He astutely read the tea-leaves of public opinion but had no grand vision.

ECONOMIST: China's reforms

Which leaves Mr Chirac to ponder the tea-leaves.

ECONOMIST: France

In 2012, however, the race is too close to read the early voting tea leaves - but McDonald says the bulk of early votes will come in next week, at which point stronger trends might point to an eventual winner.

BBC: Early voting: Is the election already decided?

Because technical analysts read stock charts and look for patterns in closing prices, sophisticates like to portray them as no more than cheap fortune-tellers reading tea leaves.

FORBES: Magazine Article

American tea-meisters now travel the world seeking the best-nurtured, hand-harvested, pesticide-free leaves of the tea plant.

NPR: Tea for You and Me

When pitching stores, hotels and restaurants, their demonstration often includes cutting open a paper tea bag, containing only broken leaves and tea dust, from a mass-market brand.

FORBES: Tea Party

So, while the stock market clearly remains in a downtrend, our take on the tea leaves is we managed to move away from panic-mode on Tuesday.

FORBES: Big Banks Downgrade Stocks as News from Japan Appears Bleak

When Indianapolis-based Lilly (nyse: LLY - news - people) reports earnings tomorrow, investors will scrutinize the numbers like tea leaves.

FORBES: Magazine Article

It was the aides who were whole-heartedly on my side, and teased me that they saw wedding bells in my tea leaves.

NEWYORKER: Amundsen

Sipping lemon-ginger tea on the cushions of our house's rooftop pavilion, I watch the first light spangle the leaves of the poplars along the village's irrigation stream, see lambs herded into a small willow-walled corral, a woman in a black robe and orange head scarf testing her lower back after filling her buckets.

FORBES: Feature