I’m a big tea snob, I’ve got an entire kitchen cupboard full of assorted loose leaf teas and more teapots than one person could reasonably ever need or use. The Elegant Courtly Life of the Tea Witch therefore seems right up my alley, and the fact it’s written by one of my favourite authors just makes it even better. Ameko Kaeruda, perhaps best known in the English speaking word as the creator of the excellent Sexiled, both volumes of which were reviewed here on Okazu by Erica when it was first released. This series is also based on a light novel, but as yet there is no sign of that being released in English. Why Titan Manga decided to pick this up as one of their first releases I’m not quite sure, but I’m not complaining either.

In Volume 1, we meet our main character, Remy,  who just wants to be left alone to get on with her job as a tea witch, whose main job is “making a delicious cup of tea” for the king and court. Unfortunately she attracts the attention of the king’s first daughter, Princess Stella, who thinks she’s the coolest person in the world and is desperate to be friends with her. For Remy, who is desperate not to draw attention to herself, this is her absolute worst nightmare as she’s pulled into the princess’s orbit.

The world building is solid, with references to a past conflict and the fragility of the resulting peace. We are introduced to another court mage, Alicia, who gives off very androgynous vibes, confirmed later on when their gender is described as “unknown.” When Remy learns that Stella is set to be married to another (male) court mage, she realises that this isn’t the world she fought for and vows to protect her, despite her outward annoyance with Stella’s insistence on being her friend.

Remy, as it turns out, is more powerful than she would like anyone to know. As well as controlling the tea she brews and being able to perfectly match it to the person she’s making it for, she can also use it as an antidote, a poison and a weapon, amongst other things. She’s essentially a magical herbalist. This power naturally of course ends up with her being assigned as Stella’s bodyguard, much to the chagrin of Stella’s wannabe fiance. Volume 2 covers a lot of Remy’s backstory, which according to the author’s afterword, wasn’t covered in the original novel, but I think it really adds to her as a character and the world building. She was a child soldier, and is clearly still bearing that burden, so I interpret her wanting to protect Stella as saving her from the same fate. Stella meanwhile is pragmatic enough to understand that her arranged marriage is a duty to protect the kingdom and the peace, so whilst she doesn’t really want it, she realises it’s for the greater good. Fortunately she isn’t written as an annoying child prodigy which is one of my least favourite tropes in fiction, along with amnesia.

In doing some research for this review I came across some Online Discourse with people saying that Remy and Stella’s relationship is inappropriate because Stella is only 12 years old. My personal interpretation is that this is more like a Class-S relationship and Remy cares for Stella more like a big sister would. In volume 2 we get some numbers, the man is said to be twice Stella’s age, so 24 and is older than Remy, who gives the impression she’s in her late teens/early 20’s. Yes, they go on a “date” but it’s just Remy indulging the whims of the younger girl, who is also a princess she can’t really say no to. Nothing untoward happens between them, the only kiss is Stella pecking Remy on the cheek because she’s read that this is what you do on a date.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by these two volumes. There’s more depth than I expected from what at first seemed like a fairly generic fantasy setting. Stella and Remy’s relationship is really open to almost any interpretation the reader chooses at this point, and it’s a good reminder to ignore the discourse and make up your own mind about something. Volume 3 is set to release at the end of April 2026, but as of writing, the 4th and final volume does not appear to be listed anywhere, not even on Titan Manga’s own website (neither is volume 3 so we’ll see how that goes). Hopefully we will eventually see it in English, along with the original novel.

Ratings: 

Art – 7 – the artist mentions at the end of volume 1 that this is their first serialisation, so I was pretty impressed when I read that
Story – 7
Characters – 7 we love a casual non binary/genderqueer side character
Service – 1
Yuri – 6

Overall – 7