I drew this in 2014 as part of a project to produce an art book with characters based on teas. I chose English Breakfast Tea, because that's what I normally drink. I find its taste strong and solid but not overpowering or bitter. I thought it would be an interesting tea to illustrate because it's a blend, and working out how to represent the different components would be fun. The English Breakfast blend usually includes Assam, Ceylon, Kenyan and sometimes Keemun tea, which is from the Qimen province in China. Putting all that together, my English Breakfast girl ended up in a Chinese-style top with an African kanga wrapped round her waist. The flower in her hair and on the pattern of her top is the blue water lily, the national flower of Sri Lanka. The white and red cloth is a gamosa, which is an item unique to Assam, and widely used in society there.
She was a really interesting character to design, and I'll never look at my tea in quite the same way again ^^ If you are interested in the art book, you can buy it from the Sweatdrop Studios shop :)
toothycat.net is copyright Sergei and Morag Lewis
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