How to Read Tea Leaves: A Card Deck and Guidebook for Divination by Harney & Sons is a beautifully packaged set that blends the brand’s tea heritage with divination. Known for their high-quality loose leaf blends, Harney & Sons have created a 66-card deck paired with an illustrated guidebook, designed to introduce beginners to the poetic and mysterious world of tea leaf reading.

Unboxing & Flipthrough

My First Impressions

I was immediately excited when I discovered this deck. You know how I’m always curious about different forms of divination, and tea leaf reading has always felt especially mysterious and poetic to me. The aesthetics also drew me in—the design is soft, elegant, and visually appealing, making the deck feel magical and inviting from the very first glance.

The Artwork

Illustrated by Polly Fern, the artwork is simple and clean, with colors that resemble the tones of tea leaves. Each card features the symbol in the center, the card title at the bottom, and the category title at the top. This minimalistic design keeps the focus on the symbol itself to make the deck easy to read at a glance. The visuals are charming and calming, fitting the reflective and meditative nature of tea leaf reading, even if they are not highly detailed or ornate.

Box, Card & Finish

The box is fairly large, matching the size of the guidebook, and features a flip-top design. While it looks beautiful, it’s too big and a tad heavy to bring along in a bag, making it less practical for travel.

The cards have a smooth finish and feel nice to the touch, but they are quite stiff, which makes shuffling challenging. Overall, it feels more like a display or at-home set rather than something portable or easy to use on the go.

Guidebook

Written by Claire Goodchild, the guidebook starts off with helpful context, covering the history of tea, the story of how the founder of Harney & Sons got into tea leaf reading, types of tea, and how you like your tea. It also introduces tea leaf reading, explaining tasseography and tasseomancy as forms of scrying, and walks through the general process of preparing for a reading—asking questions, journaling, and making tea.

Each of the six card categories—Clarity, Omens, Inspiration, Love, Change and Success—comes with journal exercises to help you reflect on the symbols and connect them to your life. While this is a nice touch, it is worth noting that the exercises focus on reflection rather than providing step-by-step instruction on using the deck itself.

The guidebook also mentions that the deck can be used in multiple ways: as a divination tool “in case you don’t have time to make and drink tea,” as a visual aid when practicing tea leaf reading, or as flash cards to learn the symbols. However, there is little guidance on sample spreads or structured readings, leaving a lot open to interpretation.

How the Deck Works

The deck consists of 66 cards divided into six categories: Clarity, Omens, Inspiration, Love, Change and Success. Each category represents a different “energy” or area of life, which can help guide your readings depending on your intention or question.

You can use the cards in multiple ways—on their own for quick divination, alongside an actual tea reading as a visual aid, or as learning tools to familiarize yourself with common symbols.

That said, the deck is quite open-ended in practice. There are no sample spreads or clear step-by-step instructions, so you’re left to figure out your own way of working with it. This flexibility can be nice, but it also makes the process feel a bit unclear at first.

Reading Style and Themes

The deck is open-ended and flexible, but this also makes it challenging for beginners. The cards are divided into six thematic categories—Clarity, Omens, Inspiration, Love, Change and Success—but there is no clear guidance on how to structure readings, which can make intuitive interpretations feel a bit forced at first.

It emphasizes:
✔ Reflection and self-awareness
✔ Exploring symbolic meaning in the six categories
✔ Flexible use, allowing readers to create their own spreads or approaches
✔ Encouraging personal interpretation rather than strict instructions

This deck works best for those willing to experiment and learn through trial and error rather than following step-by-step instructions.

Who It’s For

This deck is most suitable for:
✔ People curious about tea leaf symbols and divination, even if they are beginners
✔ Those who enjoy exploring symbols and intuition without needing a rigid system
✔ Tea lovers who appreciate aesthetically pleasing tools
✔ Anyone open to experimenting and creating their own ways of using the cards

My Honest Thoughts

I have to admit, the guidebook threw me off a bit. From the title, I expected it would teach how to read tea leaves using a cup, especially since it is from a tea brand. To be fair, it does start that way, with sections on tea, tasseography, and even how to choose a cup and prepare tea for a reading. But in practice, it does not fully deliver on either approach.

There is a lot of buildup around traditional tea leaf reading, yet not enough depth to actually learn it properly. At the same time, there is very little guidance on how to use the deck. There are no sample spreads, and the card meanings feel quite vague.

I wish the guidebook had been divided into two parts. The first could show how to read tea leaves using a cup, which would naturally highlight and promote Harney & Sons tea. The second could explain how to use the deck further as an oracle or cartomancy tool. It would have been helpful if each symbol’s meanings were clearly structured, showing both its tea leaf and card interpretations and how they could apply to areas like love, career, or finances.

Working with the deck comes with a steep learning curve, to the point that intuitive readings can feel forced, especially since the guidebook leaves much open to interpretation without clear structure.

Overall, the set feels caught in between. It is not quite a complete tea leaf reading guide, nor a fully developed card system. That said, the deck is still visually beautiful and charming. If you approach it as a loose, intuitive, and visually appealing tool for reflection rather than a structured practice, it can be very enjoyable. I hope future editions improve the guidebook and the cardstock because the concept has a lot of potential.

Where to Find the Deck & Creator Info

✦ Deck Creator: Harney & Sons | Claire Goodchild

✦ Artist & Illustrator: Polly Fern

✦ Publisher: Harry N. Abrams / Abrams Books

✦ Publication Date: November 5, 2024

✦ Where to Get The Deck: Amazon