Product Description

Filled to the brim with stories of adventure in search of "two leaves and a bud," this book could only come from a man who's actually lived those events. Barry Cooper began his lifelong romance with tea at an early age, being raised amongst the tea fields of Kenya, East Africa. In this book, he chronicles his ensuing forty-year quest for the perfect cup of tea. Cooper shares lessons learned while being trained in England's most esteemed tea house. He lays bare truths of the tea industry, including the unreported struggles between tea growers, buyers, blenders, and merchants around the world. Cooper reveals the crazy adventures and hair-raising situations encountered in his determination to discover previously unknown sources of herbs. And finally, he tells the inside story of the gambles he took to develop his signature teas. For those who love tea--or just enjoy a good adventure story--Silver Spoons, Mad Baboons, and Other Tales of Tea is by turns insightful, engrossing, and often downright hilarious.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1009107 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 240 pages

Review
Barry Cooper's name has become synonymous with tea. A larger-than-life figure, Barry has helped shape the tea industry as we know it today and will surely become part of the folklore remembered for generations to come. Filled with inisight and adventure, this memoir reads like a page-turning novel and will be enjoyed by anyone with even a passing interest in tea. --Joe Simrany, President of the Tea Association of the USA

Tea is one of hte last businesses in which honor stands above all else. In this book, Barry shares many of the lessons that go ito the making of a real Tea Man-lessons of both tea and life. He's done us all proud. Bravo! --Peter Goggi, Lipton Head Tea Buyer & Unilever Director of Supply Management

Tea is one of hte last businesses in which honor stands above all else. In this book, Barry shares many of the lessons that go ito the making of a real Tea Man-lessons of both tea and life. He's done us all proud. Bravo! --Peter Goggi, Lipton Head Tea Buyer & Unilever Director of Supply Management

About the Author
Barry W. Cooper is master of his craft in both the herb and tea trades. He has over forty years of experience tasting and blending tea and his blends have won significant awards around the world. He is former chairman of the Tea Association of the United States of America. Cooper is founder and CEO of the Cooper Tea Company and SNA Tea. Find out more at CooperTea.com

Customer Reviews

Silver Spoons, Mad Baboons, and other Tales of Tea
I had the pleasure of meeting the author, Barry Cooper, recently in his St. Croix, VI waterfront home. He gifted me with his book, and I began to read it in my "spare" time. Being a former english teacher, I appreciate well written, interesting literature, and this book is pleasantly all that and more. It enabled me to have a whole new appreciation of what it means to be passionate about your life and career. The author has an adventurous spirit, a result, I am sure, of having been raised in Kenya, Africa to a less than ordinary family. His writing relects that spirit, as he tells of his life, how he got into the tea business, and the history of tea. There is more to tea than this Texas native ever knew! Barry is an International Tea Master, who travels the world in his quest to perfect the art of tea. I highly recommend this book! You don't even have to like tea to enjoy this entertaining, informative, and picturesque read! His resemblance to Sean Connery seems only fitting, given the "007 James Bond of Tea" life he leads! His lovely wife is a gift, sharing his enthusiasm for work, travel, fun, and knowledge.
Treat yourself to this book!

Hangin' with Mr. Cooper...Great adventure!
In a world in which 25 year-olds seem to launch tea brands like techies launched dot coms in 2000, it's refreshing to read about the adventures of a real master of his trade. The man behind many of the tea favorites we enjoy today has led a life few are given the opportunity to experience - traveling the globe, building his expertise and ultimately becoming one of the most renowned figures in the world of the second most-consumed beverage in the world behind water: tea. Barry takes you along for the ride in compelling, well-written form. His sense of humor and perspective shine through, from the chapter titles to the smaller details. The result is one of those rare, sneaky, well-written sort of autobiographies which entertains you to the point where you don't even realize that all the while you are being educated. Terrific read - I highly recommend it!

Silver Spoons, Mad Baboons, and Other Tales of Tea
The reader enjoys a whirlwind tour of the globe from Mr. Coopers childhood to the present day entrepreneur. The leafy tea bush and life of Barry Cooper are inter-twined with passion, money, tradition, taste, international politics, local agribusiness and big business. Cheers to Mr. Cooper...the real Mr. Tea!