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Ten star must read,
WOW….. Ever have a book come across your desk that leaves you in awe? This is what happened when The Story of Tea landed in my mailbox. What first catches your eye is the crisp clean design of the book and its cover. A sturdy book that has a sensual soothing feel. If the eyes are the gateway to the stomach, then this book was one that would make me want to drink tea. And I have never been a tea or coffee drinker, so this is an important point.
So I sat and ran my hand over the book and looked at the zen style teapot pouring a hot serving of tea, in the cover photo. Then I opened the book and an hour later when the sun had begun to set and I realized I needed to turn on a light, I realized how mesmerized I had become. To the point I reread areas because I was on the path to becoming a tea lover.
The photos are stunning and informative, which is rare in most books. I was intrigued about all the various cultures where tea is not only drunk, but used as an ingredient in medicine, cooking and baking. The Life of a Tea Bush one reads of the different types of tea bushes, their needs be it water, deeply rich soil, mountains or valleys. On page 51 one learns of the 8 elements of tea productions.
On page 257 one begins to read the encyclopedia of teas, from White, Yellow, Green, Oolong, Black, Pu-erh, Scented, Artisan, Presentation, or Display Tea. And then Brewing The Perfect Cup. No tea bags here thankfully. Then Storing tea, the best water, temperatures etc.
Tea Customs and Culture covers China, Japan, Europe, and other countries like north Africa and Arabia, teapots and cups, as well as Wagashi or what is called sweets that one can serve with various teas.
Like tea itself, this book is soothing and nice. And would make a GREAT gift for anyone who loves history, food, is a teacup or teapot collector, is living in a cabin or on Park Avenue. Have homeschooling friends and family whom I have and will recommend the book to.
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|Disappointing,
I would have so wished to love this book. I am a tea lover and tea is one of my passions. The wonderful pictures looked promising, so did the index and the chapter outline. However, information were repeated over and over again, at some times I felt the authors are rambling on and on without making a point. Often they talk about their tea store, their experiences while traveling, how there are other “bad” tea stores, who do not know anything about tea. A more appropriate title would have been “OUR story of tea”.
I would have wished, the authors would have explained better the different steps how the different white, oolongs, black, green and pu-err teas are made. The authors only mentioned the order of how the tea leaves are processed, no explanation for the whys, except “to make the tea more mellow, greener …”. This would have been a great chance to explain a bit about the chemistry, that is going on there.
Although, the context and lay out was so promising, the overall read ended up to be boring and disappointing. With too much repeated information on one side and too little at others, plus the never-ending passages without much point. The fascinating ways of tea with its drinking traditions and production and cultural evolution got lost under all the rambling and was burdened with too many words.
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|Nice to look at, informative, poorly written.,
As other reviewers have mentioned, this is a beautiful book to page through. And it’s pretty clear, I think, that the authors are real experts on their subject. I was going to buy it from Amazon on the strength of the other reviews here, but frankly I’m glad I borrowed it from the library instead. The writing is really quite poor throughout, and much as I found the subject interesting, I found it tedious to untangle one ill-constructed sentence after another as I made my arduous way through the book. The writers don’t seem to be quite sure of who their audience is, or what tone is appropriate for this sort of book. At times, it reads like a textbook; at others, like a reflective essay. But it never reads very smoothly. A thoroughly revised new edition would be nice!
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