Fresh Cup Magazine, providing specialty coffee and tea professionals with unique insight into the trends, ideas, products and people that shape their world.
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LIBRARY TEA xpert tasters will often elucidate on a particular tea's well- rounded nature—its combination of sweetness, earthiness, mouthfeel and aftertaste, for example. But the following col- lection of top tea books from the last year shows the beverage is also well rounded from an intellectual perspective. It stands at the center of visual and photographic pursuits and can be the source of poetry. At the same time, tea serves as a prism through which unique perspectives on history and geography make themselves uniquely apparent. And, of course, tea also can be studied from a purely technical, taste-based perspective. So, go ahead, drink up—from whatever metaphorical angle you prefer. TEA: HISTORY, TERROIRS, VARIETIES BY KEVIN GASCOYNE, FRANCOIS MARCHAND, JASMIN DESHARNAIS AND HUGO AMERICI FIREFLY BOOKS, 2011 t's no surprise that the authors of this all-encompassing look at the leaf are accustomed to interacting with consumers (they own Montreal's well-regarded Camellia Sinensis Tea House). The book offers thorough yet digestible descriptions of production methods and tea-service history from major growing countries the world over while at the same time delivering visually compelling sections on the science of taste and to-the-point flavor notes. In short, it's an artistic and informative guide that would be well suited for a café's common area. Other books on the market lay out more exhaustive descriptions of more varieties of tea, but few so seamlessly bring together the basics of the beverage with its deeper taste and manufacturing nuances. Add in the quality photos and layout, and the result is a pleasurable journey to tea education. THE ANCIENT ART OF TEA: WISDOM FROM THE OLD CHINESE TEA MASTERS WARREN PELTIER TUTTLE PUBLISHING, 2011 or at least 1,500 years, tea production and tea drinking have been intertwined with the cul- ture of China's Fujian province. And in this pocket-sized hardcover, tea researcher Peltier traces how sages in the region have expressed their devotion to the local drink of choice. The author spent a year traveling through Fujian, collecting texts of centuries-old poems, essays and other tea writings, and then translated bits and pieces of these so-called "Tea Classics." String- ing together quotations and interpretations, the book paints a textured—if somewhat rambling— portrait of the tea world that engulfed these ancient Chinese. Like modern leaf obsessives, they placed enormous significance on the details of cultivation and preparation—as well as the water used in the final steep. Says 16th-century writer Luo Lin: "Plum Rain water should be put into a vessel, taken to a secluded courtyard and put into a large earthenware jar. … Hide it away for more than a month, then draw some water out to use it. This is extremely beneficial." " TEA ALMANAC 2012