The Tea Chest in Aussie Readers

Mar 11, 2014 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it liked it

Shelves: provided-by-publisher, aussie-author, arc-are

The future of the 'The Tea Chest', a boutique chain offering gourmet and custom tea blends, is in doubt after Simone Taylor's sudden death. Judy, Simone's step-sister and part owner, is desperate to sell but Kate Fullerton, who inherited Simone's share of the business, is determined to follow through on her mentor's vision and launch a new store in London. It's a huge undertaking, a scary financial risk, and means leaving her husband and young sons behind in Australia for months, but if it succe ...more

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Dec 28, 2013 Kathryn rated it really liked it

Shelves: reading-list-2015, 4-stars, australian-authors, released-2014

You know how there are some books that you just know from the opening lines that you are going to love them? Admittedly this instinct is often a bit askew in me…but it wasn’t this time.

The story is told in the present day with the main character, Kate, inheriting a tea-making business called The Tea Chest from Simone. She heads to London to open a branch of the tea shop there, aided and abetted by 3 other women and her very supportive husband, Mark.

As well as the present day story, there are fl You know how there are some books that you just know from the opening lines that you are going to love them? Admittedly this instinct is often a bit askew in me…but it wasn’t this time.

The story is told in the present day with the main character, Kate, inheriting a tea-making business called The Tea Chest from Simone. She heads to London to open a branch of the tea shop there, aided and abetted by 3 other women and her very supportive husband, Mark.

As well as the present day story, there are flashbacks to Simone and her half-sister, Judy, who is an unsympathetic partner in The Tea Chest. I normally love flashbacks to other times, but in this case, they did irritate me as they didn’t actually seem to serve a purpose. They were often placed right after some bombshell had been dropped in the present day story, and that frustrated me when I wanted to keep reading the main story. So Simone is dead from the beginning of the story. We knew Judy was a partner, and was obstructive and unhelpful when Kate wanted to do new and innovative things, but the flashbacks didn’t really explain why she was like that. Nor did they explain anything toward the bits of the story immediately either side - at least not that I could see. They felt rather extraneous.

But I enjoyed the references to Brisbane, being a Brisbaneite myself. I also loved the descriptions of the scents of tea blends, of the English countryside, of The Tea Chest in London. Josephine Moon has some lovely passages. Some of my favourites are below:

“Kate turned the key and opened the white French doors, letting the river breezes enter the shop, pick up the scents of bergamot, Indian spices, lemons, rose and caramel and swirl them towards her in a morning greeting she would never tire of.”

“White picket-fence palings had been glued to the walls in among the flower beds and plants. A huge water feature dominated the centre of the room, with two white entwined doves topping the piece. A small wooden wheelbarrow with rusted metal wheels sat overflowing with bright purple, pink, white and yellow petunias. Scooped wooden gates with iron hinges acted as shelves and partitions.”
This description continues on, but I’ll stop there - but I can just see all that and wish I was there!!

”Kate and Leila booked into a bed-and-breakfast in a small village of charming stone cottages with shingle roofs. Mighty willow trees hung over a river crossed by arched stone bridges; wooden coach wheels lay against the buildings; leafy green vines wound their way up walls; and window boxes overflowed with bright flowers. It was like walking through the set of an English country drama."

It was a little predictable at times, but that didn’t affect my pleasure in reading it. It was an easy read - I read it in just over a day and it was just what I needed after some recent reads that were a little more challenging!
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Nov 27, 2013 Tarran rated it it was amazing

I received an advance copy of this book and fell in love with the concept immediately. I loved the cover, which drew me straight away. Then when I read the blurb I was hooked. I love tea and the different flavours you can find and create for yourself. Elizabeth was a great character, strong yet insecure. I liked how the author wove the friendship of the three women and linked them all into a fantastic group. The difficulties in opening up another tea shop and the risk of trusting your money to s ...more

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Jun 22, 2015 Catsalive rated it liked it

Shelves: aww, 2015

cover blurb:
Kate Fullerton, talented tea designer and now co-owner of The Tea Chest, could never have imagined that she'd be flying from Brisbane to London, risking her young family's future, to save the business she loves from the woman who wants to shut it down.

Meanwhile, Leila Morton has just lost her job; and if Elizabeth Clancy had known today was the day she would appear on the nightly news, she might at least have put on some clothes. Both need to start again.

