Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #244887 in Books
• Published on: 1990-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 187 pages

From Library Journal
This lavishly illustrated book explores both the historical lore of tea in China, Japan, and the West and the health and aesthetic virtues of the beverage. Chow and Kramer draw on English-language secondary literature and their experiences in China to argue that tea is at least as worthy of studious appreciation as wine, and they bolster this claim with intriguing descriptions of 50 famous Chinese teas. The authors also describe the role of tea-houses in China today, tell where and how to buy the unusual varieties they describe ("Lushan Cloud and Mist," "Green Snail Spring," etc.), give hints on how to brew a "nice cup of tea," and even tell how to get the most out of a tea bag! A charming and informative addition to any library collection.
-Charles W. Hayford, Northwestern Univ., Evanston, Ill.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Not much information on Chinese tea
This book might be useful to someone looking for a book with general information about tea, but for someone who wants to learn about the real art of Chinese tea, this book is useless . The book does not go into any detail about important elements of Chinese tea drinking such as Yixing teapots and the gongfu brewing method; it just tries to explain them in a few sentences. After reading this book, you will hardly have gained any knowledge of Chinese tea at all.
The book is obviously an imitation of John Blofeld's "The Chinese Art of Tea", which is an excellent book on the subject of Chinese tea. This book even copied the format of "The Chinese Art of Tea" by inserting small drawings in the margins, and they also copied the teahouse section of "The Chinese Art of Tea". The only thing they forgot to copy was all the good information.

The section in this book on tea brewing, entitled "How to Make a Nice Cup of Tea", provides instructions on making tea that could only be used to make tea for your dogs. The book does not explain any of the Chinese brewing methods, it seems like the authors just read the back of a Lipton box and copied into their book. If you are interested in Chinese tea, it is much better to find a few good websites on Chinese tea than to buy this book. Anybody who has even a small amount of knowledge of Chinese tea can see that this book is very badly made.

The Perfect First Tea Book
A great general introduction to the topic of tea. The title may be a bit misleading as the book broad-brushes tea on a worldwide basis not just Chinese tea. It covers origin, history, production, health and techniques. Well illustrated, with plenty of useful lists in the back of the book including names of many teas in both English and Chinese.

Good tea reference book
I found this tea book to be a very good reference book on tea's origin, how and when it's popularity spread to other realms, how to enjoy tea and what kinds of utensils are used to make and drink tea. I would have enjoyed more pictures and the ones that are here are in black and white, but this is an information packed read.