Tea Book Buying Guide

Welcome to our Tea Book Buying Guide. It's not a comprehensive guide to tea books, mind you. Just a look at some of the more interesting titles I've reviewed or otherwise encountered over the course of the past few years.

The Empire of Tea:The Remarkable History of the Plant That Took Over the World
by Alan MacFarlane & Iris MacFarlane
You know you've read too many books on tea history when you find yourself getting weary of that quaint little myth about tea's origin. You know the one - the Chinese emperor who just happened to be boiling water...outside. A few tea leaves just happen to blow off of a conveniently located tree and land in the water. The emperor drinks it and oila, thousands of years later everyone's got their drawers in a pinch about how good this stuff is for you.
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The Story of Tea: A Cultural History and Drinking Guide
by Mary Lou Heiss and Robert J. Heiss
In the two years I've been publishing a Web site about tea I've learned enough about it to make me realize that I really don't know much about it. Which is a roundabout way of saying that tea is a vast subject. This point was driven home recently when I read The Story of Tea, by Mary Lou and Robert Heiss. As "A Cultural History and Drinking Guide," it's got to rank right up there with the best of them. But there's really no way that such a work can do much more than scratch the surface of this topic.
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Tea: Aromas and Flavors Around the World
by Lydia Gautier
It would be a bit of a stretch to call Lydia Gautier's Tea the ultimate book on the topic. But in less than 200 pages she and photographer Jean-Francois Maliet have managed to put together an entertaining, informative, and lavishly illustrated overview of a very expansive subject.
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Tea: The Drink That Changed the World
by Laura C. Martin
Tea is an exceedingly wondrous substance, or so we're led to believe. Rarely does a day go by anymore, it seems, that we're not assailed with reports of the assorted and sundry miracles this noble beverage is said to wreak upon your body and psyche.
Tea will cure your lumbago and strengthen your frail and nervous constitution. It will enhance your virility and cause your you-know-what to grow. It prevents hangnails and may even aid in cases of boanthropy, the bizarre and often mistaken belief that one is a cow.
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The Tea Drinkers Handbook
by Francois-xavier Delmas, Mathias Minet, Christine Barbaste
from the publisher's description:
In a skinny-no-whip-mocha-latte world, The Tea Drinker's Handbook is a refreshing return to America's roots in tea-drinking. Though tea is one of the most-consumed beverages in the world, second only to water, it is far from mundane. For both the lifelong tea drinker and the recent convert, The Tea Drinker's Handbook is an indispensable reference for anyone interested in all things tea.
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The True History of Tea
by Erling Hoh
from the publisher's description:
A lively and beautifully illustrated history of one of the world's favorite beverages and its uses through the ages. World-renowned sinologist Victor H. Mair teams up with journalist Erling Hoh to tell the story of this remarkable beverage and its uses, from ancient times to the present, from East to West.
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The Meaning of Tea: A Tea Inspired Journey
by Phil Cousineau & Scott Chamberlin Hoyt
from the publisher's description:
The Meaning of Tea explores the calm and purposeful nature of tea through the words of tea growers, tasters, entrepreneurs, shopkeepers, scholars and experts from eight countries. Through more than 50 interviews, these engaging characters reveal a remarkable reverence for the plant, the ceremony, the manufacturing, the distribution of tea, as well as its ability to bring peace, calm, health, friendship, and often wisdom into their lives.
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Cha Dao: The Way of Tea, Tea as a Way of Life
by Solala Towler
from the publisher's description:
In China, the art and practice of drinking tea is about much more than merely soaking leaves in a cup of hot water. The tradition is rooted in Daoism, and emerged from a philosophy that honoured living a life of grace and gratitude, balance and harmony, and fulfilment and enjoyment - what the ancient Chinese called Cha Dao, or the Way of Tea.
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Great Teas of China
by Roy Fong
from the publisher's description:
Great Teas of China is an authoritative guide to the extraordinary tea world of China, written by the leading master tea merchant in the United States, Roy Fong. From hand-picked white teas from Fu Ding and expertly crafted oolong from Taiwan, to patiently aged puerh from Yunnan and everything in between, Fong offers his insights on choosing, brewing and enjoying over a dozen of his favorite Chinese teas.
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All The Tea In China
by Kit Chow & Ione Kramer
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Liquid Jade: The Story of Tea from East to West
by Beatrice Hohenegger
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