When the three women's paths ...more

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Jan 06, 2014 Bree T rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc, aww2014

For Kate Fullerton, working at The Tea Chest in Brisbane was her dream job. It came along at an inconvenient time but with some co-operation from her husband they were able to really make it work. A few years down the track Kate suddenly finds herself a part owner in the business she loves so much and she feels the responsibility to leave Brisbane and fly to London and overtake the opening of a store there. It’s going to be a very difficult job – the shop they’re leasing is hemorrhaging money fr For Kate Fullerton, working at The Tea Chest in Brisbane was her dream job. It came along at an inconvenient time but with some co-operation from her husband they were able to really make it work. A few years down the track Kate suddenly finds herself a part owner in the business she loves so much and she feels the responsibility to leave Brisbane and fly to London and overtake the opening of a store there. It’s going to be a very difficult job – the shop they’re leasing is hemorrhaging money from the business, it needs extensive renovations, they have a very tight schedule and Kate needs to organise staff…and figure out how to sell tea to the English.

Leila Morton has lost her job and there’s not much around for people who physically assault their co-workers. She gets a job helping to put together the opening of the London store of The Tea Chest and finds herself travelling with Kate to England to supervise everything and help get the finance they need together. Leila is invigorated, she’s certain that they can pull this off despite everything going against them. When she makes a crucial mistake, will she be cast out to start all over from scratch yet again?

Elizabeth Clancy has had her world torn apart by a personal revelation that led to her appearing on the news in her underwear and wrap. Fleeing back to London and her family to lick her wounds, she and her sister cross paths with Kate and Leila on a night out and suddenly find themselves with jobs in helping bring the dream of the London shop of The Tea Chest to reality. And the possibilities of new beginnings, if only she’ll reach out and grasp them.

For each of them, The Tea Chest is a way to bring back their faith and self-belief. But there’s a very real chance that the store will fail if they can’t all pull together and work to eliminate the problems. It requires trust – in themselves and each other.

I’m a tea drinker but I’m quite a conservative one. Just teabags and a good strong black tea because I’m lazy. But I love the idea of loose leaf flavoured tea. I think it’d be so fun to have so many varieties of tea, or tea blended just for you personally based on your tastes and feelings at the time, which is what Kate does at The Tea Chest. She blends tea, both for sale in the shop and also at the personal request of clients. It’s something she’s very passionate about and she grows things at home to use in her tea, so she can experiment there and then whenever the urge takes her.

But then she goes from being employee to part owner and immediately her role begins to change. The other partner wants to wind up the business and sell but Kate cannot do that. She knows she can make a go of it, turn it into a success. And so she finds herself flying to London with a very tight timeframe to get the London store up and running and prove to the other owner that she can do this. That she has what it takes because she and her husband have changed their entire lives for her to have the opportunity to pursue her dream and she doesn’t want to let them down or herself down either.

She meets Leila, a publicist and Elizabeth, and together with Elizabeth’s sister Victoria (I didn’t realise how precisely English those two names were together in the one family until I was typing this review) the four of them take on almost every aspect of putting the store together. They have to deal with a difficult shop proprietor in the same street who would like to see off their competition before they even start, negotiate contractors and council inspectors and visit local suppliers in order to tell their customers that they are only using the best local produce in their tea. They also need a marketing plan and possibly some financial backing to make the dream come together into a beautiful reality.

I really enjoyed this book and felt that the strengths were really in the way the four women came together and developed a working relationship and friendship as they put everything they had into getting the London shop up and running. They faced a lot of difficulties but they worked through them – several of the women had no experience really and yet they developed enthusiasm and worked to improve their knowledge. The concept is so fabulous and I loved all the beautiful descriptions of the tea and the different types you could have. Honestly, I had never considered some of these ingredients as being useful in the blending and making of tea, especially when Kate sets Leila, Elizabeth and Victoria the task to blend their own tea. Some of the results sounded truly wonderful and I began to think more about finding a proper tea shop and seeing what was on offer there and what sorts of different teas I might be able to try. The core story about the shop and getting it up and running was all this book really needed – I feel as though some of the added complications, such as the riots, distracted from this and the same with the drama with Elizabeth’s parents and some of the love interest stories which felt a little bit like a diversion from the main story line but weren’t developed enough to really contribute much. Especially Elizabeth’s – I’d have like more there, maybe the inclusion of the plane ride going over from Australia to England. I felt as though it needed a bit extra.

Despite that small (tiny really) criticism I really enjoyed the story and the passionate devotion to its subject. It’s a lovely read, something you can get through very easily in one sitting. ...more

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Jul 03, 2014 Janine rated it really liked it

This was a very easy read. I loved the three main characters in the book and the locations of Australia and London made it interesting. Kate inherits half of The Tea Chest from her boss when she passes away. The message left is "trust yourself" and she goes from Australia to London to follow Simone's dream of expanding the business in London. Along the way she meets Elizabeth who has just found out her husband has a secret family abroad and then hires Leila who has just been fired from her job t ...more

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