mostly reads e-books, this physical book was a pleasure to hold in my hands.